Blaaaaaaaargh
79612
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426
The fastest manmade object isn't a hypersonic jet or spacecraft, but a large manhole cover.... When the US started doing underground nuclear testing, nobody really knew what would happen. One test bomb was placed at the bottom of a 485-foot deep shaft on July 26, 1957, and someone thought it was a good idea to put a half-ton iron manhole cover on top to contain the explosion. The bomb turned the shaft into the world's largest Roman candle, and the manhole cover was nowhere to be found. Robert Brownlee, an astrophysicist who designed the test, wanted to repeat the experiment with high-speed cameras so he could figure out what happened to the cover. So another experiment was created, this time 500-feet deep, and a similar half-ton manhole cover was placed on top. On August 27, 1957, they detonated the bomb. The high-speed cameras barely caught a view of the cover as it left the top of the shaft and headed into oblivion. Brownlee used the frames to calculate the speed to be more than 125,000 miles per hour.... more than five times the escape velocity of the Earth, and the fastest man-made object in history.
Physicists have debated the whereabouts of the two manhole covers ever since. Recently, with the help of supercomputers and a lot more scientific knowledge, physicists are certain that they wouldn't have had time to burn up completely before exiting the atmosphere. This means both of the remaining pieces would have passed Pluto's orbit sometime around 1961 and are way beyond the edge of the solar system by now.
Keith Anderson, 2019
AllDune
astrofuzzics
Something something immortal snail
StorytellingSalem
Blaaaaaaaargh
obligatory
Extremefear
I'm just picturing a manhole cover flying into an alien civilization. Which sparks an intergalactic war.
thatsferalcheryl
PartaVictoriisPax
*Turns on a flashlight*
L0rdinquisit0r
Nuke+Metal cover = nuke shape charge = Manhole cover turned to very fast molten metal missile. Probable rained downrange as dust
vladimirtheliberator
Sm9yCg
Debunked.
chefgeary313
ephankrised
Imagine being an alien watching a civilization reach the nuclear ago and your spaceship gets donked by the thousand pounds of steel.
toolarchy5
The fastest man made object was created in my digestive tract by a combination of arby's and white castles.
kailord
graehall
Made up nonsense @OP.
sickofyourcrap
I thought Taco bell was the fastest .
LumpyBerries
This is fake, but also it always makes me go YEEEEEEET
LagerLagoon69
In 2015 Brownlee said I have no idea what happened to the cap but I always assumed that it was probably vaporized before it went into space
epithymetic
If the covers were blown out during daytime, wouldn’t they be headed towards the sun rather than away from it?
lupinypupper
Hey OP. Stop spreading lies and myths. This is the kind of stuff that created a bunch of trump idiots.
ItessaractI
The idea of man made objects out in the universe which has probably never had anything man made in it before is thrilling to me.
GingerLaird
What if the manhole cover pierced an alien space ship and they planned an all-out war because they thought we were attacking them.
rasheans
This again? Who's gonna debunk it this time?
TheCaptain00
https://io9.gizmodo.com/no-a-nuclear-explosion-did-not-launch-a-manhole-cover-1715340946
Asianman24
Can we use this same concept to get to Mars?
Shrike99
In theory, yes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)
mercyPandaRunner
Eehhm... there are some space probes that move with several kilometers a second.
Shrike99
Almost every one of the nearly 6000 satellites orbiting earth is moving that fast. Probes are often doing tens of kilometers per second.
mercyPandaRunner
If I remember correctly, one of the Voyagers moves about 16 km/s right now.
BaloneyBob
somethingsomethingsomethingclever
How does this seem to work with like 90% of imgur posts. Maybe someone can research that for us. Anyway, here's your upvote.
CheeseItWereBoned
Perfect.
SuprisedPikachuFace
BeerAndChips
BabyPuncher1
mastamage
Badger028
Lachie4472
TheFingerGunsGuy
imadethisaccounttotellyouthis
VERNE SHOT!
tooomanystevesgotbanned
Ugh, this is MADE UP, and even it it wasn't, the Helio 2 Probe broke that record.
izzitekk
This is why I love you guys
rbudrick
Headline linked below said it didn't happen, but then concludes it could have?
HeraldofOmega
It's fake news!
poets
It's a compelling story which is probably why it has persevered. +1 to you -1 to the false story.
realtoastyhours
Thats sad, would have been pretty cool if it wasn’t though
Ree81
Fuck. Had a good laugh reading it anyway.
Canigetbannedagain
The whip/bullwhip was the first man made device that broke the sound barrier.
Raziel420
Made up by Dr. Robert R. Brownlee the scientist in charge of the testing, Operation Plumbob, Test shot Pascal-B, or is that fake news
SpecialAgentPinkfinger
He talked about it in like the early 2000s, he didn't "make it up" like the anti-vaccine study, he was giving a smart-ass answer.
Raziel420
Seems like everytime it gets posted someone goes nuh uh and brings up that one article. Ignoring the dozens of research papers and records
SpecialAgentPinkfinger
Yeah but those were his own words. He wasn't tasked with that, these were the first nuclear bomb tests. He had bigger fish to fry than 1/
SpecialAgentPinkfinger
Some secondary calculation.
Dustfinger4268
It still would hold the record for fastest object within the atmosphere, so at least there's that
OneSlicer
Anything reported as “fact” by Karl Pilkington should be researched. Heavily.
lupinypupper
Thanks. We need to hold liars and people sharing false information accountable- even for stuff like this.
DrDred
When we hold them accountable. What is their sentence?
UKMonkey
Seemingly not down votes.
Mr21782Man
Uh, its not false. Its known to have traveled a minimum of 125,000 miles per hour, there's video. What happened after that we don't know.
MrMattster
And the Parker Solar Probe went much faster again, having reached 690,000km/h (430,000mph), or 192km/s
MrMattster
I was incorrect. That's Parker's velocity at closest approach in 2024. It has "only" reached 129km/s (464,000km/h, 288,000mph) so far.
TA2019
Why are you saying it was made up and the following that up with 'even if it wasnt'?
TotallySaneScientist
"Even if it wasn't made up."
TA2019
I get that. So you're saying 'its fake, and even if it wasn't...'. how about don't say something is fake or not if you don't know?
tooomanystevesgotbanned
It was fake.
TotallySaneScientist
They're saying even if it wasn't fake, the claim that is the fasted manmade object would be false anyway.
tooomanystevesgotbanned
This
tooomanystevesgotbanned
https://io9.gizmodo.com/no-a-nuclear-explosion-did-not-launch-a-manhole-cover-1715340946
whatbuttondoipush
I hate clickbait piece of shit websites like that. 90% ads and 10% maybes with no sources. Just because it's on the internet etc
HerbBlanston
Went down this rabbit hole once before
TotallySaneScientist
Nowhere does this say it isn't true, only that the scientist was criticized for not taking certain factors into account. The velocity is-
Idontwantausernameimgur
Thank you
TotallySaneScientist
still accurate. If it made it into orbit, or even stayed in one piece, is questionable but not outright refuted by these sources.
tooomanystevesgotbanned
Oh, and the Parker Solar probe broke the Helios 2's record.
tooomanystevesgotbanned
https://www.wired.com/story/just-how-fast-is-the-parker-solar-probe-astonishingly-fast/
HerbBlanston
Really cool
tooomanystevesgotbanned
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/infographic.view.php?id=11489
SpenjaminSputton
Space dot!
SociallyAwkwardCanadianMoose
Did not realize Juno was that fast
4Astaroth
Dot for fastest object ever created by human. Exploration of space.
HumanBlooper
Decent rabbit hole, thanks for that
Bladedrummer
Thanks for actual information!
Sec109
Also even if it was. Manhole vs Nuke pressure , nuke pressure wins. Manhole would break in half at the very least
dudekazoo
In an essay by Brownlee he reiterates that metal cap did fly off, as captured by high speed cameras.
MikeKeyser
yeah, went looking for the first, never found it. caught a bit of the 2nd on high speed and calculated it had escape velocity
Raziel420
Not a 2000lb one
zigbigidorlu
2000lbs!? That's a ton!
ElbowDeepInAPoliceState
Okay, perhaps that instead breaks into 3
Sec109
Yes a 2000lb one. A car ways more
AirplanesAndAnime
1000lbs, they say half-ton multiple times.
MrMattster
It was a 900kg steel plate, which is approximately 2,000lb
Weedies617
But it clearly says "half ton iron manhole cover" in the reading above.
MrMattster
When it's experiencing 6.7million g's of acceleration, yeah it's definitely breaking apart.
Raziel420
It was several inches thick. Most likely teardropped shaped blob shooting out of solar system.
MrMattster
Nope, tear-shaped blob being vaporised moments later
tyler384
Yep, high speed camera from 1957...
AstroFizX
They existed.
guitarfourtysix
https://interestingengineering.com/filming-the-first-milliseconds-of-a-nuclear-explosion-with-the-rapatronic-a-1950-engineering-marvel
Trunkmonkay
They did exist. Would take a 100 foot real of film and dump it in a bag in about of second. Doesn't mean this story is real tho.
Blimymyhat
The olde tyme cameras I used (photosonics and stalex just used a magazine. And yes, they burned through film for only a few usable frames.
harrison100012
Air recon used high speed cameras in W2 ?
somethingstupidandclever
That would be Doc Edgerton's area who is the father of strobe photography. Designed the A bomb's detonator in order to take cool pics
ElbowDeepInAPoliceState
1/They're considerably older than that. They've been used for ballistics research for quite some time. The camera itself is stationary,
ElbowDeepInAPoliceState
2/2 and a set of rotating mirrors are used to capture the motion
Blimymyhat
I don't get what you're saying. Yes, spinning mirror high speed cameras were capable of 1M FPS in the 50s
guitarfourtysix
Correct. They were taking pictures at the instant of fusion, 7 years earlier, actually. See above.
Blimymyhat
but the story is bullshit since no object could tumble through the atmosphere over 150mach
MisterLemons
The secondary and more accepted conclusion was that it vaporized on detonation or ascension.
ElbowDeepInAPoliceState
Sure it could... just not for very long.
bendoverrover
True, the centrifugal force of it spinning would cause it to rip itself apart
tyler384
Yes hence 1st slow motion atom bomb videos. The quality is so low and recorded from so far away tho you wouldn't be able to see the cover.
Blimymyhat
Now you are being mean to Doc Edgerton
tyler384
Well if the shaft was at the bottom of the ocean... Yea I could see it being plausible. Story checks out.
tooomanystevesgotbanned
STOP POSTING THIS MYTH.
ImJustaDudePlayingAnotherDude
Nu uh it’s on Imgur so it HAS to be true!
AtLeast325Cats
No u
IPlayWithFire
At least if it's fake its harmless , fun , politically benefits no-one and doesnt discredit science since It could hypothetically be true
notacobra
Can we, as a culture, come together and say: fuck that. Misinformation, whether maligned or otherwise, needs to fuck off for good.
IPlayWithFire
What a fantasy! that humans would ever come together as one, let alone do that. Heck theyd have to unanimously agree to forbid all religions
Honeypotsniffer
But... But... It's all the democrats fault in cahoots with BLM, ANTIFA... Hilary emails...
PirateDickCheney
Stop
TyrannusEquus
BUT THE EMAILS
GrumpyOldMillennial
Its not a myth, its just unconfirmed. The math is plausible but there is no way to actually prove it.
UKMonkey
Except the part about being the fastest man made object, which goes to the matter, anti matter pairs travelling at almost the speed of light
UKMonkey
And as said in other comments, there are also after spacecraft... So even moving the goal posts doesn't work.
ShinksAvoHazaar
Well there is one way
NapoleonDynOmite
Repeat the experiment
TheCaptain00
Except that it is. https://io9.gizmodo.com/no-a-nuclear-explosion-did-not-launch-a-manhole-cover-1715340946
GrumpyOldMillennial
Did they find the cap? The article doesn't say. It just points out that the math was a flippant guess, not that the story is a myth.
TheCaptain00
Well, let me know when they find some evidence that it is in fact hurtling through the cosmos.
GrumpyOldMillennial
Why exactly do you think we launched voyager 2?......we want our friggin manhole cover back.