The principles at work here are pretty simple. Compressed air, a pumpkin, and a nice long tube. There are related “pumpkin cannon” videos, but this appears to be very much the biggest. It didn’t escape my attention that the two giant canisters and huge pumpkin shaft are suggestive in some way. But then again, sometimes a huge cannon in the country is just a huge phallus cannon in the country.
My favorite part is when the passer-by asks “what’s downrange?” — which is the first question that came into mind for me. These pumpkins, travelling around a mile with initial velocity of 600MPH (I think they’re exaggerating, but still), would instantly kill anything they hit. They joke about firing bowling balls, ha ha, but you know they’ve tried, and one of those going that speed would probably go through a car door. Notice there really isn’t an answer to this question.
So, in conclusion: very cool, but profoundly irresponsible. It’s the American way!
[via Reddit]
That does seem to be a bit dangerous, but I do enjoy the world championship pumpkin chunkin’ contest each year. Everything from catapults to centripetal force to cannons!
Anyone wanna place bets until they hit someone or something?
Sure, I’d take that bet. Where they are, there is not much around. They are probably firing the objects into miles and miles of nothing but fields.
How can they do that without squashing the squash?
Nice, thick, hard shells. Not all make it out in one piece, though.
Great :) hope to see this gun in next Call of duty :P
That gun is great, I love the American way of doing things bigger than the rest. I live in the Netherlands, and the thought alone of building a monster pumpkin cannon like this would get you in jail over here, or at least in a nuthouse. Of course we don’t have the space that you have in the US, over here you would hit someone for certain.
Respect to the builders.