Backyard Ballistics: Build Potato Cannons, Paper Match Rockets, Cincinnati Fire Kites, Tennis Ball Mortars, and More Dynamite Devices

by William Gurstelle

Overview

This bestselling DIY handbook now features new and expanded projects, enabling ordinary folks to construct 16 awesome ballistic devices in their garage or basement workshops using inexpensive household or hardware store materials and this step-by-step guide. Clear instructions, diagrams, and photographs show how to build projects ranging from the simple match-powered rocket to the more complex tabletop catapult and the offbeat Cincinnati fire kite. The classic potato cannon has a new evil twin—the piezo-electric spud gun and the electromagnetic pipe gun has joined the company of such favorites as the tennis ball mortar. With a strong emphasis on safety, the book also gives tips on troubleshooting, explains the physics behind the projects, and profiles scientists and extraordinary experimenters such as Alfred Nobel, Robert Goddard, and Isaac Newton. This book will be indispensable for the legions of backyard toy-rocket launchers and fireworks fanatics who wish every day was the fourth of July.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613740644
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	09/01/2012
Edition description:	Second Edition, Second edition
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	139,932
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

William Gurstelle is the author of Absinthe & Flamethrowers; The Art of the Catapult; Building Bots; The Practical Pyromaniac; Notes from the Technology Underground; and Whoosh, Boom, Splat. He is a professional engineer who has been researching and building model catapults and ballistic devices for more than 30 years and is a contributing editor at Popular Mechanics and Make magazine and writes frequently for Wired, The Rake, and several other national magazines. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Preface to the Second Edition xiii

Introduction xvii

Time Line xxii

1 Keeping Safety in Mind 1

2 The Potato Cannon 9

The Classic Potato Cannon

The Spud - Zooka

3 Back Porch Rocketry 31

The Paper Match Rocket

The Hydro Pump Rocket

The Pneumatic Missile

4 The Cincinnati Fire Kite 59

5 Greek Fire and the Catapult 71

6 The Tennis Ball Mortar 87

7 The Sublimator 99

8 The Flinger 109

9 Pnewton's Petard 123

10 The Powder Keg 139

11 The Dry Cleaner Bag Balloon 147

12 The Carbide Cannon 157

13 The Electromagnetic Pipe Gun 173

14 The Ballistic Pendulum 183

Ideas for Further Study 193

Advice on Procuring Materials 201

Index 205

What People are Saying About This

New York, New York

"If you'd like to launch a potato in a blazing fireball of combusting hairspray from a PVC pipe, this is your best source.

From the Publisher

“Fun and potentially dangerous, this is sure to be a hit at most public libraries. Recommended. Bring your own safety goggles." — Library Journal

“A great primer for the would-be engineer, and a wonderful chance for bonding among like-minded parents and children…Great fun!” — Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

"How is it possible not to love a book with chapter titles like 'Back Porch Rocketry' and 'Greek Fire and the Catapult?' I devoured this prodigious account of all things explosive." —Homer Hickam, author of Rocket Boys

"Would-be rocketeers, take note: Engineer William Gurstelle has written a book for you." —Chicago Tribune

"If you want to make a potato soufflé, pick up a book by Julia Child. If you want to decorate your holiday cards with hand-cut potato stamps, look to a Martha Stewart manual. If, however, you'd like to launch a potato in a blazing fireball of combusting hairspray from a PVC pipe, your best source is Backyard Ballistics, by William Gurstelle." —Time Out New York

"Your inner boy will get a bang out of these 13 devices to build and shoot in your own back yard, some of them noisy enough to legally perk up a 4th of July."  —Dallas Morning News

DallasNews.com

"Your inner boy will get a bang out of these 13 devices to build and shoot in your own backyard, some of them noisy enough to legally perk up a 4th of July."

Editorial Reviews

Fun and potentially dangerous, this is sure to be a hit at most public libraries. Recommended. Bring your own safety goggles."  —Library Journal


“A great primer for the would-be engineer, and a wonderful chance for bonding among like-minded parents and children . . . Great fun!”  —Courier-Journal



"How is it possible not to love a book with chapter titles like 'Back Porch Rocketry' and 'Greek Fire and the Catapult?' I devoured this prodigious account of all things explosive."  —Homer Hickam, author of Rocket Boys

"Would-be rocketeers, take note: Engineer William Gurstelle has written a book for you."  —Chicago Tribune

"If you want to make a potato soufflé, pick up a book by Julia Child. If you want to decorate your holiday cards with hand-cut potato stamps, look to a Martha Stewart manual. If, however, you'd like to launch a potato in a blazing fireball of combusting hairspray from a PVC pipe, your best source is Backyard Ballistics, by William Gurstelle."  —Time Out New York



"Your inner boy will get a bang out of these 13 devices to build and shoot in your own back yard, some of them noisy enough to legally perk up a 4th of July."  —Dallas Morning News

From the Publisher

From potato guns to flaming balloons, this DIY book has unique appeal. Gurstelle (The Practical Pyromaniac; The Art of the Catapult) offers an update to his 2001 publication, adding new devices and resource information. Interspersed between projects are sections on history and scientific principles, adding depth to the mayhem. Cautions for safety are strongly stated and frequently. These are definitely not for unsupervised youth. The projects range from utterly simplistic to complicated construction, accompanied by clear instructions. VERDICT Fun and potentially dangerous, this is sure to be a hit at most public libraries. Recommended. Bring your own safety goggles.

Library Journal

Offers a safe, cheap, and legal, labor-intensive and intellectually challenging to the 'oops I blew off my fingers' debacle.
— Arlington Heights Daily Herald

Constable

Fun and thrilling.

Journal of Chemical Education

Would-be rocketeers, take note: Engineer William Gurstelle has written a book for you.

Chicago Tribune

To inspire kids to spend more time exploring science.

Plain Dealer

13 projects engineered to be safe yet exciting and able to be built with household and hardware-store supplies.

St. Paul Pioneer Press

"...shows the safe way to amaze and annoy your neighbors with amateur science projects."

The Daily Oklahoman

If you'd like to launch a potato in a blazing fireball of combusting hairspray from a PVC pipe, this is your best source.

Time Out New York

Your inner boy will get a bang out of these 13 devices to build and shoot in your own backyard, some of them noisy enough to legally perk up a 4th of July.

DallasNews.com