• sicarius@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      64
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      If I recall correctly the fastest object ever was a manhole cover after an explosion. If it was sentient then it would be the fastest creature.
      BRB, going to look up the incedent.
      Edit: Here you go

      • ChicoSuave@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        66
        ·
        4 months ago

        During the Pascal-B nuclear test of August 1957, a 900-kilogram (2,000 lb) iron lid was welded over the borehole to contain the nuclear blast, despite Brownlee predicting that it would not work. When Pascal-B was detonated, the blast went straight up the test shaft, launching the cap into the atmosphere at a speed of more than 66 km/s (41 mi/s; 240,000 km/h; 150,000 mph). The plate was never found. Scientists believe compression heating caused the cap to vaporize as it sped through the atmosphere.

        A one ton iron vent cap (sewer plate) moved so fast it vaporized. Iron into gas, just add velocity in atmo. That’s so fucking cool.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        33
        ·
        4 months ago

        the nuclear blast ended up having a yield 50,000 times greater than predicted

        That’s what’s known in the industry as “an oopsie”. Almost at the “snafu” threshold over which it would be likely to cause a brouhaha.