Vortex Cannon

[nopasties]

I do not know anything about the technology but this video is freakin cool

[Don in the North]

would be interesting to see if this works in vacuum though i doubt it. was thinking perhaps it would be a useful way for future ships to sort of push space junk or meterioites and stuff out of the way with a more constant pulse rather than a 1 shot as the video cannon does

[Alkarin]

incredible? hardly...the only bricks that fell were obviously not very stable on the structure anyways. but thats not the point! very interesting of how this could be used in real life

[Wheelchair]

Hes like flipping out when it really isn't that exciting. lol

[Maximus Macro]

Hes like flipping out when it really isn't that exciting. lol

are you for real? this is a insane peace of technology

[Barry Lyndon]

This is Viktor Schauberger's stuff.

[CDMan477]

If those were actual structures as opposed to one and three sided rickety bootleg buildings, it would have been exciting. I can't personally knock down a brick house, but I could have knocked down that pile of bricks in the last scene. Don't see how practical it is right now considering conventional weaponry is much more powerful. Maybe it could have other uses perhaps such as demolition?

[Baron von Sky Hat]

To be fair, the point of the exercise wasn't to demonstrate its efficacy as a weapon or any other practical use, but to show the physical effect in a dramatic way.
Shoddily constructed though the `houses' were, when you consider that it's just a ring of air, over all that distance, knocking them over, it's still fairly cool.

You have to compare it with similar effects. So whilst clearly hitting the structures with a mallet or somesuch would probably have provided rather more comprehensive destruction, what wind effects would you need to do the same?
Especially if you're trying to create the effect yourself; through just wind, the size of fan you'd need to just knock something over at that distance in an open environment, where the air can disperse would be huge.

In addition the condensing effect within the vortex loop, causing it to become visible, was very cool. It's a very very similar effect to the vapour pockets you get on the wings of fast jet aircraft when they turn or around them in a kind of cone when they break the sound barrier sometimes.

[chamaeleo]

There's a giant cannon at Burning Man that shoots 30' smoke rings into the air every 10min:


Then there's the commercial, hand-held variety. I use it to discipline the cat: