[NSRCA-discussion] Fw: ~Defining Acceleration~

jh102649 at speakeasy.net jh102649 at speakeasy.net
Mon Oct 24 11:00:17 AKDT 2011 

Its been a long time so my memory may be wrong but I think the US produced a
missile, called the Sprint, that went 0->mach 10 in a few seconds. It was a short
range, nuclear armed, anti-missile missile. If it was ever deployed it was only
for a short time because the ABM treaty outlawed them. In the movies I've seen of
its launch you cannot see it once it clears the silo. If the information in
Wikipedia is correct the top fuel dragster is much slower. Following is the
Wikipedia article:

The Sprint was a two-stage, solid-fuel anti-ballistic missile, armed with a W66
enhanced radiation thermonuclear warhead. It was designed as the short-range
high-speed counterpart to the longer-range LIM-49 Spartan as part of the Sentinel
program. Sentinel never became operational, but the technology was deployed
briefly in a downsized version called the Safeguard program. The Sprint, like the
Spartan, was in operational service for only a few months in the Safeguard
program, from October 1975 to early 1976. A combination of high costs,
congressional opposition, and questionable efficacy resulted in a very short
operational period.

The Sprint accelerated at 100 g, reaching a speed of Mach 10 in 5 seconds. It was
designed for close-in defense against incoming nuclear weapons. As the last line
of defense it was to intercept the reentry vehicles that had not been destroyed
by the Spartan, with which it was deployed.

The Sprint was stored in and launched from a silo. To make the launch as quick as
possible, the cover was blown off the silo by explosive charges, then the missile
was ejected by an explosive-driven piston. As the missile cleared the silo, the
first stage fired and the missile was tilted toward its target. The first stage
was exhausted after only 1.2 seconds, but produced 2,900 kN (650,000 lbf) of
thrust. The second stage fired within 1 - 2 seconds of launch. Interception at an
altitude of 1,500 m to 30,000 m took at most 15 seconds.

The Sprint was controlled by ground-based radio command, which tracked the
incoming reentry vehicles with phased-array radar and guided the missile to its
target.

The Sprint was armed with an enhanced radiation nuclear warhead with a yield
reportedly of a few kilotons, though the exact number has not been declassified.
The warhead was intended to destroy the incoming reentry vehicle primarily by
neutron flux.

Perhaps we are talking about manned vehicles?
Jeff Hill

On Mon Oct 24  9:04 , Dennis Bodary <d_bodary at yahoo.com> sent:

>For someone who has seen a Top Fuel car in Person. Every one should see one at
least once your speakers on television do nothing for you. It can best be
described as violent. Not to mention your whole body hurts from the sound on
Acceleration. The cars are Brutal
>
>--- On Mon, 10/24/11, Keith Black <tkeithblack at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>From: Keith Black <tkeithblack at gmail.com>
>Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Fw: ~Defining Acceleration~
>To: "General pattern discussion" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
>Date: Monday, October 24, 2011, 10:59 AM
>
>Awesome Nat, thanks for sharing!
>
>On Monday, October 24, 2011, Nat Penton <natpenton at centurytel.net> wrote:
>>  
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Larry Smith
>
>> To: Larry Smith
>> Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2011 9:11 PM
>> Subject: ~Defining Acceleration~
>> For those who love numbers, engineers, speed freaks and those who think they
have gone too fast at one time or another. This puts Corvette performance in
perspective.  This article mentions Lingenfelter twin turbo powered Z06. 
>
>>
>>  Read this thru slowly and try to comprehend the amount of force produced in
just under 4 seconds!  The last paragraph puts it all into perspective !
>>
>>  There are no rockets or airplanes built by any government in the world that
can accelerate from a standing start as fast as a Top Fuel Dragster or Funny
Car…..and that includes any aircraft launched by a catapult from an aircraft
carrier. Nothing can compare…..
>
>>
>>   
>>
>> </mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=13336586af337a16&attid=0.0.1&disp=emb&zw>
>>
>>  
>>
>>  
>>
>>  
>>
>> DEFINITION OF ACCELERATION
>
>>
>>     
>> One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than
the first 4 rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500.
>>
>>  
>>
>> It takes just 15/100ths (0.15) of a second for all 6,000+ horsepower (some
believe 8,000 HP is more realistic - there are no dynomometers capable of
measuring) of an NHRA Top Fuel dragster engine to reach the rear wheels.
>
>>
>>  
>>
>> Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 gallons of nitromethane
per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less
energy being produced.
>>
>
>>  
>>
>> A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the
dragster's supercharger.
>>
>>  
>>
>> With 3,000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the
fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition.
>
>>
>>  
>>
>> Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
>>
>>  
>>
>> At the stoichiometric (stoichiometry: methodology and technology by which
quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions are determined) 1.7:1
air/fuel mixture of nitromethane, the flame front temperature measures 7,050 deg
F.  (Oxy-acetylene on "cut" is 6,300)
>
>>
>>  
>>
>> Nitro methane burns yellow.  The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks
at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the
searing exhaust gases.
>>
>
>>  
>>
>> Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug.  This is the output of an arc
welder in each cylinder.
>>
>>  
>>
>> Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during one pass.  After halfway,
the engine is dieseling from compression, plus the glow of exhaust valves at
1,400 deg F.  The engine can only be shut down by cutting the fuel flow.
>
>>
>>  
>>
>> If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the
affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow cylinder heads
off the block in pieces or split the block in half.
>
>>
>>  
>>
>> In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate
an average of over 4G's.  In order to reach 200 mph well before half-track, the
launch acceleration approaches 8G's.
>
>>
>>  
>>
>> Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this
sentence.
>>
>>  
>>
>> Top fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light! 
Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load.
>
>>
>>  
>>
>> The redline is actually quite high at 9,500 rpm.
>>
>>  
>>
>> Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once
NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimate $1,000.00 per second.
>
>>
>>  
>>
>> The current top fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.428 seconds for the
quarter mile (11/12/06, Tony Schumacher, at Pomona , CA ).  The top speed record
is 336.15 mph as measured over the last 66' of the run (05/25/05 Tony Schumacher,
at Hebron , OH ).
>
>>
>>  
>>
>> Putting all of this into perspective:
>>
>>  
>>
>> You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter 'twin-turbo' powered
Corvette Z06.  Over a mile up the road, a top fuel dragster is staged and ready
to launch down a quarter mile strip as you pass.  You have the advantage of a
flying start.  You run the 'Vette hard up through the gears and blast across the
starting line and pass the dragster at an honest 200 mph.  The 'tree' goes green
for both of you at that instant.
>
>>
>>  
>>
>> The dragster launches and starts after you.  You keep your foot down hard, but
you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums and within 3
seconds, the dragster catches and passes you.  He beats you to the finish line, a
quarter mile away from where you just passed him.
>
>>
>>  
>>
>> Think about it, from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you 200 mph
and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you
within a mere 1,320 foot long race course.
>
>>
>>  
>>
>> ...... and that my friend, is ACCELERATION!
>>
>>
>
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