[NSRCA-discussion] Fw: ~Defining Acceleration~

[Keith Hoard]

Sounds like they ripped off Atari's "Missile Command" game . . . .

Keith Hoard
Collierville, TN
khoard at gmail.com




On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 2:00 PM, <jh102649 at speakeasy.net> wrote:

>
> 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:
> >> Â
> >> ----- 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.Â
> >
> >>
> >> Â 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 !
> >>
> >> Â 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…..
> >
> >>
> >> Â Â
> >>
> >> </mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=13336586af337a16&attid=0.0.1&disp=emb&zw>
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> DEFINITION OF ACCELERATION
> >
> >>
> >> Â Â Â Â
> >> One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower
> than
> the first 4 rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500.
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> 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.
> >
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> 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.
> >>
> >
> >> Â
> >>
> >> A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the
> dragster's supercharger.
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> 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.
> >
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> 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)
> >
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> 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.
> >>
> >
> >> Â
> >>
> >> Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug.  This is the output of
> an arc
> welder in each cylinder.
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> 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.
> >
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> 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.
> >
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> 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.
> >
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed
> reading this
> sentence.
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> Top fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to
> light!Â
> Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under
> load.
> >
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> The redline is actually quite high at 9,500 rpm.
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> 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.
> >
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> 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 ).
> >
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> Putting all of this into perspective:
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> 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.
> >
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> 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.
> >
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> 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.
> >
> >>
> >> Â
> >>
> >> ...... and that my friend, is ACCELERATION!
> >>
> >>
> >
> >-----Inline Attachment Follows-----
> >
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>
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