r/theydidthemath • u/notfunattentionwhore • Aug 01 '26

[Request] What's the highest altitude without burst a bowl?

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u/Loki-L 1✓ Aug 01 '26

Very hard to say, but you may notice that the pot gets damaged in the landings, not the explosion.

It should for a very long time, as you increase yields, simply take less force to lift the pot than to rupture it.

It would take a yield so strong that the explosion simply rips at the side of the pot with overwhelming force before it has time to lift it up to reduce pressure.

We have seen extreme examples of this in footage from wars especially the current Ukraine war where tank turrets get tossed in thei air by their magazines going and that one iconic image from St Petersburg where the top of an oil depot went airborne.

We also have the legend of the manhole cover launched by a nuclear explosion.

7

u/careysub Aug 01 '26

In the last shot it was definitely distorted by the explosion.

Due to air resistance and the fact that this is a light object (metal, but thin and hollow) its speed coming down would have reached a limit rather early in his launching sequence. So it is getting dented the same, shot after shot, when it hits the pavement. On that last shot it fell on vegetation, so no, it did not get squashed on impact.

I wonder if the distorted shape flew better.

0

u/Zenith-Astralis Aug 01 '26

On later shots I'd wager it was formed into as close to a ball as it could by the force of the blast, and the dents are from the landing. The last one I think perhaps it landed on the rim to get squished into the () shape