Vortex cannon versus the three little pigs

In this video, the BBC’s Jem Stansfield test fires a vortex cannon that uses an acetylene and oxygen fueled explosion to fire an extremely powerful blast of air across a lake. Stansfield attacks three targets: houses of straw, sticks and bricks, with some spectacular results.

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Science and TechVideos

C.S. Magor is the editor-in-chief and a reporter at large for We Interrupt and Uberreview. He currently resides in the Japanese countryside approximately two hours from Tokyo - where he has spent the better part of a decade testing his hypothesis that Japan is neither as quirky nor as interesting as others would have you believe.
88 Comments on this post.
  • AC
    30 July 2009 at 6:40 pm
    Leave a Reply

    Since you stupidly used Flash, instead of Theora, your video is unviewable. Perhaps hiring *competent* people would have been the better option.

    • DC
      30 July 2009 at 7:52 pm
      Leave a Reply

      Just because it didn’t work for you doesn’t mean the rest of the people who use a real computer with a real browser can’t see the video. Perhaps having less people like yourself who leave troll comments is a better option.

    • guy
      30 July 2009 at 8:23 pm
      Leave a Reply

      Theora? Is that a joke.

      Ask a major website to require its users to download a codec and you’re either going to be gawked at or told to return to your mum’s basement from where you came.

    • AC/DC
      31 July 2009 at 1:29 am
      Leave a Reply

      Competent? I’d think the moron that can’t get Flash to work is the one with the problem. Go back to school, this isn’t rocket-science.

      • C. S. Magor
        31 July 2009 at 1:36 am
        Leave a Reply

        Wow, things are getting heated in here.

      • C. S. Magor
        31 July 2009 at 2:01 am
        Leave a Reply

        AC: This is a YouTube video. YouTube, in case you do not know, is the most popular Flash player in use on the Internets. If you can’t make that work then you are, unfortunately, less competent than literally hundreds of millions of people – it must really suck to be you.

        The fact that of the thousands of people that have viewed this video from our site do not seem to have had a problem with it while you found it unviewable suggests to me that the problem might be with you and not them or us.

        The only reason behind your “Theora” suggestion that I can think of is that this is some weird Chewley’s Gum-esque sales pitch. But then Theora is open source, so there isn’t any money to be made… maybe you are just looking for attention and trying to piss a few people off; sound about right?

        Lighten up, not all commercial software is evil, some of it is really useful and the Flash player (in case you didn’t know) is free.

        • Brandon M. Sergent
          6 August 2009 at 12:50 am
          Leave a Reply

          Actually, all commercial software Is evil. Allowing creativity to be patented and thus outlawed is extremely harmful to society. Thats why there is a global difference between copyright and patents. Credit is not the same as ownership.

          Imagine a company having the right to tell you that you can’t paint bowls of flowers, how hard would you laugh? Now how silly would the people who say “go paint a REAL picture” look?

          By patenting software, we totally prevent innovation. It’s like patenting brush strokes. The ultimate result no new paintings. Or perhaps more importantly no new painting styles.

          What’s really funny is the vast majority of servers in the world are run on open source software. Why? Because the same companies, like adobe, who put a stranglehold on innovation, balk at the commercial solution’s absurd licensing cost and sub par product.

          Theora or something like it will replace flash. Demanding an open standard is quite fair.

          The only reason people are bitching is because they don’t know what Theora even is and they are too egotistical to Wiki it, instead preferring to humiliate and insult.

          • Copyleft
            16 August 2009 at 2:17 am

            You have no clue as to what copyright vs. patent means. You can patent an idea, but you can’t copyright an idea. You can only copyright your expression of an idea. Patents are to reward true innovation. The fact that you haven’t had a novel approach to anything in your life is not the rest of the world’s problem. The world you envision is simply everyone expressing the same “open” view of an idea, with no incentive to actually innovate.

        • kyle
          12 September 2010 at 7:49 pm
          Leave a Reply

          LOL,, Chuleys gum!!!! classic !!!

    • John Knoefler
      13 September 2010 at 10:29 pm
      Leave a Reply

      Since you stupidly don’t have flash you can’t watch the video like 99% of the other viewers. Sucks to be stupid huh?

  • AC
    30 July 2009 at 1:40 pm
    Leave a Reply

    Since you stupidly used Flash, instead of Theora, your video is unviewable. Perhaps hiring *competent* people would have been the better option.

    • DC
      30 July 2009 at 2:52 pm
      Leave a Reply

      Just because it didn’t work for you doesn’t mean the rest of the people who use a real computer with a real browser can’t see the video. Perhaps having less people like yourself who leave troll comments is a better option.

    • guy
      30 July 2009 at 3:23 pm
      Leave a Reply

      Theora? Is that a joke.

      Ask a major website to require its users to download a codec and you’re either going to be gawked at or told to return to your mum’s basement from where you came.

    • AC/DC
      30 July 2009 at 8:29 pm
      Leave a Reply

      Competent? I’d think the moron that can’t get Flash to work is the one with the problem. Go back to school, this isn’t rocket-science.

      • C. S. Magor
        30 July 2009 at 8:36 pm
        Leave a Reply

        Wow, things are getting heated in here.

      • C. S. Magor
        30 July 2009 at 9:01 pm
        Leave a Reply

        AC: This is a YouTube video. YouTube, in case you do not know, is the most popular Flash player in use on the Internets. If you can’t make that work then you are, unfortunately, less competent than literally hundreds of millions of people – it must really suck to be you.

        The fact that of the thousands of people that have viewed this video from our site do not seem to have had a problem with it while you found it unviewable suggests to me that the problem might be with you and not them or us.

        The only reason behind your “Theora” suggestion that I can think of is that this is some weird Chewley’s Gum-esque sales pitch. But then Theora is open source, so there isn’t any money to be made… maybe you are just looking for attention and trying to piss a few people off; sound about right?

        Lighten up, not all commercial software is evil, some of it is really useful and the Flash player (in case you didn’t know) is free.

        • Brandon M. Sergent
          5 August 2009 at 7:50 pm
          Leave a Reply

          Actually, all commercial software Is evil. Allowing creativity to be patented and thus outlawed is extremely harmful to society. Thats why there is a global difference between copyright and patents. Credit is not the same as ownership.

          Imagine a company having the right to tell you that you can’t paint bowls of flowers, how hard would you laugh? Now how silly would the people who say “go paint a REAL picture” look?

          By patenting software, we totally prevent innovation. It’s like patenting brush strokes. The ultimate result no new paintings. Or perhaps more importantly no new painting styles.

          What’s really funny is the vast majority of servers in the world are run on open source software. Why? Because the same companies, like adobe, who put a stranglehold on innovation, balk at the commercial solution’s absurd licensing cost and sub par product.

          Theora or something like it will replace flash. Demanding an open standard is quite fair.

          The only reason people are bitching is because they don’t know what Theora even is and they are too egotistical to Wiki it, instead preferring to humiliate and insult.

          • Copyleft
            15 August 2009 at 9:17 pm

            You have no clue as to what copyright vs. patent means. You can patent an idea, but you can’t copyright an idea. You can only copyright your expression of an idea. Patents are to reward true innovation. The fact that you haven’t had a novel approach to anything in your life is not the rest of the world’s problem. The world you envision is simply everyone expressing the same “open” view of an idea, with no incentive to actually innovate.

        • kyle
          12 September 2010 at 2:49 pm
          Leave a Reply

          LOL,, Chuleys gum!!!! classic !!!

    • John Knoefler
      13 September 2010 at 5:29 pm
      Leave a Reply

      Since you stupidly don’t have flash you can’t watch the video like 99% of the other viewers. Sucks to be stupid huh?

  • Nome
    30 July 2009 at 7:19 pm
    Leave a Reply

    Holy crappers! That was Effing Kewl!! 🙂
    Like something out of Sci-fi or a Japanese anime… Wow…
    Now to see what we as humans do with this in terms of destruction or productivity… :O 🙂

  • Nome
    30 July 2009 at 2:19 pm
    Leave a Reply

    Holy crappers! That was Effing Kewl!! 🙂
    Like something out of Sci-fi or a Japanese anime… Wow…
    Now to see what we as humans do with this in terms of destruction or productivity… :O 🙂

  • Bubba
    30 July 2009 at 8:23 pm
    Leave a Reply

    AC, works fine for me…

    Time to google vortex cannon and find some plans. Looks like a fun project.

  • Bubba
    30 July 2009 at 3:23 pm
    Leave a Reply

    AC, works fine for me…

    Time to google vortex cannon and find some plans. Looks like a fun project.

  • Rob
    30 July 2009 at 11:18 pm
    Leave a Reply

    Fake. The brick house was not a square and the bricks were simply stacked, not actually attached together. Set up to have the desired effect rather than a real experiment.

    • Didereaux
      7 August 2009 at 2:26 am
      Leave a Reply

      Okay, the bricks weren’t mortered. So if it is all a fake, I suggest you offer to stand exactly where the bricks were and let the guy fire that thing at you. When the hospital releases you please return and gives us your expert evaluation.
      g’luk

      • John Knoefler
        13 September 2010 at 10:31 pm
        Leave a Reply

        I am thinking it would not actually kill a person. More like a slap down or something. I would volunteer to stand in the way at that distance. However I find the idea of a larger cannon to be interesting.

    • jay
      27 July 2010 at 7:50 am
      Leave a Reply

      i agree, even tho this was a cool video. the first 2 houses were 4 walls and the brick was only one, kinda cheap way to make your experiment succeed.
      even still very cool video.

  • Rob
    30 July 2009 at 6:18 pm
    Leave a Reply

    Fake. The brick house was not a square and the bricks were simply stacked, not actually attached together. Set up to have the desired effect rather than a real experiment.

    • Didereaux
      6 August 2009 at 9:26 pm
      Leave a Reply

      Okay, the bricks weren’t mortered. So if it is all a fake, I suggest you offer to stand exactly where the bricks were and let the guy fire that thing at you. When the hospital releases you please return and gives us your expert evaluation.
      g’luk

      • John Knoefler
        13 September 2010 at 5:31 pm
        Leave a Reply

        I am thinking it would not actually kill a person. More like a slap down or something. I would volunteer to stand in the way at that distance. However I find the idea of a larger cannon to be interesting.

    • jay
      27 July 2010 at 2:50 am
      Leave a Reply

      i agree, even tho this was a cool video. the first 2 houses were 4 walls and the brick was only one, kinda cheap way to make your experiment succeed.
      even still very cool video.

  • Perry
    31 July 2009 at 2:04 am
    Leave a Reply

    Louis CK was so on the button with all this great technology wasted on the worst generation, people like AC.

    • Bakerwood
      12 September 2010 at 1:25 pm
      Leave a Reply

      Yeah to the CK!!! Too True!!!

  • Perry
    30 July 2009 at 9:04 pm
    Leave a Reply

    Louis CK was so on the button with all this great technology wasted on the worst generation, people like AC.

    • Bakerwood
      12 September 2010 at 8:25 am
      Leave a Reply

      Yeah to the CK!!! Too True!!!

  • JC
    31 July 2009 at 4:28 am
    Leave a Reply

    Must make vortex cannon. I need the schematics!!

  • JC
    30 July 2009 at 11:28 pm
    Leave a Reply

    Must make vortex cannon. I need the schematics!!

  • News Shots 07/30/09 | Johnny No One: I Hope You’re Happy
    31 July 2009 at 12:02 am
    Leave a Reply

    […] Maybe I could get more hits if I had more explosions in this blog […]

  • CCC
    31 July 2009 at 1:54 pm
    Leave a Reply

    Came for cool, left disappointed.

  • CCC
    31 July 2009 at 8:54 am
    Leave a Reply

    Came for cool, left disappointed.

  • Dave
    31 July 2009 at 2:10 pm
    Leave a Reply

    LOL! “I can’t play the video” & “Well, the brick house was just a brick wall”… You folks are idiots…

    Vortex Cannon… You’re cool. Any time you want to come hang out at my house you’re welcome.

    We could hang out, have a few beers, swig some acetylene & try to knock kids off their bikes! 10 points per kid.

    • GrayV
      15 July 2010 at 8:35 am
      Leave a Reply

      You shouldn’t have started that post off declaring people to be idiots and then finished it off being a complete idiot.

      And the ‘cannon’ is gay. 150 litres of highly flammable gas and it can nudge over some straw. Watch out Taliban!

  • Dave
    31 July 2009 at 9:10 am
    Leave a Reply

    LOL! “I can’t play the video” & “Well, the brick house was just a brick wall”… You folks are idiots…

    Vortex Cannon… You’re cool. Any time you want to come hang out at my house you’re welcome.

    We could hang out, have a few beers, swig some acetylene & try to knock kids off their bikes! 10 points per kid.

    • GrayV
      15 July 2010 at 3:35 am
      Leave a Reply

      You shouldn’t have started that post off declaring people to be idiots and then finished it off being a complete idiot.

      And the ‘cannon’ is gay. 150 litres of highly flammable gas and it can nudge over some straw. Watch out Taliban!

  • boogah
    1 August 2009 at 1:54 am
    Leave a Reply

    looked more like a wall of brick than a house. nothing behind to support the structure at all.

    fail.

  • boogah
    31 July 2009 at 8:54 pm
    Leave a Reply

    looked more like a wall of brick than a house. nothing behind to support the structure at all.

    fail.

  • TiminPhx
    24 May 2010 at 10:43 pm
    Leave a Reply

    Finally we can go after Terrorists who hide in hay fields and outhouses. Additionally, if any hide anywhere near where my brother-in-law does home projects, similar to the brick work here, they are as good as dead.

    • notretard
      8 September 2010 at 2:17 am
      Leave a Reply

      good as hurt*

    • notretard
      8 September 2010 at 2:17 am
      Leave a Reply

      good as hurt*

  • TiminPhx
    24 May 2010 at 5:43 pm
    Leave a Reply

    Finally we can go after Terrorists who hide in hay fields and outhouses. Additionally, if any hide anywhere near where my brother-in-law does home projects, similar to the brick work here, they are as good as dead.

    • notretard
      7 September 2010 at 9:17 pm
      Leave a Reply

      good as hurt*

  • Murphotronic
    13 June 2010 at 4:32 pm
    Leave a Reply

    It’s cool. May not have a ton of practical uses (yet), but let’s see CSI try to determine that the murder weapon was a vortex cannon…

    • Gotkilled2008
      21 April 2011 at 3:15 am
      Leave a Reply

      Victim was annoyed to death by the gunner. Case is solved.

  • Murphotronic
    13 June 2010 at 11:32 am
    Leave a Reply

    It’s cool. May not have a ton of practical uses (yet), but let’s see CSI try to determine that the murder weapon was a vortex cannon…

  • Blue Smith
    20 August 2010 at 6:32 am
    Leave a Reply

    Ken shot it at me. I was only dead for 9 days. weak.

    • C. S. Magor
      20 August 2010 at 9:01 am
      Leave a Reply

      Nine days is only mostly dead, not completely dead…

  • Blue Smith
    20 August 2010 at 1:32 am
    Leave a Reply

    Ken shot it at me. I was only dead for 9 days. weak.

    • C. S. Magor
      20 August 2010 at 4:01 am
      Leave a Reply

      Nine days is only mostly dead, not completely dead…

  • We Interrupt is 1,000 – so here are ten of our finest | We Interrupt
    23 August 2010 at 7:58 am
    Leave a Reply

    […] 4. Vortex cannon blows down pile of bricks […]

  • Galdon
    28 August 2010 at 7:13 pm
    Leave a Reply

    I would not call that last one a success. The way you stacked those bricks, if I had a glove on to protect my hand, i could have PUNCHED that wall over. Had the bricks gone flying, I’d be inclined to call it a success, but it only nudged them off balance.

  • Galdon
    28 August 2010 at 2:13 pm
    Leave a Reply

    I would not call that last one a success. The way you stacked those bricks, if I had a glove on to protect my hand, i could have PUNCHED that wall over. Had the bricks gone flying, I’d be inclined to call it a success, but it only nudged them off balance.

  • Eric S
    2 September 2010 at 3:18 am
    Leave a Reply

    It’s not fake, it’s just played up like its a much bigger deal than it is. You can buy a small one of those and they really work. But the barely balanced stack of bricks he knocked over could have been knocked over by throwing a basket ball at it. That’s about how much force it appeared to be delivering, the force of a lobbed basketball.

  • Eric S
    1 September 2010 at 10:18 pm
    Leave a Reply

    It’s not fake, it’s just played up like its a much bigger deal than it is. You can buy a small one of those and they really work. But the barely balanced stack of bricks he knocked over could have been knocked over by throwing a basket ball at it. That’s about how much force it appeared to be delivering, the force of a lobbed basketball.

  • Himangshu
    7 September 2010 at 4:20 am
    Leave a Reply

    Possibly reducing the diameter of the ring may concentrate the power and help punch a hole in the socalled reinforced brick structure that most guys are objecting to.

    Take it easy guys, this is only the beginning

  • Himangshu
    6 September 2010 at 11:20 pm
    Leave a Reply

    Possibly reducing the diameter of the ring may concentrate the power and help punch a hole in the socalled reinforced brick structure that most guys are objecting to.

    Take it easy guys, this is only the beginning

  • Ikronitos
    8 September 2010 at 12:16 am
    Leave a Reply

    They should send the idea to myth busters and let them have a go at it.

  • Ikronitos
    7 September 2010 at 7:16 pm
    Leave a Reply

    They should send the idea to myth busters and let them have a go at it.

  • pretty cool science vid – SRT Forums – SRT4, SRT6, SRT8, SRT10 & Dodge Forum
    3 October 2010 at 10:04 am
    Leave a Reply

    […] the science behind it is staggering and its just plain cool to watch…guy is kinda strange tho crazy dude with vortex cannon __________________ 2004 Black NSRT-4 MOPAR stage 1 AGP dogbones, Walbro 255 w/rewire, agp […]

  • kevin matthews
    11 October 2010 at 3:14 am
    Leave a Reply
  • Anonymous
    31 October 2010 at 9:31 pm
    Leave a Reply

    Wow, that thing is pretty cool! Bet if those bricks had been mortared, it would not have moved.

    • Josh
      8 February 2011 at 2:01 am
      Leave a Reply

      Yes, but then it would not have amazed rednecks

  • pooo
    1 November 2010 at 5:02 am
    Leave a Reply

    Dude seems a little overenthusiastic.

  • Infostephanie r
    3 November 2010 at 5:39 am
    Leave a Reply
  • Golddusst
    6 November 2010 at 1:14 am
    Leave a Reply

    you should read about the SCALAR WEAPON, it can make volcanoes erup and travel across oceans. it’s bloody insane technology!!

    • Andreidrago
      3 June 2011 at 6:59 pm
      Leave a Reply

      yeah,too much Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recoon Advanced … 🙂

  • Picardkid
    1 December 2010 at 5:50 pm
    Leave a Reply

    Weak. Could have done the same throwing a rock from the same distance.

  • I hate that presenter
    8 December 2010 at 8:26 pm
    Leave a Reply

    i want the cannon to be shot at the presenter.
    He is just annoyingly enthusiastic…

  • Hj
    10 December 2010 at 9:29 pm
    Leave a Reply

    hmm it looks like i could push those bricks of with a finger.

  • We Interrupt 2010 – Year In Pictures
    31 December 2010 at 10:29 am
    Leave a Reply

    […] Vortex cannon versus the three little pigs 76 comments […]

  • Tis
    15 January 2011 at 12:50 pm
    Leave a Reply

    are the pigs inside the house?

  • Ctrlaltdel
    21 April 2011 at 6:03 am
    Leave a Reply

    Interesting, but not really useful. Throwing a car at someone at over 2k fps seems both cheaper and more deadly… Worth the research, but so far not much more.

  • Mika
    21 April 2011 at 8:46 am
    Leave a Reply

    why do i think about seeing it in jackass soon =/

  • Nope
    22 April 2011 at 1:39 pm
    Leave a Reply

    stupid twat

  • Hawkfrend
    27 April 2011 at 12:32 pm
    Leave a Reply

    the brick wall was set up to fall over if you even farted on it, what a fail.

  • AB
    30 April 2011 at 4:00 am
    Leave a Reply

    A wall does not a house make. Plus why was he aiming so high? Probably because it didn’t want to move when he was aiming at the center of the brick wall.

  • Odin13
    9 May 2011 at 1:49 am
    Leave a Reply

    I wonder if this guy acts like an idiot after he cums…

  • Almost
    5 June 2011 at 8:38 pm
    Leave a Reply

    i agree, if those bricks had been mortared and it was a proper structure with support they wouldn’t have budged.  That thing is still pretty cool though.

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