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Offline Cannoneer

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Chinese gunpowder artist
« on: February 04, 2012, 09:28:34 AM »
While I find it interesting that this man considers his works to be fine art, and I’m also a great fan of well done fireworks displays, my real curiosity lies in how he achieved the incredibly fast and sequenced firing of the mortars. Is it possible that the timed ignitions were accomplished by fuse and/or powder train, or did it have to be done electronically?

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RIP John. While on vacation July 4th 2013 in northern Wisconsin, he was ATVing with family and pulled ahead of everyone and took off at break-neck speed without a helmet. He lost control.....hit a tree....and the tree won.  He died instantly.

The one thing that you can almost always rely on research leading to, is more research.

Offline Soot

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Re: Chinese gunpowder artist
« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2012, 10:13:12 AM »
At the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar this week, Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang put on his largest "explosion event" of the last three years, utilizing microchip-controlled explosives to form incredible designs and patterns. The video we've embedded of the event is an impressive testament to how a volatile black powder explosion can be controlled and shaped by computer.

Each set of explosions was calculated to paint a different picture. One series of explosions created black smoke clouds that looked like "drops of ink splattered across the sky."

In another, 8,300 shells embedded with computer microchips exploded in a pyramid shape over the desert.
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Offline Artilleryman

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Re: Chinese gunpowder artist
« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2012, 10:14:29 AM »
To get that type of timing would have to be done electrically. 
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Offline briarpatch

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Re: Chinese gunpowder artist
« Reply #3 on: February 04, 2012, 01:15:42 PM »
A good pair of tennis shoes and a bic lighter..................
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Offline brokenpole

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Re: Chinese gunpowder artist
« Reply #4 on: February 04, 2012, 01:16:40 PM »
If you go to the You Tube site it says it was all computer microchip controlled.
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Offline GGaskill

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Re: Chinese gunpowder artist
« Reply #5 on: February 04, 2012, 06:23:56 PM »
I think you would have to use primacord to get that fast a series of ignitions if you were going to be somewhat traditional.
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“If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart; if you're not a conservative at 40, you have no brain.”--Winston Churchill

Offline Victor3

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Re: Chinese gunpowder artist
« Reply #6 on: February 04, 2012, 10:21:41 PM »
 A friend of mine spends much of his time in China and has seen many a display there. He tells me that some go on for hours. All the big fancy shows where he's been able to observe the operators appeared to be controlled by one guy via a laptop.
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"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly, one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."

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Offline Cannoneer

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Re: Chinese gunpowder artist
« Reply #7 on: February 06, 2012, 09:20:35 PM »
I see that some of you took the path of least resistence, and checked this YouTube vid's blurb, but I only read about computer controlled aerial bursts. All right, let's admit that it's a safe bet that this "artist" also used electronics for the ground mortar displays: Doesn't anyone think that similar results could have been obtained using pre-1899 methods?
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RIP John. While on vacation July 4th 2013 in northern Wisconsin, he was ATVing with family and pulled ahead of everyone and took off at break-neck speed without a helmet. He lost control.....hit a tree....and the tree won.  He died instantly.

The one thing that you can almost always rely on research leading to, is more research.

Offline Artilleryman

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Re: Chinese gunpowder artist
« Reply #8 on: February 07, 2012, 05:27:42 AM »
Quote from: Cannoneer on February 06, 2012, 09:20:35 PM
Doesn't anyone think that similar results could have been obtained using pre-1899 methods?

I could be wrong but I don't think the fuses available pre-1899 were that reliable or that fast.
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Norm Gibson, 1st SC Vol., ACWSA
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