Is The Russian Ice Cannon Myth Physically Possible? | MythBusters

MythBusters — S12 E8 "Supersonic Ping Pong/Ice Cannon" — Aired March 1, 2014 Historical accounts describe Cossack soldiers under siege crafting cannonballs from ice when conventional ammunition ran out, and Kari, Tory and Grant decided to test not just the cannonball but the cannon itself, first casting four versions of ice cannonballs with different reinforcements — plain ice, hemp fiber, sawdust, and paper fiber — loading the unreinforced ball into a Civil War-era cannon with eight ounces of black powder and watching it travel 684 miles per hour and knock over a target dummy intact, and then building ice cannon breeches of increasing wall thickness to see whether the barrel itself could survive the firing, finding that even the thickest design shattered under the pressure and that the Cossack siege weapon may be one of mili Subscribe so you never miss an experiment:    / @mythbusterstvshow   Using science as their weapon and curiosity as their fuel, Hollywood special effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman spent 14 seasons and 296 episodes testing the world's most popular myths, urban legends, and movie moments. From the Diet Coke & Mentos explosion to surviving an underwater car escape — if it can be tested, they'll test it. #MythBusters #AdamSavage #ScienceExperiments