Post something Weird or Random

[Kisa the tea]

 

[VictorR]

 

[Shevek]

 

[maycontainthunder]

I like geography when I can get my teeth into it.

 

[Vindiesel]

CPR= non-consensual kissing and chest touching

 

[maycontainthunder]

Not quite as idiotic as 'Birds Aren't Real' but getting there.....

 

[maycontainthunder]

 

[maycontainthunder]

 

[grommet]

Some of the strongest rope in the world is Dyneema. It is extremely light, easy to handle and as strong or stronger than steel in the same diameter. A 1mm Dyneema cord can support safely the weight of a 180lb person though I would not test this in the real world.

It has changed so much since it was invented then put into large production, an amazing thing.

A company in the Northwest made it 50% stronger. So incredible. The did not change the chemistry or the braid of the line. They took pre-made Dyneema rope and made it 50% stronger.

It seems impossible until you understand what they did and why it worked to make the rope stronger. A simple idea but so difficult to manage they do not give out the exact method.

Can you guess at all how they made it stronger?

So I do not make this too long I will explain as simply as I can.

Imagine four ropes, each tied to the corner of a table. Two of the ropes are tight, they are taking the load, actually lifting the table’s weight. The other two are connected but slack, not doing anything. But there are four ropes.

Imagine adjusting the ropes that are loose and not lifting the table to they are now taking their share and each rope is lifting 25% of the weight. Without making any of the ropes stronger, you have not increased their ability to lift. If only two were lifting the load and could take the 1,000lb weight the being able to spread that weight to the two other ropes that were not doing anything would increase the overall ability of the system doing simple math to 2,000lbs.

To finish the explanation on how this company did what they did .. a rope is is made of strands, the larger pieces twisted or braided around each other, within each thick strand are threads.

During the braiding process some of the threads and later, the strands are curved and not as straight as the others. The curved ones are not doing any work, they are slack while the straight ones take the load.

To end - the company heats the rope to a specific temperature for a certain time. It is done with the rope under great load (it is being pulled hard while heated). This relaxes and stretches all the fibers so they are all more in line and now all close to the same length, more of the fibers and strands are working together when lifting a load.

I was amazed and delighted when I found out what they had done. The same rope everyone else was using but theirs was 50% stronger, looked the same, handled the same, weighed the same. It was the same, just in a sense annealed so it would work better.

Fascinating to me but weird and random for me to talk about

p.s. I am oversimplifying the explanation to make it more understandable but essentially they are making more of the fibers the same as the others so they can all work together more.

 

[Shevek]

Some of the strongest rope in the world is Dyneema. It is extremely light, easy to handle and as strong or stronger than steel in the same diameter. A 1mm Dyneema cord can support safely the weight of a 180lb person though I would not test this in the real world.

It has changed so much since it was invented then put into large production, an amazing thing.

A company in the Northwest made it 50% stronger. So incredible. The did not change the chemistry or the braid of the line. They took pre-made Dyneema rope and made it 50% stronger.

It seems impossible until you understand what they did and why it worked to make the rope stronger. A simple idea but so difficult to manage they do not give out the exact method.

Can you guess at all how they made it stronger?

So I do not make this too long I will explain as simply as I can.

Imagine four ropes, each tied to the corner of a table. Two of the ropes are tight, they are taking the load, actually lifting the table’s weight. The other two are connected but slack, not doing anything. But there are four ropes.

Imagine adjusting the ropes that are loose and not lifting the table to they are now taking their share and each rope is lifting 25% of the weight. Without making any of the ropes stronger, you have not increased their ability to lift. If only two were lifting the load and could take the 1,000lb weight the being able to spread that weight to the two other ropes that were not doing anything would increase the overall ability of the system doing simple math to 2,000lbs.

To finish the explanation on how this company did what they did .. a rope is is made of strands, the larger pieces twisted or braided around each other, within each thick strand are threads.

During the braiding process some of the threads and later, the strands are curved and not as straight as the others. The curved ones are not doing any work, they are slack while the straight ones take the load.

To end - the company heats the rope to a specific temperature for a certain time. It is done with the rope under great load (it is being pulled hard while heated). This relaxes and stretches all the fibers so they are all more in line and now all close to the same length, more of the fibers and strands are working together when lifting a load.

I was amazed and delighted when I found out what they had done. The same rope everyone else was using but theirs was 50% stronger, looked the same, handled the same, weighed the same. It was the same, just in a sense annealed so it would work better.

Fascinating to me but weird and random for me to talk about

p.s. I am oversimplifying the explanation to make it more understandable but essentially they are making more of the fibers the same as the others so they can all work together more.

If you stretch a common polyethylene bag under a very strong microscope, you can see that as it fails, the cracks are bridged by fibers. Those are Dyneema starting to form. The stuff is just processed bag material, a chain of carbon atoms, padded out with two chains of hydrogen. I wouldn't call their finishing process annealing, though, just stress-relieving, which happens at a lower temperature. Annealing would soften the rope back into short molecular chains. Spectra fiber is similar.
In composite materials, a big game-changer was aramid fiber, or Kevlar. Unlike most materials, it is very strong and tough in tension, but quite weak in compression, and spectra is even more extreme in that way, and in lower density. If you try to sand a Kevlar surface, the broken fibers pull at the resin and break it up, releasing more length. You have to shave it off, quickly dulling many, many sharp blades.

 

[Shevek]

There are four roads out of town that I ride my bike on for exercise. People heading west are probably going a long way, on a flat, straight road. They seem to focus on going straight, because quite a few of them pass me far closer than they need to. Coming back, bored from the long drive and used to watching for deer and other obstacles, they are far more likely to move over.

 

[maycontainthunder]

 

[Tristan_USA]

 

[tree]

 

[Tom]

Rollerblade Barbie

Peter Bischoff/Getty Images

"This 1991 Barbie came with snazzy rollerblades that flashed and shot out sparks when used! Wait… sparks? Yes, this was not a safe Barbie doll for children, as it turned out. If there happened to be a lot of hairspray in the room when you made Barbie skate, the sparks could ignite the spray and potentially lead to very bad things indeed. Before long, people were writing letters to newspapers urging Mattel to recall the doll.

Dangerous toys

Mattel, Inc.
A letter sent to newspaper The Clarion-Ledger in 1993 read, “Last year, my two daughters received presents of two Rollerblade Barbie dolls by Mattel. On March 8, my eight-year-old daughter was playing beauty shop with her four-year-old brother. After spraying him with hair spray, the children began to play with the boot to Rollerblade Barbie. My little girl innocently ran the skate across her brother's bottom, which immediately ignited his clothes.” Mattel had no choice but to discontinue Rollerblade Barbie, and surviving ones go for hundreds of dollars on eBay."


I like the "My little girl innocently ran the skate across her brother's bottom..,"

If you want to see more bizarre Barbie stories the whole article is here.

Barbie Discontined Models

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Rollerblade Barbie

Peter Bischoff/Getty Images

"This 1991 Barbie came with snazzy rollerblades that flashed and shot out sparks when used! Wait… sparks? Yes, this was not a safe Barbie doll for children, as it turned out. If there happened to be a lot of hairspray in the room when you made Barbie skate, the sparks could ignite the spray and potentially lead to very bad things indeed. Before long, people were writing letters to newspapers urging Mattel to recall the doll.

Dangerous toys

Mattel, Inc.
A letter sent to newspaper The Clarion-Ledger in 1993 read, “Last year, my two daughters received presents of two Rollerblade Barbie dolls by Mattel. On March 8, my eight-year-old daughter was playing beauty shop with her four-year-old brother. After spraying him with hair spray, the children began to play with the boot to Rollerblade Barbie. My little girl innocently ran the skate across her brother's bottom, which immediately ignited his clothes.” Mattel had no choice but to discontinue Rollerblade Barbie, and surviving ones go for hundreds of dollars on eBay."


I like the "My little girl innocently ran the skate across her brother's bottom..,"

If you want to see more bizarre Barbie stories the whole article is here.

Barbie Discontined Models

The part about the skates being dangerous isn’t true. My sister had one of these dolls and I was creating sparks by running the skates on a door which left some rub marks but nothing caught on fire nor did the skates even get remotely hot where the sparkler was. I even ran the skates along carpeting and nothing happened. Also that isn’t the right Barbie in the photo. The Ken is correct but that is Hot Skatin (or Winter Sports depending on the region) Barbie and she is articulated where as the real Rollerblade Barbie wore a white outfit and had the typical early 90s twist body.

This is Rollerblade Barbie

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

 

[Tom]

The part about the skates being dangerous isn’t true. My sister had one of these dolls and I was creating sparks by running the skates on a door which left some rub marks but nothing caught on fire nor did the skates even get remotely hot where the sparkler was. I even ran the skates along carpeting and nothing happened. Also that isn’t the right Barbie in the photo. The Ken is correct but that is Hot Skatin (or Winter Sports depending on the region) Barbie and she is articulated where as the real Rollerblade Barbie wore a white outfit and had the typical early 90s twist body.

This is Rollerblade Barbie
View attachment 114343

Good correction. Online articles are very inaccurate sometimes.

Also I agree, the problem wasn't the sparking skates really. It was kids having access to hairspray. You'd have to have the exact can but I would be surprised if it didn't have some form of these warnings on it.

• Keep hairspray out of reach of children.
• Always use hairspray in a well-ventilated space.
• Never use hairspray near an open flame, hot surface, or other source of ignition.

I grew up with sparking toys. Never saw or heard of problems.

Aerosol cans are a different matter. Those can be quite dangerous. I remember kids using them with a lighter to make a mini flamethrower.

 

[Crossbreed]

Rollerblade Barbie

Peter Bischoff/Getty Images

"This 1991 Barbie came with snazzy rollerblades that flashed and shot out sparks when used! Wait… sparks? Yes, this was not a safe Barbie doll for children, as it turned out. If there happened to be a lot of hairspray in the room when you made Barbie skate, the sparks could ignite the spray and potentially lead to very bad things indeed. Before long, people were writing letters to newspapers urging Mattel to recall the doll.

Dangerous toys

Mattel, Inc.
A letter sent to newspaper The Clarion-Ledger in 1993 read, “Last year, my two daughters received presents of two Rollerblade Barbie dolls by Mattel. On March 8, my eight-year-old daughter was playing beauty shop with her four-year-old brother. After spraying him with hair spray, the children began to play with the boot to Rollerblade Barbie. My little girl innocently ran the skate across her brother's bottom, which immediately ignited his clothes.” Mattel had no choice but to discontinue Rollerblade Barbie, and surviving ones go for hundreds of dollars on eBay."


I like the "My little girl innocently ran the skate across her brother's bottom..,"

If you want to see more bizarre Barbie stories the whole article is here.

Barbie Discontined Models

Adults are party-poopers...!

(Those skates would be handy in a survival kit.)

The part about the skates being dangerous isn’t true. My sister had one of these dolls and I was creating sparks by running the skates on a door which left some rub marks but nothing caught on fire nor did the skates even get remotely hot where the sparkler was. I even ran the skates along carpeting and nothing happened. Also that isn’t the right Barbie in the photo. The Ken is correct but that is Hot Skatin (or Winter Sports depending on the region) Barbie and she is articulated where as the real Rollerblade Barbie wore a white outfit and had the typical early 90s twist body.

This is Rollerblade Barbie

I have that same outfit!

 

[Shevek]

Sparks are, of course, generally used to light butane on fire in a common cigarette lighter. The propellant in many aerosol cans is that flammable, and often the product also burns well. The kids I taught in shop didn't like the dead lighters I provided for lighting propane torches, but I didn't want to see a welding spark hit a full one - a very big ball of flame ensues. Even without flammable gasses, there are several things a spark can light. A ball of cotton lint will burn readily, and a cloud of flour is actually explosive. Amazingly, a spark will also light 0000 steel wool. It does not do a full flame, but you get hundreds of little fires burning each strand.