Mechanical engineering students from Singapore Polytechnic (SP) built the appropriately named BAD — the Ballistic Accelerator Device — capable of tearing holes into ping pong bats with ping pong balls.
Using only compressed air, the machine can volley a humble table tennis ball faster than the speed of sound, reaching 428.6 metres per second, or Mach 1.25, comparable to the speed of an F16 fighter jet flying at sea level.
For that feat, students Daryl Heng, Kendrick Hu and Douglas Wong broke a Singapore record last Wednesday, The New Paper reports. The BAD is considered the first device in Singapore that is capable of firing an object faster than the speed of sound without the use of pyrotechnics or combustion.
The team's first working prototype took three months to assemble, and two days of testing to achieve the record (and racket) breaking results.
According to SP mechanical and aeronautical engineering lecturer Leong Ying Wei, the device has significant potential in the military sector, ideal for launching drones at high speeds.
Photo: Olivier Bacquet via Flickr
Mechanical engineering students from Singapore Polytechnic (SP) built the appropriately named BAD — the Ballistic Accelerator Device — capable of tearing holes into ping pong bats with ping pong balls.
Using only compressed air, the machine can volley a humble table tennis ball faster than the speed of sound, reaching 428.6 metres per second, or Mach 1.25, comparable to the speed of an F16 fighter jet flying at sea level.
For that feat, students Daryl Heng, Kendrick Hu and Douglas Wong broke a Singapore record last Wednesday, The New Paper reports. The BAD is considered the first device in Singapore that is capable of firing an object faster than the speed of sound without the use of pyrotechnics or combustion.
The team's first working prototype took three months to assemble, and two days of testing to achieve the record (and racket) breaking results.
According to SP mechanical and aeronautical engineering lecturer Leong Ying Wei, the device has significant potential in the military sector, ideal for launching drones at high speeds.
Photo: Olivier Bacquet via Flickr