New Blowgun Video

Regular readers of my blog will remember my doing a post or two about blowguns. The "native blowgun" has fascinated me since I was a boy. As an adult I have played with both manufactured as well as home made ones off and on over the years. Within the last couple years, not only have I made improvements to my home made ones, but have also found a new use for them as a teaching aid.

Each semester, I do a graphic demonstration of pneumatics principles for my students in Hydraulics and Pneumatics lab. I shoot darts into a board from across the room using a home made blowgun. It's quite amusing to see the "yeah, right - whatever" looks on students' faces as I take the blowgun out and load it with a dart. It's even more entertaining to see the looks on their faces and hear a few of them gasp when they see and hear the darts slam into the board. Most are left with no further doubts regarding the power even a few PSI of air pressure can deliver.

To follow is a link to my latest YouTube video. This was shot at a high frame rate and slowed down so the flight and impact of the dart can be observed.

InKarlsLab - Blowgun Video

Enjoy :)

P.S. One of the most memorable remarks a student made to me in class early on one semester was "I wanna know when the darts come out." He had obviously heard about it from the prior semester's students.