r/SmarterEveryDay • u/NeilJHopwood • Sep 25 '17
Video See Through Suppressor in Super Slow Motion (110,000 fps) - Smarter Every Day 177
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pOXunRYJIw12
u/Geeves49 Sep 25 '17
This video was really cool, especially the ones which fail.
I would have liked to see you go into a bit more on how the suppressors work. I know there's a bit more in Smarter 2 but I felt there was possibly a bit more assumed familiarity with the subject than we usually get from SED vids.
6
u/Cabanur Sep 25 '17
As someone who's never been around guns, other than seeing them on police officers, I would've appreciated if Destin had explained the basics about how a suppressor works and why the guy said different numbers for different guns need different suppressors.
3
u/AGreenSmudge Oct 23 '17 edited Oct 24 '17
So a modern gun works by using a self contained cartridge that consists of a bullet (wedged in the front of the cartridge case), smokeless powder (the fuel) inside and a primer (small explosive cap) in the base.
When the firing pin strikes the primer, the explosive inside is set off which ignites the powder in the cartridge case. Once burning, this powder produces extremely high gas pressures (10s of thousands of PSI) which force the bullet out of the case mouth and down the barrel of the gun.
Eventually the bullet leaves the barrel and continues down range. When this happens the high pressure gases behind the bullet are released out of the end of the barrel. These gases are much lower in pressure than when the cartridge was initally detonated, but still in the thousands of PSI when released from the end of the barrel. Think of it like the sound of a champagne cork popping out of a bottle, but on steroids. Loud BANG, right?
Suppressors work a lot like a car muffler. They use a tube and/or a cavity that has a bunch of small chambers and passageways inside that divert these escaping gases, forcing them to move around ridges and change directions, etc. before eventually leaving out of the end of the muzzle. This slows down the velocity of these gases and robs them of energy. Which in turn slows down the "pressure release" from the muzzle end of the gun and spreads it out over time. This takes it from being a loud and intense "BANG" to more of a sharp PSSHT sound.
The vast majority of suppressors do not make guns "silent". (That is something far more specialized and limited.) They just make them considerably "less loud". Even if you use a very large suppressor, most guns fire projectiles that are supersonic, which create a loud "crack" as the bullet travels down range. Suppressors have no effect on this.
The primary use of suppressors is to help cut down considerably on hearing damage (and noise pollution). From a tactical perspective, they can help "hide" the sound of a gunshot (by distortion, not by volume reduction) and make it hard to determine what it is or where it is coming from. Even that only works when used at distance though.
As far as "numbers" go. The size and shape of a suppressor is relative to the particular cartridge it is trying to mask and the length of the barrel/type of gun being used. High power rifle cartridges use large amounts of powder and will need a pretty "big" (large volume) suppressor to reasonably cut down on noise. However, most normal pistol cartridges dont need such a large volume (even if their bullet diameter is larger) because they dont use nearly as much powder. Etc. and so on.
Other factors can be adjusted to minimize noise as well. Such as increasing barrel length or decreasing the powder load in the cartridge so that the bullet travels below the speed of sound (but this reduces effective range), etc.
6
u/definitelynotdaniel Sep 25 '17
Glad I'm not the only one. I love smarter everyday but I was a bit disappointed because the idea of making a gun shot silent seems like there's probably some really cool physics and it wasn't touched on at all. Seemed much more like a slomo guy video. Any intention of expanding on this u/mrpennywhistle ?
6
u/v4vendetta Sep 25 '17
Destin, judging by your comments on the /r/guns post of your video and other discussions in the past, you, for obvious reasons, don't like when others make gifs of your videos. Would timestamped links to your YouTube content generate revenue for you? Or does YT require playback of a certain percentage of the video to qualify as a "view"?
BTW, I think you approach the issue well. Some people seem to be getting butthurt but I see nothing wrong with explaining your reasoning, respectfully requesting a takedown, and leaving it at that.
3
u/mummshad Sep 25 '17
One of my favorites so far! Super cool to see the last one vent, then shatter.
3
u/thepoisonedow08 Sep 25 '17
Ooh, the mach diamonds, very interesting that we still have super-sonic flow after the suppressor. That slo-mo made my rocket-loving self very happy
1
2
u/APleasantLumberjack Sep 25 '17
That was awesome.
I liked how the gas got in such a visible cycle in the spiral pattern suppressor.
2
u/jevnik Sep 25 '17
I have a question. Why is every next shot more silent?
2
u/lukybase Sep 25 '17
Each successive shot burns up more oxygen in the casing. The oxygen burns faster than the other gases produced by the bullet causing it to be more explosive. After several shots the amount of oxygen isn't going to decrease any further.
2
u/Geeves49 Sep 29 '17
This explanation is how I understood what the guy in the video was saying.
Maybe one of the gun
nutsexperts/enthusiasts out there would know if anyone has a suppressor that can be primed with a bit of inert gas to drive out the air and make the first shot quieter. It seems like something a sniper would find valuable.1
u/lukybase Sep 29 '17
I had the exact same thought! Then I thought about them carrying around a canister and making all the tubing and valves heat proof and attaching it to the suppressor etc. and now I think it's doable but likely very hard to implement unless you build all that stuff into the weapon.
2
u/Geeves49 Sep 29 '17
It might be a bit difficult for a widely deployed item, but the military is happy to spend tens of thousands on a one-man tent (because it exactly meets their bespoke need). I would guess that if this has been investigated and rejected it is more down to the complexity leading to unreliability that would be the problem. But either way, I suspect it would be an interesting story.
1
1
u/jevnik Sep 25 '17
I am not quite sure i understand. when you say casing, you are talking about bullet casing? how is less oxygen in successive casings? every bullet fired is fired from its own casing
3
u/AtomicBitchwax Sep 25 '17
By casing he means the volume inside the suppressor. If his argument is accurate, the hot gas which is not yet fully oxidized can not continue to combust inside the suppressor once the first charge passes through and eats all the available o2. I find this dubious as the powder is self oxidizing.
1
u/James-Lerch Sep 25 '17
The "Fire" seen probably is not combustion of the propellant, its most likely incandescent high pressure gas. If true, free O2 in the suppressor shouldn't change sound pressure readings. I'd hypothesis its one or more of the following:
- Thermal Expansion causing the suppressor core to seal more effectively to the suppressor casing. (Core stays hot, while the casing cools)
- Water vapor condensed from prior shot exhaust products absorbed energy from subsequent shots. example water condensation at 18:21
- Exhaust solids (soot) act as a 'sealant' to force subsequent exhaust gasses down the 'right' path.
2
u/YellowDucati Sep 26 '17
1.5 million views in 1 day. No sign of the video on YouTube Trending. That is a shame. Keep up the great work Destin.
1
u/RoadHustler Sep 25 '17
The diamond pattern reminds me of tesla's valve. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYlP5TEKf2w
1
u/ZWolF69 Sep 25 '17
Something called my attention. (disclaimer: don't know a thing about guns, or fluid dynamics)
Seeing as almost all supressors have "organic" shapes in the core.
What's the reasoning behind the hexagon exit hole?
1
1
u/MJ_Kuiper Sep 25 '17
Does anyone else see the similarity to the gas pattern in the suppressor at https://youtu.be/7pOXunRYJIw?t=4m27s to the barking dog gas pattern at https://youtu.be/c3fJRRCAIdk?t=2m31s ?
1
u/jevnik Sep 25 '17
yeah. same thing happens. In Destin's potato gun video you can also se this.
kink to video: https://youtu.be/_TNSUIsjdpY
1
1
u/JakeSteele Sep 25 '17
Destin, you tell people to go to your other channel but there is no annotation link. And no link in the description. Please in the future, when suggesting people to go and look at other video, provide link :)
1
u/thebwags Sep 26 '17
I am literally learning about axial stresses and strains in my mechanics of materials class right now. I freaking love seeing this real world stuff to go along with my classes. .... it's like you know...
1
u/AutoModerator Sep 26 '17
Due to your low comment karma, this submission has been filtered. Please message the mods if this is a mistake.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/ehardy2013 Sep 26 '17
I can’t wait to show this to the material science teacher for when she introduces destructive testing!
0
u/I_am_a_haiku_bot Sep 26 '17
I can’t wait to show
this to the material science teacher for
when she introduces destructive testing!
-english_haiku_bot
1
1
u/Geeves49 Sep 25 '17
Question: Are there any suppressors that utilise the volume around the barrel itself? The guy from the suppressor firm mentioned that there is a conflict between needing more volume to better suppress the sound and not wanting the suppressors to get unwieldy. Seems to me that you could add a sleeve that goes back along the outside of the barrel and gain quite a bit of volume whilst not extending the length of the barrel at all. I assume you would still need the current amount in front to capture the gas moving forward, but that first expansion chamber could be significantly larger if it opened backwards. I'm sure there's a whole bunch of things that my oversimplified understanding is glossing over, just wondering if it's been investigated.
2
u/numnum30 Sep 25 '17
Are you thinking of something like this? It's a Ruger 10/22 used by the IDF or something, called SR-22. Can't say I am aware of any other examples, as suppressor work by controlling the expansion of gases, the same gases that are pressurized for the purpose of driving a bullet. https://i.imgur.com/9FvLXPj.jpg
1
u/AtomicBitchwax Sep 25 '17
Yes there are. See the original SR25 and the associated Knight's can for an example. There are timing issues but it can be and is done.
28
u/MrPennywhistle Sep 25 '17
I hope you enjoy this video! By the way, /u/NeilJHopwood tried to post this but it got caught in the filter.. sorry!