Comments on: ice ice, baby.

ice ice, baby.

RJ Reynolds — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 13:13:12 -0800

Churchill's war plan: super-ice. "What was bobbing about in Churchill's bathtub was no ordinary ice: it was pykrete." A well-researched story of a kooky inventor, a secret government plan, and some mad science.

By: cohappy

cohappy — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 13:28:48 -0800

sweet, sweet link. Remind anyone else of Ice-Nine?

By: scarabic

scarabic — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 13:31:34 -0800

Yes, or perhaps Ice 8.5 at least. I wonder how these ships would have stood up to Hitler's planned Rock-Salt Bomb.

By: jamespake

jamespake — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 13:46:33 -0800

I appreciate this, but what should I do with this arcane knowledge?

By: fishfucker

fishfucker — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 13:49:32 -0800

wow. good link. very interesting.

By: NortonDC

NortonDC — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 13:54:40 -0800

Sweet link. I'm gonna steal it. :-)

By: Soliloquy

Soliloquy — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 14:04:53 -0800

Well, if I ever want to build a bulletproof snow fort, I know how to do it...

By: ursus_comiter

ursus_comiter — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 14:05:23 -0800

I appreciate this, but what should I do with this arcane knowledge? Steal it for a steampunk RPG!

By: KnitWit

KnitWit — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 14:29:01 -0800

I'm both calmed, and terrified to see the first comment referencing Vonnegut.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 14:39:29 -0800

Fired into pykrete, it will penetrate less than half as far—about the same distance as a bullet fired into brickwork. Nice sentence above. Adding wood pulp reminds me of the making of TNT. Two common known substances mixed to make one strong one, the designer of this world obvious knew his chemistry. terrified to see the first comment referencing Vonnegut. Kept thinking Mr Ice teams up with Mr. Wood. Any comic book buffs know if Mr Ice ever made this concoction.

By: jamespake

jamespake — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 14:44:14 -0800

Steal it for a steampunk RPG! I would if I could.

By: PigAlien

PigAlien — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 15:09:06 -0800

I often wondered why big, dirty banks of snow would take weeks to melt in the spring, even under intense sunshine. The same thing that happens when you mix wood with water probably happens when you mix dirt and/or pollution with water. Yeah, I'll bet that's it.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 15:30:33 -0800

Mr Ice, Shows my comic book knowledge, Mr. Freeze...

By: quin

quin — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 15:40:51 -0800

More information on the practical side of using Pykrete.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 15:58:32 -0800

Pictures of the ice-ship prototype. Pyke was an odd duck, but then this particular war seemed to breed quite a few of those, or at least promote them to positions where they could actually try things out -- like floating tanks and chain-whip mine-clearing attachments.

By: effer27

effer27 — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 16:12:08 -0800

Beat me to it dhartung! Every time I run across this topic it fascinates me.

By: GriffX

GriffX — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 16:21:57 -0800

Seems like it would be an ideal substance with with to make unmanned space craft. Strong, cheap, etc. If we ever get to the point where we're actually trying to get large quantities of material into space, I woudn't be surprised to hear about this again. It would be very practical today for seaborn cargo-ships.

By: planetkyoto

planetkyoto — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 16:25:33 -0800

There was a time in the early 90's when insane geniuses was the only topic I wanted to talk about, and Pyke was at the top of my list. I had three bookfinding agencies working to get me a copy of Pyke's biography, and finally got it about 8 years ago. Well worth it. Pykrete was only the tip of the iceberg with this fellow.

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 17:26:16 -0800

I was born on a Pykrete ship. [/obscure reference to silly childhood joke]

By: straight

straight — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 17:40:36 -0800

Sounds downright sensible compared to that crazy "nuclear fission" project the 'mericans wasted all their time on.

By: dg

dg — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 19:29:46 -0800

[this is good]

By: gimonca

gimonca — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 20:20:00 -0800

One wonders what the Nazis would have made of it, what with their Welteislehre and all.

By: Vidiot

Vidiot — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 20:47:06 -0800

This is indeed good. First read about Pykrete in the fabulous magazine American Heritage of Invention & Technology a few years back, and have been intrigued by it ever since. Thanks, Choire!

By: kliuless

kliuless — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 20:50:37 -0800

yeah, i thought it was going to be about ice-9 too! silly me :D didn't they have bombs that skipped along the water too? pykrete bombs.

By: lazy-ville

lazy-ville — Tue, 03 Jun 2003 05:33:31 -0800

I know what I'll be doing next winter. Of course, this stuff probably does not have the best possible qualities for a sailboat hull, but it should be quite damn cheap and easy to build one on lake ice and sail it until it melts, I just have to take care not to sink the rigging, but other than that, the project sounds doable. dhartung: Raisu demining vehicle and of course many Infantry Fighting Vehicles are amphibious.

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Tue, 03 Jun 2003 19:07:44 -0800

groovy link! Thanks. :)