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Jet engines are a bit like Timex watches. They take a
licking and keep on ticking. You remember those old Timex commercials on TV,
don't you? The ones where watches were tossed over the Grand Coulee Dam or mounted
on the propellers of outboard motors. Yes, folks, those watches were tough. And
just in case you ever forgot that fact, a former Olympic broadcaster (John
Cameron Swayze) was there to remind you. Even when a test with a Timex and a
scuba diver went terribly wrong, the man who once sold Studebakers managed to work
in his trademark tagline - "it takes a licking and keeps on ticking".
Most watch-wearers don't need a timepiece that can survive such
water torture, of course, but jet engines do. And while there haven't been any
jet engines tossed over the Grand Coulee Dam lately (at least that I'm aware
of), there is a "water test" for jet engines. There are also tests that involve
swirling sand and flocks of unlucky birds. As for mounting jet engines on the propellers
of outboard motors, I'll leave that to your imagination. Just let me know when you
find the video on YouTube.
Speaking of videos, choose this link to watch not 1 but 12 jet
engine test videos that will make you (according to Gizmodo) yell for "more
power". But let's give credit where it's due and call out oobject.com for
putting this together. According to that Web site, you can "see what happens
when a fan blade is destroyed while the turbine is spinning, with an explosive
charge". If that's too tame for you, there's more. "The best tests of all," we're
told "are those involving jet engine afterburners and the best of the best has
to be those with vector nozzles".
Watch the Jet Engine Test Videos
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Re: Jet Engine Test Videos
