   Manhole Cover
  Has anyone else heard the tale of the magical manhole-cover which is well on its way to be the first man made object to leave the Solar System? If it's true it will be past pluto soon.I remember my year 8 science teacher telling me this. And I've perused Google to find this artical.According to the articale, a modified V2 rocket is actually the first man-made object in space. However at its speculated velocity, it would not be even near pluto. The manhole cover on the other hand was believed to have been launched at a speed 6 times that of the required escape velocity for Earth's gravitational field.Anyone know of any truth or additional information about these stories?   
  I highly doubt it. In order to "leave" the solar system, you cannot just launch an object away from earth randomly (though theoretically there might be a finite escape velocity it wouldn't be reasonable to launch at that speed directly from earth)Rather the way to get such speed is to use a "boost" like a gravity assist around the moon or another planet. Such maneuvers are carefully calculated and executed - and a "manhole" cover certainly wouldn't qualify for such attention.The first man-made object to leave the solar system will most likely be voyager 1. (depending on your definition of "solar system", voyager 1 may be already outside)   ;  Sounds like something for the MythBusters to solve!   ;  The manhole-cover, was it spherical or cilindrical?I mean, if it wasnt a sphere, then no way it left our planet's gravitational pull, because at those speeds our atmosphere is pretty much a solid.Anyways, the author of that article seems to have pretty much exausted all research on the subject, except direct interview with the people involved, or going into a storage house and diving for records of these tests.The V2 does seem a much better candidate.   ;  Isn't Strange Horizions an online Sci-Fi fiction magazine? Interesting read though, thanks for the link.   ;  That story was hilarious. It should be subtitled "Why Googling Isn't Research".   ;  I don't know that much about physics, but it seems obvious that air resistance + gravity will bring the thing to a halt before it leaves the atmosphere. And even if you gave it enough velocity to enter space it would probably desintegrate or catch fire due to the same air resistance.Americans just can't get over being owned by Sputnik [grin]   ;  Yep, it seems that if it is lighter than 1 ton, atmosphere would have quite some slowdown. Meteorites with similar mass lose most of their speed when coming down, and this should work other way around too.Quick computation shows that several tons of explosive is not enough, you need yeld on order of kilotons to blast it into space.Indeed, whole thing seems to be urban myth. The testing was testing of non-full yeld bomb, with yeld of several tons, or so article says. And the cover was 1 ton.   ;Quote:Original post by Programmer OneSounds like something for the MythBusters to solve!I was just thinking that! Lol.Quote:Original post by PrototypeAmericans just can't get over being owned by Sputnik [grin]Indeed.   ;Quote:Original post by DmytryYep, it seems that if it is lighter than 1 ton, atmosphere would have quite some slowdown. Meteorites with similar mass lose most of their speed when coming down, and this should work other way around too.Quick computation shows that several tons of explosive is not enough, you need yeld on order of kilotons to blast it into space.Indeed, whole thing seems to be urban myth. The testing was testing of non-full yeld bomb, with yeld of several tons, or so article says. And the cover was 1 ton.Actually, since the manhole is originally in the atmosphere, I doubt it would experience the same slowdown as a meteorite coming down into the atmosphere from a vacuum.And wouldnt the escape velocity for a 40-pound manhole cover be signicantly lower than that of a 2000-ton space shuttle?   