So a crazy thing happened to my buddy: A piece of ice a little larger than a bowling ball flew through the roof of his building. On it’s way in, it hit a 2 x 12 that was supporting a flat roof. I have never seen anything like it. The board was shattered like it was hit by some enormous karate champion on cocaine. Smashed through the long dimension and cracked it in half in the center of the beam. The local news people just fell in love with the story wanting to see the chunk etc.
My question is how much force would it take to smash a 2 x 12 (nominal dimensioned) on edge about a foot and a half from the beam pocket?
Here is a video of me talking through the damage. Forgive my waffling on rafter or joist. I’m an electrician, so it must be overlooked.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvJGGUaZiA0
Replies
Well, it presumably would have reached a terminal velocity in excess of 200 mph (possibly twice that). Pretty much like a cannon ball.
(FWIW, I threw some rough estimates into a terminal velocity calculator and got 660 mph.)
missle origin?
Where did this chunk of ice come from?
missle origin
Most likely from overhead airplanes. My buddy is within a landing path. It's totally likely to have fallen from 1500-2000 feet from an airplane. It's not blue ice.
Evidently, sometimes vapor builds on landing gear and it falls occasionally as large chunks.
The other explanation is that it could be what is known as a megacryometeor. They are a real thing and the largest recovered has been in excess of 150 lbs. I'm rooting for an extraterrestrial origin, but am totally expecting airplane ice.
megacryometeors different from airplane ice
Check out Wikipedia's info on the phenomenon. In addition, there are large chunks of ice that fall off of airplanes occasionally that are not blue ice. I live in metropolitan Chicago, so it's unlikely that a chemical toilet was dumped on descent.
The real question is how much force does a 2x12 take to break on the long edge?