Chapter 321 - 246: Laval Nozzle and Heavy-Duty Powered Attitude Battle Axe (Part 3)

Chapter 321: Chapter 246: Laval Nozzle and Heavy-Duty Powered Attitude Battle Axe (Part 3)

Kinetic Energy = 0.5 × mass × velocity squared

Double the velocity, and you quadruple the kinetic energy.

He closed his eyes.

In the darkness, he could almost see himself leaping into the starry sky, and at the apex of his jump, hanging there for a split second, the engine would roar to life.

An immense thrust would slam into his back, turning him into a burning steel spike that would chisel into the earth with the force of a thunderbolt.

No fancy moves, no complex parries.

Only absolute mass, absolute velocity, and... absolute destruction.

"Justice from above... or maybe, divine punishment."

Lin Fan slowly opened his eyes, the reflection of Ye Qingzhou’s face deep within his pupils.

"I like this design."

"You don’t even need to find a weak spot." He reached out and pressed a hand firmly on the blueprint. "Just land a solid hit, and you can slice it in two."

’This is art.’

"One of you has the guts to draw it, and the other has the guts to use it."

Nearby, Ye Qingniao leaned against the table, chewing on a piece of jerky that had long lost its flavor. Her eyes darted back and forth between her sister and Lin Fan.

"But I have a question."

She swallowed the meat in her mouth and asked, her voice slightly muffled,

"Rocket propulsion needs an acceleration phase. No matter how efficient the de Laval nozzle is, it can’t hit max velocity in 0.1 seconds. It needs time, which means it needs distance to build up kinetic energy.

This thing’s range—or rather, its ’fall distance’—must have an optimal engagement envelope to be effective.

To accelerate this one-ton chunk of iron enough to slice through that monster you’re talking about..."

Ye Qingniao pointed a finger at Lin Fan.

"How high would he need to jump, at a minimum?"

"Oh, right. This thing is already five meters tall, including the handle..."

After hearing Ye Qingniao’s point, Lin Fan nodded in complete agreement, even giving her an appreciative look. ’It’s true, normal people’s intelligence really does peak right after high school,’

"Just so we’re clear, my highest jump is only about as high as that factory building—a dozen meters or so, that’s it."

"I did some calculations based on the thrust-to-weight ratio of your greatsword..."

Ye Qingzhou ignored Lin Fan and pulled a sheet from the pile of papers, handing it to them. It was covered in dense calculations that made one’s head spin.

"The minimum advantageous engagement altitude is thirty meters and above. That gives you a hang time of 0.64 seconds and an impact velocity of three hundred kilometers per hour...

But if you increase the altitude to fifty meters, the hang time becomes 0.82 seconds. It’s only an increase of 0.2 seconds, but the impact velocity will exceed four hundred kilometers per hour."

She pointed to a formula on the paper. She knew neither of them would understand it, so after gesturing at it, she cut straight to the conclusion.

"The energy released upon impact will be seven to eight megajoules..."

She looked up at Lin Fan, a flicker of fanaticism in her eyes, but her tone remained calm.

"The kinetic energy of you throwing this axe from an altitude of 50 meters officially matches the kinetic energy of an armor-piercing sabot round fired from a modern 120-millimeter main battle tank cannon."

"Huh?"

Lin Fan casually shoved the sheet of gibberish at Ye Qingniao, his face a mask of clear disappointment, even a little disgust. "After all that fuss... it’s only as strong as a tank?"

"’Only’?"

Ye Qingzhou looked as if she’d just heard the most ridiculous joke. She set down her pen and gave Lin Fan a look one might reserve for someone who’d flunked out of elementary school.

"The kinetic energy might be similar, but in physics, kinetic energy and momentum are two completely different things."

She held up a finger to illustrate. "A tank shell only weighs about eight kilograms. It relies on its immense velocity—1,700 meters per second—to ’drill’ through armor. It’s like a needle piercing skin. High energy, but very little momentum.

If you hit a giant beast with it, you’ll just leave a small, clean hole right through it. If the mutant’s flesh can absorb the cavitation effect, the beast might not even feel the pain."

At this, she pointed to the design blueprint. "But this weighs one ton."

"One. Ton." Ye Qingzhou repeated, her voice heavy with emphasis. "At the same kinetic energy, its momentum is 11.18 times that of a tank shell."

Lin Fan blinked. "In layman’s terms?"

"A tank shell is an embroidery needle. It pokes a hole."

Ye Qingzhou spread her arms wide in an exaggerated gesture.

"But this axe... this axe is a dump truck hitting you at the speed of a bullet train. It doesn’t just poke a hole. It smashes into you and blasts every bone, muscle, and organ at the point of impact into a paste, then forcibly bisects the remains."

"That’s what you call stopping power."

Ye Qingzhou looked at Lin Fan.

"If a tank cannon is a sniper rifle, then this is a heavy rocket launcher. When it hits, there’s no such thing as ’penetration.’ There is only ’obliteration’."