On Fri, 21 May 2004 19:04:45 -0700, "Tim Ward"
wrote:

:
:It would be interesting to build a seat supported by empty aluminum soda
:cans. A two-high stack would give a fair amount of deceleration space.
:Calibrate for the load by the number of cans you use in parallel.
:My experience crunching them for recycling has been that, undented, they're
:very consistent in how they crush.
:A poor man's honeycomb?

I know one of the missionary flying groups makes seat supports out of
columns of rolled up corrugated cardboard - great energy absorbtion.
Low density urethane foam works nicely too - crushes and doesn't
rebound.

When I was in high school in the 70's in physics class we made a 10
mph bumper for a car out of full soda cans - the energy went into the
soda spraying sideways. Very messy, but lots of fun.