James Bond's Underwater Breather?

[spog]

I remember a dive book from the 1970's sporting a picture of a very nice looking girl wearing a 50 cu ft sized cylinder of liquid air with a heat exhanger along the side.

Freeflow's got to be nasty.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Didn't they also use something like this in Ocean's 12?

As to the metal perhaps they're using Adamantium.

 

[ScottB]

Not going to break out the chemistry books right now.. but I seem to remember that hydrogen peroxide passed through a catalyst (platinum screen) broke it into hydrogen and oxygen.... It's what they flew the jet packs with for the 80 something olympics... Which was a toy that got me wishing I could fly.. too bad it could only sustain short flights (less than a minute)..

Take care,
Scott

 

[ScottB]

Heck.. its not quite official research.. but I went ahead and hit up Wikipedia..:

The use of H2O2 as a propellant takes advantage of the decomposition of 70-98+% concentration hydrogen peroxide into steam and oxygen. The propellant is pumped into a reaction chamber where usually a metal (esp. silver or platinum) catalyst triggers decomposition, and the oxygen/steam that is produced is hot enough (>600 °C) either to be used directly or to combust a fuel. As a monopropellant (not mixed with fuel), it produces a maximum specific impulse (Isp) of 161 s (1.6 kN·s/kg), which makes it a low-performance monopropellant. The famous Bell Rocket Belt used hydrogen peroxide monopropellant. When decomposed to burn a fuel as an oxidizer, specific impulses as high as 350 s (3.5 kN·s/kg) can be achieved, depending on the fuel. Peroxide was used very successfully as an oxidizer for the low-cost British launchers, Black Knight and Black Arrow.

*end Wiki-quote*

 

[Ron Brandt]

It's what they flew the jet packs with for the 80 something olympics... Which was a toy that got me wishing I could fly.. too bad it could only sustain short flights (less than a minute)..
Take care,
Scott

A jet pack was used in Thunderball as well....and the camera shot was less than 1 minute. I also saw a demonstration of one in person sometime in the 60's as well...
Ron

 

[wedivebc]

Cryogenics is your friend. Pack that cannister with liquid O2 and nitrogen and you would have plenty of gas

 

[Dawktah]

Wasn't something similar used by helicopter pilot in the movie "The Perfect Storm?" Hollywood...

 

[Stormbringer]

I always wanted both the Jet pack and the mini-rebreather from Thunderball. Interesting ideas guys.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The jet pack, unlike the mini-rebreather, really works. However the fuel supply is very limited with about 60 seconds of fuel on board. They made some cool appearences (flying into a stadium, etc) and did some cool tv and movie scenes with them, but they were all done by combining footage from several 40-50 second flights. Running out of fuel a hundred feet up would be a very nasty situation to be in and would most likely not be surviveable. So watching the fuel guage would have been a critical issue.

A concept that is slightly more practical is a back mounted helicopter pack with two counter rotating ducted fan engines - although the term "slightly more practical" in this sense is still very minimal.

 

[CompuDude]

The jet pack, unlike the mini-rebreather, really works. However the fuel supply is very limited with about 60 seconds of fuel on board. They made some cool appearences (flying into a stadium, etc) and did some cool tv and movie scenes with them, but they were all done by combining footage from several 40-50 second flights. Running out of fuel a hundred feet up would be a very nasty situation to be in and would most likely not be surviveable. So watching the fuel guage would have been a critical issue.

A concept that is slightly more practical is a back mounted helicopter pack with two counter rotating ducted fan engines - although the term "slightly more practical" in this sense is still very minimal.

Mythbusters tried it (twin ducted engines) and failed. No-go on the "practical" personal flying packs at this point. Anything that says otherwise is a myth. ;-) (until you see flight footage or see an actual flight, and a cost list)