“We fired fence posts and bricks from a blackpowder cannon into an EarthCo Megablock wall made from local earth and water. These walls were produced from highly shrinking-swelling clay subsoil which produces a very low quality wall, however our goal was to show that even a low quality EarthCo Megablock wall has the structural integrity to survive most small debris impacts as would be generated from an F5 tornado.”
“At Earthco we dream of the day when Zero Energy Buildings are the norm for our planet.”
Notes: Megablocks are just compressed earth, which is very similar to properly made earthbags. Their blocks are machine pressed and likely a bit stronger, but a good earthbag builder could achieve similar results if they use the right soil and tamp the bags or tubes sufficiently.
You might also be interested in Earthco’s previous video about Bullet Resistance of Compressed Earth and this post about Bullet Resistance of Sandbags.
As a blackpowder cannon enthusiast, I was delighted to find your video demonstrating some of the modern uses of the technology, here employed as the means of testing the very impressive durability of your tamped earthen brick walls.
Great production values, too, for the video: I particularly enjoyed the slow-motion footage of the disintegrating fence post and the narrator’s folksy manner.
Cannon Master at cannonsforfun.com