The most powerful laser weapon is the Airborne Laser (ABL), developed by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Gruman. It is designed to fit inside a modified Boeing 747 and will ultimately be used to track and destroy ballistic missiles. Although still in development, its power measures approximately one megawatt. The ABL’s chemical oxygen iodine (COIL) was first fired in a ground-test at Edwards Air Force Base, California, USA in November 2004; In August 2005, the ABL completed a series of flight tests demonstrating the performance
Continue reading →
The largest trebuchet, with a projectile of 1 kg (2 lb 3 oz) or less, threw a 275 g (9.7 oz) garden gnome over a distance of 11.63 m (38 ft) and created a power output of 3.19 kgm (23 lb.ft). The trebuchet was built by the Alkrington Gnome Throwers and fired in the grounds of The Plough, Kelmscott, Gloucestershire, UK on 2 October 2004.
The NHL record for most powerplay goals scored by a defenseman in a season is 19 by Sheldon Souray (Canada) playing for the Montreal Canadiens (Canada) in 2006-07 (on 5 April 2007). The previous record of 18 was shared by Denis Potvin (Canada) playing for the New York Islanders (USA) in the 1974-75 season and Adrian Aucoin (Canada) of the Vancouver Canucks (Canada) in 1998-99.
The most powerful water pump pumps at a rate of 60,000 litres per second and was made by Nijhuis Pumps in Winterswijk, Holland, Netherlands, in 2004. The pump is called the Nijhuis-HP1-4000.340.
In February 2001 a volcanic eruption occurred on Io, a satellite of Jupiter, with an estimated output of 78,000 Gigawatts. The observations were made with the WM Keck II Telescope, Hawaii, and published in the journal Icarus in November 2002. For comparison, the 1992 eruption of Mt Etna, Sicily, was estimated at just 12 Gigawatts. The eruption came from the Surt volcano, on Io’s Jupiter-facing hemisphere. During its peak, its output almost matched the eruptive power of all of Io’s active volcanoes combined.
Farstad Shipping of Norway has put into service ‘ Far Samson’ , the most powerful offshore vessel in the world in terms of bollard pull. In the towage industry bollard pull is the prime criteria by which a tug’s performance is measured. In the case of Far Samson, a bollard pull of 423 tons was achieved on trials but this is no ordinary tug. The vessel carries a ‘Tug’ notation as part of its comprehensive DNV classification but any comparison with a normal tug ends
Continue reading →
The most powerful trebuchet (for a projectile of less than 20 kg or 44 lb) threw a 16.7kg (36 lb 13 oz) projectile over a distance of 363.85 m (1,193 ft 8 in) and created a power output of 6,076.2 kg m (43,949.2 lb ft). It was built and fired by ‘De Blijde Vrienden’ at Oosterend Present in Oosterend, Texel, Netherlands, on 2 August 2008.
With 113 titles to his credit as of July 2011, Lee Bennett Hopkins (USa) is the world’s most prolific anthologist of poetry for children. Mr Hopkins, a noted poet in his own right, has compiled collections based on a variety of topics, including animals, holidays, the seasons, and difficult emotions. According to Hopkins, poetry “…should come to [children] as naturally as breathing, for nothing – no thing – can ring and rage through hearts and minds as does this genre of literature”.
In monetary terms, the USA still has by far the world’s most profitable cinema industry, with over $11 billion (£6.9 billion) in domestic box-office takings during 2010. Japan is currently second with $2.5 billion (£1.6 billion) and India remains in third place, with $2.2 billion (£1.4 billion).
The most professional DJs presenting a single live radio show is 26 and was achieved by Radio Deejay (Italy) in Milan, Italy, on 19 December 2010. The radio show lasted 1 hour 7 minutes 49 seconds.