Why would you want to build a ‘volcano bomb’ cannon?

Auckland, New Zealand, has a rather frightening next-door neighbor: the Auckland Volcanic Field, which contains 53 individual volcanic centers capable of exploding and raining volcanic rock down on the city’s residents. It would be helpful to know, therefore, just how resilient the roofs of the city’s houses would be against the falling debris.

Enter a project by DEVORA (DEtermining VOlcanic Risk in Auckland) known as a “volcano bomb” cannon. The device was designed to allow scientists to test the effects of pieces of hot volcanic rock, also known as “volcano bombs” falling on houses at very high speeds. Their work will help the city determine just how resilient its roofs are to these volcano bombs and could lead to safer roofs in the future. Not to mention, it sounds ridiculously fun.

The cannon itself is attached to the top of two shipping containers, which have matching holes cut in their roofs and floors. A realistic roof is placed at the bottom, and the cannon is loaded with a real volcanic block anywhere from two to 20 pounds. Then the cannon is pressurized, the trigger pulled, and its bombs away at more than 100 miles per hour.