How does a human cannon work?
The man climbs in, you light the fuse and bang! away he goes. lol Human cannonballs aren’t blasted from the cannon with gunpowder. They’re propelled by a catapult. The flash, loud noise and smoke are supplied by firecrackers and such. The first human cannonball was a young woman named Zazel, who made her maiden voyage, so to speak, on April 2, 1877 at the Westminster Aquarium, which I presume is in London. Zazel employed “elastic springs,” but human cannoneers soon graduated to more potent technology. The propellant of choice today is compressed air. The human projectile climbs into a hollow topless cylinder that slides inside the cannon barrel. Having been lowered to the bottom of the barrel, the cylinder is blasted forward by compressed air at 150-200 pounds per square inch. The cylinder stops at the cannon’s mouth. Its occupant doesn’t.
