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Mark French, a professor at Purdue University, created this cannon that’ll accelerate a fragile ping-pong ball up to Mach 1.2–that’s 900mph. This video goes into some nice physics-y depth about the logistics of getting a thin sphere of plastic up to that speed, and then the payoff at the end is just great. Turns out a 900mph ping-pong ball blasts clear through a paddle. [YouTube via Gizmodo]