Apologies if we have made ourselves sound like total douches in the process - we have been genuinely touched by the overwhelming positive response and attention and the only way we can show our appreciation is by giving you MORE VIDEOS! New one comes up on monday. It involves skateboards, how can that not be anything but awesome? :P

This puts every fancy diy to shame. If Im gonna make a vortex cannon this is it hands down

Mount a subwoofer to it, put on a saw wave and enjoy your machinegun

This video isn't shared under creative commons. We hold the copyright and they havent asked permission to reupload it onto their own site and put ads around it to generate revenue. We are (for real) students who make these videos for the love of science and making people laugh, albeit in an awkward fashion. We were surprised as anyone that has notched up so many views, but we don't feel particularly comfortable that someone else is cashing in. We'd love to hear everyones opinions on this. :)

Yes, the smoke just visualizes the path of the air so it looks better on camera.

Great video! I arrived here after watching an old QI show where they did the same thing. I am teaching preschoolers English in China and this will be my new game! No more balls or sand-bags! The vortex-cannon will amaze their parents and the students alike~ Of course, I then watched all of your videos so far. Great job for all your videos~ Thank you very much. Please continue with the home-safe kind of experiments. Little students need them too~ All the best.

For anyone who's going to make this thing, here are few improvements you can: 1. make a 2cm radius hole instead that large one shown in video 2. connect a used up toilet paper roll cardboard onto the board for increased accuracy 3. ??? 4. profit!

Really want this to get a million views! Love you Davs and George!

@algarch - Great question! We didn't try any other sizes (we put our recycling out that week!) but we're going to go away and find out for you! Thank you for watching!

This is so amazing and simple! I foresee endless hours of fun with my smoke vortex cannon!

Futility at its finest in the first five seconds. Great video guys, keep up the good work!

I've seen vortex generators with a piece of taut plastic/etc. stretched over what would be the back of your box. You can pull it back and release it to generate the pressure wave (instead of slapping the box), and put quite a bit more power in it. Great video!

We get it, you vape

Hello, it really is just that, a box with a hole in the front and something for it to knock over. When you hit the sides the compresses the air inside and forces it out as a vortex ring. Now, a vortex ring is a donut of air which rotates on itself. (Its not particularly clear from the video that it does that but trust us, it does.) These are quite stable and will only fall apart when it hits something more solid than it, such as an object or a strong gust of wind. Or if it lose momentum.

"Secondly, put a hole in the box." I know where this is going...

You guys have created fun times!

Yes it will work. The smoke is to show the movement of the air so it is easier to see.

I'm going to go make one right now!! Super cool!!

I can't wait to do this with my son! Thanks!

FANTASTIC!