The Himachal Pradesh government will test the use of indigenously developed anti-hail guns’ to assist horticulturists who have crop damage due to hailstorms. The indigenous guns were created by IIT Bombay in collaboration with Dr YS Parmar University of Forestry, Nauni (Solan).
About the anti-hail gun:
The anti-hail gun is a machine that generates shock waves to destroy the Growth of hailstones in the cloud.
It consists of a tall fixed structure, a bit like an inverted tower, a few meters high, with a long and narrow cone that opens up to the sky.
The gun “fires” by sending an explosive mixture of acetylene gas and air into its lower chamber, thereby releasing shock waves
Shock waves (such as those produced by supersonic aircraft) travel faster than the speed of Sound.
These shock waves are said to prevent water droplets in clouds from forming hailstones, allowing them to fall as raindrops instead.