Rotational and linear shock apparatus

1. A shock apparatus, comprising:

at least one linear impact object capable of movement along a first substantially linear path;

a rotational impact object capable of rotation about an axis of rotation and movement along a second substantially linear path parallel to the first substantially linear path, a mass of the linear impact object being greater than an effective mass of the rotational impact object; and

a guide to guide the movement of the linear and rotational impact objects along the first and second substantially linear parallel paths.

2. The shock apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the linear impact object comprises an impact portion for impacting the rotational impact object, the impact portion having a selectable position, selecting the position determining the relative proportion of rotational and linear shock accelerations which an impact between the linear impact object and the rotational impact object provides to the rotational impact object.

3. The shock apparatus of claim 1 , comprising a plurality of the linear impact objects spatially ordered according to decreasing mass along the first substantially linear path.

4. The shock apparatus of claim 2 , comprising a plurality of spacers, one spacer between each adjacent pair of linear impact objects in the spatial order.

5. The shock apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the guide and spacers enable a plurality of temporally ordered impacts involving the plurality of linear impact objects and the rotational impact object.

6. The shock apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the linear impact object or the rotational impact object comprises an impact portion positioned at a point where the impact object impacts at least one other impact object; and

wherein the properties of the impact portion are selectable to affect the magnitude and duration of a shock acceleration pulse experienced by the rotational impact object.

7. The shock apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the properties of the impact portion which are selected include the hardness and elasticity of the impact portion.

8. The shock apparatus of claim 1 , comprising a test object attached to the rotational impact object.

9. The shock apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the guide comprises at least one first guide rod to guide the at least one linear impact object along the first substantially linear path, and at least one second guide rod to guide the rotational impact object along the second substantially linear path.

10. A method, comprising:

providing at least one linear impact object capable of movement along a first substantially linear path and a rotational impact object capable of rotation about an axis of rotation and movement along a second substantially linear path, a mass of the linear impact object being greater than an effective mass of the rotational impact object;

guiding the movement of the first impact object along the first substantially linear path and the second impact object along the second substantially linear path; and

impacting the linear impact object and the rotational impact object in a plurality of temporally ordered impacts.

11. The method of claim 10 , comprising:

providing an impact portion of the linear impact object for impacting the rotational impact object, the impact portion having a selectable position; and

selecting the position of the impact portion to determine the relative proportion of rotational and linear shock acceleration which an impact between the linear impact object and the rotational impact object provides to the rotational impact object.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the providing at least one linear impact object comprises providing a plurality of the linear impact objects spatially ordered according to decreasing mass along the first substantially linear path.

13. The method of claim 12 , comprising:

providing a plurality of spacers, one spacer between each adjacent pair of linear impact objects in the spatial order.

14. The method of claim 10 , comprising:

positioning an impact portion of at least one of the linear impact object or the rotational impact object at a point where the impact object impacts at least one other impact object; and

selecting the properties of the impact portion to affect the magnitude and duration of a shock acceleration pulse experienced by the rotational impact object.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the selecting the properties of the impact portion comprises selecting the hardness and elasticity of the impact portion.

16. The method of claim 10 , comprising:

attaching a test object to the rotational impact object.

17. The method of claim 10 , comprising:

providing at least one first guide rod to guide the at least one linear impact object along the first substantially linear path, and at least one second guide rod to guide the rotational impact object along the second substantially linear path.

18. A shock apparatus, comprising:

first impacting means for providing at least one linear velocity changing impact involving a linear impact object, the at least one linear velocity-changing impact resulting in an impacted linear impact object having a resulting linear velocity which is changed relative to an initial linear velocity of the linear impact object;

second impacting means for providing a rotational velocity changing impact between the impacted linear impact object and a rotational impact object, the rotational velocity changing impact resulting in an impacted rotational impact object having a rotational velocity different than an initial rotational velocity of the rotational impact object.

19. The shock apparatus of claim 18 , comprising a rotational velocity selection means for selecting the rotational velocity provided by the rotational velocity changing impact.

20. The shock apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the rotational velocity selection means comprises an impact portion having selectable properties, the impact portion being of at least one of: the first impact object or the second impact object.

21. The shock apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the selectable properties include at least one of: a first material of a first impact portion of the first impact object, a second material of a second impact portion of the second impact object, a structure of the first impact portion of the first impact object, or a structure of the second impact portion of the second impact object.