I understand that the arresting cables on aircraft carriers occasionally (or at least used to) snap and take off deck crews' legs and things.
I vaguely recall that tensioning the cables during construction of a suspension bridge is kind of a dicey operation, too.
Hell, even rubber bands that let go can give you a pretty good thwap. Used to bundle sorted mail with large-ish rubber bands, so I know.
Stored energy suddenly released results in a lot of power. I once calculated the horsepower involved in firing a .22 rimfire worked out to about 90 hp... or something in that range. Don't rightly recollect.
