More fun with science

This would make a good elevator.  Not a lift, but what Heinlein would have called a bounce tube, something you step into in order to be gently lowered to the ground floor.

4 comments:

E Hines said...

It's also how the brakes in a hybrid or plug-in car help recharge the motive batteries. However, there's a considerable amount of heat generated by the process; that might need to be bled off.

Another problem: I couldn't take the spinning. I can't even do merry-go-rounds.

Eric Hines

raven said...

For a drop tube, no need for anything more than a piston in a cylinder -have a controlled venting so you can drop fast or slow as desired. You could even strategically locate the vents to get the "Marilyn over the street grate" effect!

E Hines said...

You can use cheaper materials for that, too. And it wouldn't be too hard to automate the amount of venting so you'd get a reasonably consistent drop regardless of the weight standing on the platform.

Eric Hines

raven said...

probably it could be done with a flexible vane- then direct the waste air over a reed or edge and make the worlds biggest woodwind ! Musical one way elevator. If only the way up was so easy.
I do know a pipe organ maker who has a musical door- open the door and it pulls a bellows that pipes a note- very cool!