Talk:Fallturm Bremen

What is the "miniature drop tower" material doing here? It doesn't seem to belong in this article, and (in spite of being cool) looks like advertising... I don't speak German so I can't really make out whether Fallturm Bremen actually has anything to do with it.

Not for humans, supposedly?

It would be helpful if the article stated whether or not humans can experience the free-fall (I assume that isn't the case). Bjornte (talk) 10:49, 12 July 2018 (UTC)

No, drop towers are not designed for dropping humans. This doesn't need to be explicitly stated in the article, there's enough information here to deduce what would happen. First, the researchers slowly pump out (almost) all the air to reduce friction. A human would quickly die without a pressure suit and oxygen supply. Second, they drop the test objects (or humans) from the top of this tower, and observe as they fall 110 metres (360 ft) straight down. Falling objects (or humans) impact the bottom of this tower travelling at approximately 167 km/h (104 mph). Some towers have air bags and other braking systems to reduce the impact, but they're designed to slow carefully constructed, well-balanced test objects, not humans. Both the short 4.74s fall-time and narrow 700mm diameter tube make it difficult for a human to choose a survivable body orientation before impact, so not falling head-first is mostly dependent on the release mechanism at the top of the tower and the diameter of the drop tube. If the human survives the impact, the pressure suit and oxygen supply must continue to function until the researchers choose to refill the tower with air.

Technically yes, with suitable preparation I think humans can experience the free-fall at least once, perhaps more than once if they're both (un)lucky and a slow learner. Practically no, it's hard to find volunteers and there are plenty of safety mechanisms and researchers who'll try to stop you from making a mess inside their drop tower. 125.168.243.113 (talk) 08:19, 20 June 2021 (UTC)