4 ms·

I'm struggling to see how it would be very interesting compared with, say, a rollercoaster or a drop tower, where there are external frames of reference, and fu

I'm struggling to see how it would be very interesting compared with, say, a rollercoaster or a drop tower, where there are external frames of reference, and full 1G (or more) acceleration / weightlessness. I imagine the experience would be about as interesting as taking an elevator down a tall building. Maybe I am missing something, though?

myrmidon 2y ago
You could make the first part of the experience free-fall (throw people with a magnet strapped on down a tube that is conductive only near the bottom). I think the big problems are that you need a hefty magnet (which is inherently dangerous) and you can't really split up the magnets over the body (because that is INSANELY dangerous), so you experience that same thing that could be achieved via bungee cord/harness. You would also need to limit (lateral) movement quite a bit, to get reliable braking... A x-shaped magnet assembly strapped to the back could work, but you probably could not allow the tube being all that much bigger in diameter than that backpack... edit: If you allow any fall configuration different from feet-first, the terminal velocity has to be pretty low to reliably not kill people, too. But you could make this work with a net, I think...
- tomcam 2y ago
  Give people an MRI on the way down. Boom. I won’t even charge you for this truly inspiring thought.
duxup 2y ago
I'm inclined to agree that his likely is one of those situations where despite the novelty maybe provided by the new tech, old tech does this job better or at least sufficiently that you still end up using old tech.
zakstal9 2y ago
I think its more comparable to bungee jumping or sky diving than a roller coaster or drop tower. There is more perceived risk. I think the sense of falling slowly unattached to any physical object, with ability to move in any direction (I'm guessing) could be a magical experience. I think there would be a similar experience to a reduced-gravity aircraft ride. Its not necessarily just the physics of falling down a tube slowly thats interesting. Getting a little whimsical, what if you had an Alice in wonder land experience. Wrap the whole "ride" in strange and fun visual effects while you fall down the rabbit hole. Or, have protrusions from the tube where you could jump down to different levels and climb up the sides. But, I really don't know the limitations or whats possible.

myrmidon 2y ago

You could make the first part of the experience free-fall (throw people with a magnet strapped on down a tube that is conductive only near the bottom). I think the big problems are that you need a hefty magnet (which is inherently dangerous) and you can't really split up the magnets over the body (because that is INSANELY dangerous), so you experience that same thing that could be achieved via bungee cord/harness. You would also need to limit (lateral) movement quite a bit, to get reliable braking... A x-shaped magnet assembly strapped to the back could work, but you probably could not allow the tube being all that much bigger in diameter than that backpack... edit: If you allow any fall configuration different from feet-first, the terminal velocity has to be pretty low to reliably not kill people, too. But you could make this work with a net, I think...

tomcam 2y ago
Give people an MRI on the way down. Boom. I won’t even charge you for this truly inspiring thought.

duxup 2y ago

I'm inclined to agree that his likely is one of those situations where despite the novelty maybe provided by the new tech, old tech does this job better or at least sufficiently that you still end up using old tech.

zakstal9 2y ago

I think its more comparable to bungee jumping or sky diving than a roller coaster or drop tower. There is more perceived risk. I think the sense of falling slowly unattached to any physical object, with ability to move in any direction (I'm guessing) could be a magical experience. I think there would be a similar experience to a reduced-gravity aircraft ride. Its not necessarily just the physics of falling down a tube slowly thats interesting. Getting a little whimsical, what if you had an Alice in wonder land experience. Wrap the whole "ride" in strange and fun visual effects while you fall down the rabbit hole. Or, have protrusions from the tube where you could jump down to different levels and climb up the sides. But, I really don't know the limitations or whats possible.