
Exhibit:
Drop Tower
Venue: Phaeno Science Centre
Location: Woflsburg, Germany
Date: Opening 2005-2006
Client: Ansel Associates
Contributors: Mystus, Ansel Associates
Description:
We live in a world of constant downward gravitational
force. We 'weigh' something here on earth (often more
than we'd like to but that's beside the point). If we
were floating in space we wouldn't weigh anything, and
for the split second that the payload in this exhibit
is free-falling it experiences weightlessness too. Well
the weightless state is interesting... lead weights weigh
nothing all of a sudden on a scale, flattened coloured
oil droplets go perfectly spherical all of a sudden, and
more. Twelve feet is all it takes to get over a half second
of weightlessness. Of course much engineering has gone
into this one for robustness of the structure, safety,
and maintainability. It's a real long distance attractor
as well.