Oct 18 2007Artificial Tornado In Mercedes Benz Museum
The Guinnes Book of Records verified that the artificial tornado in Germany's Mercedes Benz Museum is the world's largest man-made twister. It's 34.43 meters (~113 feet) tall, and contains approximately 28 tons of air. It takes 144 jets about seven minutes to produce. It was created to suck smoke out of the building and save lives should a fire start. In the picture, carbon dioxide is being sprayed into the bottom of the tornado to make it visible. It's awesome, and I'm thinking about modifying my bathroom exhaust fan to produce something similar. I don't really understand the science behind it or anything, but I'm pretty handy with power tools. Okay, so I'm not very good with power tools. I can swing a hammer. Fine, I'm lying. I can wield a screwdriver with the best of them though. The vodka and orange juice version at least.
A bigger version of the picture after the jump.
World's Largest Man-Made Tornado Actually Built For Safety [ohgizmo]
Reader Comments
1. clark - October 18, 2007 3:12 PM
geekologie man, you're such a suburban house wife.
2. flareback - October 18, 2007 5:37 PM
7 minutes to produce! so in the amount of time it takes to get that thing going you'll have died already. So basically it's to help firefighters find the bodies.
3. flarebacks non retarded brother - October 18, 2007 5:52 PM
7 minutes to produce the twister INSIDE. The jets were made to suck the smoke OUT of the building. I don't think the Germans would install a system to push oxygen into the building as a fire safety mechanisim as that would only fuel the flames. Germans are smarter than that, and you flareback are about as smart as Paris HIlton.
4. Tim - October 18, 2007 7:24 PM
I have actually been to that museum and it is baaaaaaaad ass! I saw that thing working in action during a performance for the first year anniversary.
5. guate6 - October 19, 2007 1:12 AM
I want one.
6. Uncle Eccoli - October 19, 2007 9:01 AM
28 tons of air? Where are they getting that figure? I would think that it would take an awful lot of pressure to get 28 tons of air into that room. That'd really squeeze your bean.
7. Ed Said - October 20, 2007 12:25 AM
Damn, this calls for an inappropriate joke about the Germans and big well designed fires inside special buildings and dead bodies and all that. But I'll refrain :)