In physics and materials science, a drop tower or drop tube is a structure used to produce a controlled period of weightlessness for an object under study. Air bags, polystyrene pellets, and magnetic or mechanical brakes are sometimes used to arrest the fall of the experimental payload. In other cases, high-speed impact with a substrate at the bottom of the tower is an intentional part of the experimental protocol.
Not all such facilities are towers - NASA Glenn's Zero Gravity Research Facility is based on a vertical shaft, extending to 510 feet (155 m) below ground level.
Read more about Drop Tube: Typical Operation, Historical Uses, List of Drop Towers
Famous quotes containing the words drop and/or tube:
“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“One of the great natural phenomena is the way in which a tube of toothpaste suddenly empties itself when it hears that you are planning a trip, so that when you come to pack it is just a twisted shell of its former self, with not even a cubic millimeter left to be squeezed out.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)