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A parabolic slide catches you at the
bottom, similar to those free-fall rides in
amusement parks that drop then hit a
curved rail that goes from vertical to
horizontal in a Πcircle shape.
You’d need a glass enclosure parallel
with the jump tower to keep you from
pushing too far away
from it and hitting
the slide at the wrong place and a
friction reducing jump suit and helmet,
but other than that, the only limitation to
how high you could jump from is the
size of the catcher slide.
There’s even a maximum size the slide
would have to be for any height tower
since terminal velocity for the jumper's
body would be the same above a certain
jump height. In other words, the same
scoop would work for a tower the height
of the Empire State Building or the Sears
Tower.
The chute would also have to be wide
enough so the jumper wouldn’t bounce
back and forth off the glass enclosure
part and the slide. Other than that, the
only reason it might not work is people
might be too afraid to jump off a 300 ft
tower without anything attached to their
body to slow them down. (Wussies.)
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Annotation:
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[+] I’ll jump...right after you. |
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I fear that the required landing area will be too small and leave little room for error. But, sidestep this issue, and the idea is very fun. |
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Yay! Bags I first go! I can't imagine its
being impossible. I suspect that the
vertical-to-horizontal transition can be
made in a reasonable distance, but the
deceleration after the transition would
be tricky. You'd want to spread this out
over maybe a hundred feet - maybe use
foam?
First-contact with the
transitioning section of the slide would
be tricky - you'd need to allow for
contact in any orientation, and you'd
have to allow a reasonable amount of
horizontal space for in-air maneuvering
during freefall. Relly-work would be
interesting - an entire mob cascading
down the ramp in a sort of bundle. |
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I was half-expecting a new and fun method of suicide. |
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I remember going on a slide like this as a child. But it was about 30 feet high rather than 300. Oakwood park in Pembrokshire I believe. Can't find an image of the slide itself though, it was a very small attraction. |
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There was a similar ride at a long since defunct park nearby. Found some links to the park, but not the ride. You climbed many flights of stairs to the top and stepped into a small room. The door closed behind you and the floor dropped out from beneath. The slide was as you describe, but there was no tube. You really couldn’t miss as you didn’t have control of your fall. There were no fancy friction reducing gizmos either. I’m too young to have ridden it before it disappeared (in the 60’s), but wish it was still there. + |
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