Mercedes-Benz Museum Tornado (Images courtesy TechEBlog)
By Andrew Liszewski

What you see here is a man-made tornado standing 34.43 meters high, officially making it the world’s largest according to the Guinness Book Of World Records. But you won’t find this twister in some science center, museum or Knowledgeum. It’s actually located in the multi-story gallery of the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Germany.

While the tornado will clearly serve as a tourist attraction, it was actually created to stop smoke from making its way into exhibit areas in the event a large fire was to break out. To create the tornado seen in these photos, carbon dioxide vapor was used instead of smoke, and it takes 144 separate jets about 7 minutes to get the 28 tons of air moving fast enough to form a funnel. When it does, a low-pressure column in the center of the tornado effectively sucks in any smoke and carries it up to vents in the roof allowing it to escape.

[ Artificial Tornado in German Museum to Save Lives ] VIA [ TechEBlog ]

[ Update: Here’s the video! -Ed. ]

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34 COMMENTS

  5. you’re not actually trying to stop the fire, that’s what firefightters are for. they said that it’s just for removing large quantities of smoke in the case of a fire

  6. You can just imagine some public safety inspector looking at the building plans and saying, “Frankly, you’d need a huge tornado to get rid of the smoke in case of a fire.” To which the museum designer said, “OK.”

  7. also @ alex: that’s almost like saying that blowing on a birthday candle would make it burn faster. plus like cris says once the fire is big enough that your moving 28 tons of air in a cylinder to prevent smoke damage, you’re likely not gonna save anything that’s already on fire.

    also I would love to jump into the middle of that.

  8. Hahahah, I can just imagine MisterNetHead.

    Interesting though, very interesting. When can we have a 3 meter version for homes? It’ll make every house-fire something for the whole family to enjoy!

  9. Call me crazy, but this seems needlessly loud. I wouldn’t really want to be there despite being a cool attraction. No museum I’ve ever been to is that loud. Scratch that, the city museum in St. Louis is that loud, but it’s screaming and running kids there.

  11. While removing smoke, which would allow people to escape and firefighters to work, the tornado should also remove the rising heat. If you’ve ever watched videos of a fire in progress, it’s the superheated air and vapors that gather near the ceiling that allow a fire to flash over and spread quickly. I assume that this has been considered and tested of course. If not then it’s always possible that the thick vapors and extreme heat will disrupt the tornado effect, though it could serve to magnify it too.

  12. @anon
    the tornado is not turned on unless there is an emergency. I have been to the museum many times and they have never shown this aspect of the building design – hence the museum itself is rather quite.

  16. it is interesting to see (in the video at the end) the way a curve devoloped in the tornado, as if the rotation made the tonado form a slow wave of three nodes (1 on each side, 1 in middle).

    they should add doors to the room (and open vents) and turn this into an attraction. it would definitely pay for itself and for the usage. (i’d go to see it, if i visited germany….).

  18. I don’t know if it’s to prevent smoke damage or to save the people in the building,
    the fire isn’t going to be what gets you, it’s going to be the smoke, the fire is what’s going to devour your unconscious body. Our blood more readily grabs carbon monoxide, than it does Oxygen. So the carbon monoxide in the smoke will render you unable to run because it’s suffocating you. either way, it’s still pretty badass.

  22. Dang who made that! I mean shouldn’t that like tear down the building or something?Also why would you need a 34.43 meter big tornado to clear smoke out of a building?

  24. if someone jumped into the middle of that funnel, wouldn't they get knocked off there feet and hit their head or something? I mean it's obvious they would not put there customers in any real danger but thats just my guess.

  27. Hi Alex, I Know you made this tornado comment 1 year ago, but the tornado is made out of carbon dioxide, that`s why ot wouldn`t accelerate the fire.
    regards

  28. Hi Alex, I Know you made this tornado comment 1 year ago, but the tornado is made out of carbon dioxide, that`s why ot wouldn`t accelerate the fire.
    regards

  29. Mario… if there is a fire, they wont be pumping carbon dioxide into building. They will turn it on in hopes to suck smoke out and in doing so will almost certainly accelerate the fire. Alex is correct.

  30. whenever you have a fire in an enclosed area, that area will have a lower concentration of oxygen. pumping the air out will replace it with oxygen rich air from the outside, feeding the fire.

  31. Link, a candle has access to all the oxygen it needs whereas an enclosed fire doesn't. Anyone who's ever built a fire knows that introducing air flow accelerates the process. Alex is right.

  32. Mario… if there is a fire, they wont be pumping carbon dioxide into building. They will turn it on in hopes to suck smoke out and in doing so will almost certainly accelerate the fire. Alex is correct.

  33. whenever you have a fire in an enclosed area, that area will have a lower concentration of oxygen. pumping the air out will replace it with oxygen rich air from the outside, feeding the fire.

  34. Link, a candle has access to all the oxygen it needs whereas an enclosed fire doesn't. Anyone who's ever built a fire knows that introducing air flow accelerates the process. Alex is right.

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