Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Would a Walkman work in space?”.
(, music playing ) Marques, The original Walkman has been an outdated piece of tech for a while now, but the movie “ Guardians of the Galaxy” released in 2014 sort of brought the nostalgia of the original Walkman back. In that film Chris Pratt’s character. Peter Quill had one cassette tape in one Walkman through 26 years in space. It can be as low as 455 degrees below zero Fahrenheit in the coldest parts of space.. That seems like it would be problematic for the Walkman.. So today I want to try to answer the question: would that Walkman and that cassette and that pair of headphones have lasted for those 26 years So to test it out? I’Ve brought a tub of liquid nitrogen., But I’m not exactly qualified to handle liquid nitrogen. So, of course we have our safety instructor.
Hi. Nice to see you., So liquid nitrogen., It’s super super cold., So to protect Cryo-Apron gloves and some safety glasses. All right, I feel really safe..
How do I look A little high school science-y, but that’s okay. Perfect.. So I’m gon na grab the liquid nitrogen. ( music playing ) And it looks just like water.. It’S just an awful lot colder.. It boils at about minus 300 and some odd degrees Fahrenheit., So I’m gon na start off with the cassette tape..
So let’s pretend this is “ Awesome Mix, Vol., 1.” And we’ll go ahead and see if it would’ve survived the cold. ( clicking ). That’S a strange sound. All right! So we’ve frozen the cassette tape. Headphones, next., (, crackling, ), Liquid nitrogen meet battery.
One more for good measure. And what you’re seeing off the outside of that battery is all of the moisture in the air. Just like a cloud in the sky., So the entire Walkman is the only thing left. ( crackling ).
I can hear a lot of things. Happening., Okay, see what happened to the Walkman. Still physically intact..
You know what didn’t survive. Is this little window here. Brittle enough to break off.? So this is the moment of truth to find out if it keeps working.
(, screeching, ), (, high-pitched, whine, ), Okay, that’s not “ Awesome Mix, Vol. 1.” Fast-forward, a little. (, screeching )! You guys are — You’re hearing this right. This is pretty loud., But the wheels aren’t spinning. Something about the motor is not quite getting enough power to move. The cassette tape.
Take something down that cold you’re gon na have problems. I’ll, say, “ Awesome, Mix, Vol. 1” would probably not have actually played in space.. A Walkman is still awesome, but maybe –, maybe don’t believe everything you see in the movies.
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