For a bit of physics and fun, C1 Espresso in Christchurch, New Zealand sends a few of its specially-made items directly to customer tables via pneumatic tubes, “systems that propel cylindrical containers through networks of tubes by compressed air or by partial vacuum.”
In the video above, STEM-focused YouTuber Tom Scott orders a torpedo-shaped burger and fries for pneumatic tube delivery… and sends his GoPro camera through, too. He explains:
“There aren’t many pneumatic tube systems left in the world. They used to be… well, not everywhere, but a hundred years ago, most major western cities would have a few of them for sending messages around, either within a building or between buildings.”
“At one point, New York had 27 miles of pneumatic tubes between post offices. And you can still see them sometimes, in American drive-through banks, or in a few hospitals for quickly moving samples around. Last year, I visited one in Canada that’s used for transmitting small amounts of radioactive stuff for medical therapy.
“I know of only one place, however, that sends food through them.”
Watch more from Tom Scott on YouTube and Instagram.
Then watch these related videos on TKSST:
• What happens when you put marshmallows in a vacuum?
• The Hammer-Feather Drop in the world’s biggest vacuum chamber
• The 13th-century treadmill cranes at Guédelon Castle
• What happens inside an artificial gravity lab?
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