Topics: Film and TV, Instagram, Marvel, Social Media, Technology, US News, YouTube, Science, Iron Man
An engineer has been building a 'Hydrogen Iron Man suit' for six years and people are in shock.
With Robert Downey Jr nearly cast in another Marvel role instead of Iron Man, casting directors would've needed to look no further than real life Tony Stark, Alex Burkan - had the engineer's project aligned with the timings that is.
The engineer has been embarking on an ambitious six-year project to create a functioning Iron Man suit and the results are 'awesome'.
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Burkan started with pencil sketches and a small clay model in his bid to create a real life Iron Man suit.
Beginning the project in 2018, the engineer confined himself to 'a cave with a box of scraps' and set to work on bringing the impressive design to life. However, as much as he tried to stay true to the suit in the movie as much as possible, he had to make certain tweaks along the way.
For example, unable to make an actual Arc Reactor, the engineer decided to make a Hydrogen Reactor instead.
In a video shared to YouTube, he explains: "I assembled several electrolysers, which split water into hydrogen and oxygen and produce high-octane fuel gas mixture for the suit.
"Then I realized that the electrolyser can be used not only as a source of fuel, but also as a compact but powerful compressor, which means it can be used to activate artificial muscles and other pneumatic stuff."
He then set about testing the 'plasma propulsion and hydrogen combustion' to allow the limbs on the suit to be controlled by the reactor. Muscle sensors also allow the person in it to control the suit, a video shared to Twitter further explains.
The technique mirrors the approach used by Stark in the Marvel movie, a single reactor helping control all parts of the suit and the power behind it is leaving social media users' jaws swinging.
One Twitter user wrote: "Woah. Intense."
"Always thought tech in sci-fi movies are indicators of future innovations. Kids see movies like iron man and get a vision in their head, that this iron man suit would be 'totally awesome'. Some of those kids become engineers and acquire the skillset to bring those visions to life," another added.
A third commented: "Wow, this is amazing. I wonder if Elon Musk has met Alex? Very interesting."
"He is awesome! He's been doing it for a while. He also has a channel that goes DEEP into how he does what he does," a fourth wrote.
And a fifth resolved: "He is such a badass with his work."
