Ask Science
Ask a science question, get a science answer.
Community Rules
Rule 1: Be respectful and inclusive.
Treat others with respect, and maintain a positive atmosphere.
Rule 2: No harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or trolling.
Avoid any form of harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or offensive behavior.
Rule 3: Engage in constructive discussions.
Contribute to meaningful and constructive discussions that enhance scientific understanding.
Rule 4: No AI-generated answers.
Strictly prohibit the use of AI-generated answers. Providing answers generated by AI systems is not allowed and may result in a ban.
Rule 5: Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
Adhere to community guidelines and comply with instructions given by moderators.
Rule 6: Use appropriate language and tone.
Communicate using suitable language and maintain a professional and respectful tone.
Rule 7: Report violations.
Report any violations of the community rules to the moderators for appropriate action.
Rule 8: Foster a continuous learning environment.
Encourage a continuous learning environment where members can share knowledge and engage in scientific discussions.
Rule 9: Source required for answers.
Provide credible sources for answers. Failure to include a source may result in the removal of the answer to ensure information reliability.
By adhering to these rules, we create a welcoming and informative environment where science-related questions receive accurate and credible answers. Thank you for your cooperation in making the Ask Science community a valuable resource for scientific knowledge.
We retain the discretion to modify the rules as we deem necessary.
view the rest of the comments
In terms of actually building something close to the completeness of an Iron Man suit? No.
A) We don't have powerful / dense enough energy sources. Ironman is powered by a fictional Arc reactor because we have no power source that small that can produce that much power.
B) We don't have any quiet forms of airborne propulsion. You kind of hear Ironman's jets sometimes, but not really, and in reality all our jets / fans that can produce enough thrust to lift a person are way louder.
C) Any material strong enough to actually be protective and stop bullets will also way a ton, making flight even more difficult.
D) In reality an Ironman suit wouldn't be able to stop you from killing yourself through concussions whenever you crashed or hit anything.
That being said, there is a company building jetpacks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suHOLFhbwsM
This guy built a DIY jetpack with arm boosters that fly to you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSGaCew0xh8
And Adam Savage built a bulletproof Ironman suit out of titanium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC8go7wE6VU
C is probably closest to reality with light weight ceramics and so on. Though still very very far away from actual reality.
They did also combine it with A to get it to fly, but I would argue that it's still pretty wildly far away from what we would think of as an Ironman suit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1wEO-pHizQ&t=24s