Slashdot Mirror
Roller Coaster Data Center
stienman writes "The Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point Amusement Park may have more technology than your data center. From the article: "The parameters within which the Dragster has to operate are so finely tuned that variable load weights from people, wind speed and out-side temperature affect its performance. ... After every third launch, the data are averaged and compared with historic launch data in an effort to create that perfect ride - the roller coaster must go fast enough to clear the top of the tower, but slow to between 7 and 15 mph in order to give riders the maximum lift effect at the top."
It looks like those guys use specialized equipment to be able to provide high security. Not really using the top of the line computers.
Explains why TTD always closes at the WORST possible times ;-)
FWIW, I actually know someone for whom the Dragster didn't launch QUITE quickly enough - it only hit 112MPH...
When I rode it the one time, it was DAMN smooth, DAMN fast, and that was one DAMN steep descent. However, it was over WAY too quickly, and WAS actually boring. Besides, I'm not going to wait 1.5 to 3 hours in line for something that boring. I'd rather have a 2 minute wait (the time it takes to get from the exit to onboard a coaster) for something like Gemini - more fun, BECAUSE it's less smooth, and runs for plenty of time.
.. was developed? I mean, this is the sort of software that cannot fail. This is not where you use C. Even Ada might not be up to the task. People could very well die, if not become severely maimed, if this software were to fail. And the financial cost of failure to the park would be astronomical. Has each and every line of the software source code been mathematically verified, as is done with the software systems controlling and monitoring nuclear power plants?
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
I was at Cedar Point with my wife and kids maybe two weeks ago or so and it didn't make it. People were pointing and talking about it. It launches fast and is supposed to make it over the top at a very slow speed. It was quite an odd view to see that thing come back down. Of course it's something that's anticipated by the designers so it's not like it was a breathtaking failure with the crowd gasping, but it was unexpected nonetheless.
I have yet to actually get to ride the top thrill dragster. I always go on the Millenium Force instead.
As a recent visitor to the park for the first time, I have to say it's *THE* most thrilling ride I've ever gone on. I don't think anything less of skydiving will give me a rush like I experienced on this ride. Fantastic.
As a side note, while my buddies and I were waiting in line, we saw a sign to the effect "This ride doesn't always make it over the hill the first time.". If it hadn't, I'm not sure I could have gotten on it again LOL.
Actually, there were several times when I was at Cedar Point where it did not clear the hill and (though they claim in such an event it will return slowly to the station) it rocketed back down the hill as fast as it went up, not slowing until it reached the magnetic brakes along the acceleration section. Those were only test launches though, it was temporarily closed.
We were lucky and managed to get at the queue entrance right as it opened again so the line was fairly short, most people having left the line. It closed again, even more people leaving, but only for 10 minutes. Total waiting time, 45 min. In the back of my mind I knew it was perfectly safe (if only to protect from lawsuits) but the wait in line (which goes right under the acceleration section) is very nervewracking. I'm not usually a nervous person when it comes to rides but I was really starting to get freaked out. The ride was incredible and not at all scary-it was all the suspense in line that was. 0-127 mph in 4 seconds, pause just long enough at the top to enjoy the view then zip back down to earth.
I look like a retard on the pictures.
The Jack Rabbit at Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh is quite rickety itself, jumping off the track and slamming back down, shaking all the supports very visibly. Now that gets your adrenaline running.
The imperfections can help make a ride great. The Revolution at Great America in San Jose, a spinning boat ride that goes over the top, sometimes goes over forwards, and sometimes goes over backwards. You really don't know when it will, or why. Compare that to Superman, the Escape at Magic Mountain, which does exactly the same thing every time, and Superman just seems less interesting.
I must admit, my favorite rides skew to the less predictable. At the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk, there is (was) a ferris wheel which consisted of little egg-shaped cages. The rider was given a bar they could pull on to lock the cages in relationship to the wheel, so that they would very slowly spin over the top. No seat belt, mind you, or safety bar or anything, just a little egg-shaped cage with a small bench and a rider flipping around inside, holding their head off the metal with a well-placed, frequently panicked arm. Drop Zone at Great America has a random timer, to ensure that nobody will know when it is about to fall. It's surprisingly good at catching you when you're not expecting it, no matter how many times you ride it. Even The Pirates of the Carribean at Disneyland has people concurrently going through lengthy looped scenes, so that certain boats see the beginning of the loop, others see the middle, and others the end. The rides at California Adventure seemed too controlled and soulless to be a lot of fun, even if they did do so with a bit of showmanship. The best ride there is the white water raft, because it combines the freeform risk of most raft rides with a lot of little technical controlling tricks (like artificially spinning you up).
Personally, I would want to go on the ride when it fell back. That sounds like a lot more fun than just going forwards for 20 seconds. That sounds really, really thrilling. I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was left in on purpose, and I'm sure it helps the ride's reputation.
The ______ Agenda
Once at Magic Mountain (forget the name of the coaster), my brother lost his glasses at the top of the loop, and then they fell into his lap at the bottom. I saw it, it was weird. The glasses floated away from him, he reached out to grab them, then they stopped and come back (he missed his grab).
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
Two points:
;)
1. If we exclude gravity from consideration, the vomit would travel at a tangent to the circle, not away from the centre of the circle. That is to say, once you remove centripetal force, it simply goes 'forward' as momentum demands (for it to go 'away' from the centre of the circle, ie go outside of the 'far' side of the tangent to the circle) would require some other additional acceleration, which isnt there. (gravity excluded)). Hence, if the vomit is let go at the very top of the loop, we would expect it to travel horizontally forward, given that the tangent to the top of the circle meets the circle at a point on the vertical axis of the circle, and the tangent hence must be a horizontal axis.
(we ignore fact the person could, in vomiting, impart a thrust on the vomit - it could be any direction, so cant be generally accounted for. We'll just presume any such thrust will be relatively insignificant (which seems likely, to a degree.)).
If we add in gravity, the vomit will simply accelerate towards the ground at 9.8m/s**2, as well as moving horizontally, according to its horizontal inertia.
2. Roller coaster rides which loop typically are designed so that they approach a minimum of speed at the top of the loop, for maximum "weightless" effect (ie to 'hang' at the top of the loop), this is why most of them are oval shaped with the long chord of the oval aligned vertically, rather than circular.
Hence, if you vomit at the top of the loop, on many rides, there will be a minimum of inertia to carry the loop horizontally outside of the loop. Gravity immediately starts acting on the vomit and also the coaster to start accelerating it down the other side of the loop.
With a modicum of thought (ie consider it is the same force accelerating both of them) you should realise that it's very plausible that the vomit will strike the coaster again somewhere near the bottom, offset slightly by whatever horizontal inertia the vomit had (which might be quite small, for many roller coasters).
Calculating exactly where the vomit will hit the coaster (ignoring air friction, as always) sounds like a really interesting basic problem to give students learning Newtonian mechanics.
I use Friend/Foe + mod-point modifiers as a karma/reputation system.