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The Physics Behind Waterslides

Posted by samzenpus on from the slide-science dept.

theodp writes "National Geographic takes a high-level look at the physics behind waterslides. A lot of science goes into providing a safe 60 mph trip down slides like Walt Disney World's 10-story Summit Plummet. 'Safety is our number one concern,' explains Rick Hunter of ProSlide Technology. 'We're thinking about things like, "are you going to stay on the fiberglass tube," it's really easy to do a computer model and look at curves and drops and forecast rider position and speed.'"

15 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. Just curious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    How many slashdotters have been to a water park recently, and by water park you can include a shower.

    1. Re:Just curious by TWiTfan · · Score: 4, Funny

      Does googling the term "water sports" count?

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    2. Re:Just curious by SJHillman · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'd be more interested in knowing how many of them engineer their slides to improve the odds of a bikini coming off mid-slide. And where I can find the works of said engineers. To observe. For science.

    3. Re:Just curious by swb · · Score: 4, Interesting

      How many water park visitors use the fucking shower before going to the water park?

      We went to the local amusement park here in the Twin Cities last summer and because my brother in law doesn't like rides, part of the deal was going to the water park.

      About a week and a half later my foot was killing me -- it looked like I had some kind of sore on my toe. I went to the doctor and he was like "Wow, that's a bad one.." explaining I had a serious infection. He used a sharpie to draw a line around my shin and showed me the infection, telling me that "we don't want it to get to this line...if it does, you'll have to go to the hospital." I got both an injection of antibiotics AND a 10 prescription of something strong.

      I explained the water park visit and he said "yeah, you probably had a small cut in your skin when you were there..." And so that's how you end up with MRSA.

      While I like the idea of water parks (I love to swim, dive, jump, etc), I always worry about the cleanliness of the water itself as well as the surrounding areas and the patrons.

      I might do a Disney water park with my son in the future, but anyplace else they're going to have to really convince me they keep the water clean and the rest of the surroundings clean (ie, 200F chlorine pressure washing).

    4. Re:Just curious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'd be more interested in knowing how many of them engineer their slides to improve the odds of a bikini coming off mid-slide. And where I can find the works of said engineers. To observe. For science.

      Sexual orientation be damned, the inadvertent removal of clothing, or at minimum, the always-entertaining "wedgie", should be the secondary goal, right behind ensuring the rider lives long enough to survive the YouTube onslaught. For social science of course.

    5. Re:Just curious by Khyber · · Score: 3, Informative

      "Perhaps the more relevant question here would be to ask how many of those engineers who claim it's "really easy" to model these rides have taken a turn on their own creations..."

      Exactly this. Due to my somewhat light weight/height ratio, I tend to spend more than half of my time down a water slide without any contact on any of the surfaces.

      Several parks I've visited, I've come out with a bruised ass afterwards due to crappy physics calculations. It's as if the slide designers are all fat and are using themselves as the reference point for design.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    6. Re:Just curious by Z_A_Commando · · Score: 4, Informative

      Having worked at a water park, I can tell you that they primarily keep the water clean by constantly upping the levels of chlorine and other chemicals. However, it depends on the attraction. Some attractions like slides and flume rides are emptied every night or every week for inspections. A big example is Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom. They drain the water every night and pump it out to a treatment facility. New water is pumped in from a retaining pond just outside of the attraction.

      Some attractions, such as large wave pools, can't be drained and refilled overnight and instead are typically drained during the off season or during refurbishment only. However, these attractions are constantly having new water added because of evaporation and because some water is drained as it passes through various filters and cleansing agents. An extreme example would be Schlitterbahn, where they siphon part of a river into their park and the water runs through once before exiting back into the river without recirculation. Of course, treatment is done when the water comes in and when the water leaves so it's safe to swim in and safe for the environment.

      The most likely source of infection from a waterpark are areas where water does not circulate effectively and thus does not pass through the filters. This is why waterparks have tons of moving water and very little (if any) standing water. Of course, MRSA is also a tough bugger to fight. If you were actually diagnosed with MRSA and your doctor believes you got it while visiting a waterpark, I recommend you contact your state board of health so that it can be taken care of. Waterparks have tons of reporting they need to do, but most of it revolves around chemical levels. Knowing they may have MRSA in the water will result in extra precautions and a more thorough investigation. Blood borne pathogens are not something waterparks take lightly.

  2. Shouldn't that be "The Engineering Behind..."? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Funny

    > the physics behind waterslides

    Shouldn't that be "The Engineering Behind..."?

    > National Geographic

    Well...at least the article will feature some topless photos.

  3. Action Park looping water slide by BenJeremy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just learned about this.... legendary for injuries. I'd guess physics had far less to do with the design than lots of beer and whiskey.

    Action Park might be better known to you East Coast Slashdotters as "Traction Park", "Accident Park", or "Class Action Park" and closed in 1996 after 18 years and 5 fatalities.

    1. Re:Action Park looping water slide by NJRoadfan · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I never did get to visit that park as a kid. Weird NJ has a ton of stories on their site about that place. The slides were dangerous simply because they didn't have past data or computer modeling (that the OP talks about) when designing them, so they winged it and called the park's attractions "extreme". Some of the slides survive in Action Park's successor, Mountain Creek. The looping water slide didn't make the cut though.

    2. Re:Action Park looping water slide by RedShoeRider · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I visited that Park. A lot Grew up about 45 minutes away from there. Had friends who "lifeguarded" there.

      A little bit of background for everyone: the park was located in Vernon, New Jersey (USA), built into the side of a small mountain, hence it's successor's name being Mountain Creek. It was a combination water park / Ski resort, depending on the time of the year.

      Perhaps one of the best ways to think about this place is to imagine your favourite water park, saying to yourself "Gee, that ride is great, but I wish I could do...blah...which is prohibited by the rules and the lifeguards would throw me out.". Now imagine that same situation, except that there was no getting thrown out and no one cared about the rules. It was the inmates running the asylum a lot of times. Sure, it made it a metric ton of fun, but the injuries were often severe. Broken legs, dislocated everything, electrocutions....the ambulance was in very frequent use in that place. Some of it was the ride design, as the safeguards and engineering just weren't there. The rest....well, for insance, they had a "Cliff Dive". It was just that....a rocky outcropping about 35' above the main pool. They had weight restrictions, height restrictions, warnings about this and that....and it was all roundly ignored. The lifeguards were supposed to keep the landing area clear, but sometimes they screwed up and damn near had one person landing on another. Oh, and they warned you not to straight dive in, as you could theoretically hit the bottom. Theory, my ass. You could do it pretty easily. As I said....the engineering wasn't. They ran that park cheap, charged a decent amount for admission, and smiled all the way to the bank.

      But, as bad as it was, there were hundreds of thousands of folks who came though there with little more than a smile and some sunburn. For a grabasstic teenager, it was a Paradise.

      --

      Chris Knight is my hero.

  4. Well, they certainly have a lot of experts by emag · · Score: 3, Funny

    So we turned to some experts: the people who design water parks rides, a physicist with three small children, and two 14-year-old twins who are self-described "water park enthusiasts."

    So, a couple teens, a dad whose specialty is particle physics, and the actual people who design the slides. Glad someone has some actual experience...

    --
    "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H.L. Mencken
  5. Staying on the Tube by darthservo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...slides like Walt Disney World's 10-story Summit Plummet...'We're thinking about things like, "are you going to stay on the fiberglass tube,"

    Personally, I found Blizzard Beach's Slush Gusher (the slide adjacent to Summit Plummet) to be more unsettling during the descent. While Summit Plummet is fast, you don't really get to see much on your way down and it's over in a matter of seconds. The Slush Gusher levels out twice during descent along a straight path. After I'd reached enough speed by the 3rd drop, my body had left the fiberglass tube. I'm sure they're more concerned with exiting either side of the tube while descending, but when you're not expecting it to happen it is the slightest bit disconcerting to feel the slide 'leave', even for a moment.

    --

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  6. Re:Explain This by jeffmeden · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "We know from Galileo that all objects near the surface of the Earth accelerate downward at the same rate," he says. "But you also have to think about air resistance. That's why a bowling ball and a piece of paper don't fall at the same rate. You accelerate at a certain rate, but the force that's pulling you down depends on that number and your mass."

    Everyone knows this. But then...

    As for rides with steep drops instead of curves, heavier riders do go faster, he says.

    Now I am confused. Is this assuming heavy riders have more friction with the slide/water or more air resistance or that Newtonian Physics can suck a fat one?

    Heavy riders experience less relative resistance, since an object (er, a human's) mass increases faster than the area in contact with the slide. Same goes for wind resistance but i suspect it plays a smaller role.

  7. Re:Correction by bobbied · · Score: 5, Funny

    Watersides are just slippery slopes.... Which is a logical argument...

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