The Force vs. The Dragon: For the physics geeks :

Hey, all. After watching the making of a coaster feature on before the TV debut of CP's special a couple weeks ago, I had a thought. Steel Dragon 2000 and MF are about the same height. I remember the feature saying that SD2000's trains and wheels had to be increased in size due to the stress from the height of the ride. Those are some BIIIIIG trains! Now think of the Force. Its trains aren't oversized to handle the stress. I think it may have something to do with the type of track used. Any ideas, you physics gurus???

I thought MF was using a special type of wheel now.

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Kerry - Bright Man of the Elite Eight

The wheels have a special Vulcolan lining, a coating that resists heat better than most materials.

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Andrew
http://www.experiencethepoint.com

There really is no such thing as stress from the "height" of the ride. I assume that that wheels had to be huge to decrease the RPM on SD. I have no idea why the trains would have to be oversized to handle the "stress" though.

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MALENEM FORSE!!!111 IT ROXOR YUR WORLD!!1!

Wheel size is definately an issue with increased speeds. When Arrow built Shockwave at SFGAmerica, they initally used standard wheels, which began to have issues when the temperature rose. When they built Magnum, they discussed how the ride would have larger road wheels to handle the increased speeds. If you look at the wheels for MF and Steel Dragon, they are pretty large compared to even Magnum. It's not that the train size has to be increased (as evidenced by the minimalist MF trains), though maybe they meant structurally beefed up trains. Morgan has always built huge trains on their hypercopasters (for example, the trains on Steel Force at Dorney Park are absolutely huge-plenty of leg room and high seat backs-actually quite comfortable). The train size doesn't really matter, but the wheel size definately does.

Idora Wildcat

Morgan has the absolute UGLIEST trains I have ever seen. It feels like riding in a cardboard box.

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MF Laps: 2
Raptor Laps: 3
Magnum Laps: 2
Power Tower Launches: 1
Power Tower Drops: 1

IMHO the larger trains aren't a result of stress, but rather, they are typical Morgan stock. Both coasters more or less experience the same elements during their course, and track gauge is also about the same. Since basic Stress is a result of Force/Area, I highly doubt this aspect had any bearing.

IMHO though, Intamin trains seem much more refined to me than the Morgans. We could compare the Intamin trains to uni-bodies in modern cars, as the coach is a direct extension of the chassis forming a highly rigid structure. Although Morgan makes a nice train too, they chose simply to refine the more traditional coach design. In the end, both types handle stresses fine.

What wins it for the Intamin trains is that the chassis design allows a lower center of gravity which shifts the rider's center of gravity closer to track's rotational axis. We know that this helps with transitions and leads to a better ride experience.

Just to add a note to larger wheels, besides lower rpm, improving ride quality, and allowing for more wear; a larger wheel also has a greater moment of inertia. Moment of inertia is similar to its linear counterpart in that it simply means the tendancy of a rotating object to remain in its rotainoal state. Although the moment of inertia doesn't increase astronomically as we aren't comparing the rotation of the earth to the rotation of a tire, it would help combat frictional force to a degree. My little physics lesson to you for today. ;)

Yikes!! I was going to go to bed but felt compelled to write this. Now I'm going--I promise.

-Dave Kochman
Pittsburgh
*** This post was edited by DaveTKoch on 7/28/2001. ***