Acceleration

I figured out a couple of days ago that if you calculate the accelration of Millenium Force and of Top Thrill Dragster, Millenium Force has a larger acceleration.

How's that?

Try this. Delta v/t^2. In other words the differece of the velocity over the time in seconds squared. In order to figure it out, you must have the speed of which they start at (MF-13, TTD-0) and their top speed (MF-92, TTD-120) and then divide it by the time squared. MF turns out to have an acceleration of 8.777777777, and TTD turns out to have an acceleration of 7.5.

It takes Millennium Force longer than 3 seconds to go from 13 mph to 92 mph.

My mistake. Sorry about that!

Also TTD goes from 0-120mph in right about 3 seconds.

wouldn't we be dead if those were the accelerations?

Actually the time it takes TTD to get up to full acceleration is 4 seconds, that is 0-120 in 4 seconds. And Colin, I rode it 3 times and I'm still walking.

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Wanna Get High? Ride Top Thrill Dragster!
RIP Top Thrill Dragster Themeing, who lies here in pieces on June 26, 2003.

No, we wouldn't die...but thats around the maximum that the human body can handle.

Hey people! Dont any of you know about G forces? The only thing about G FORCES is that how much the pull of the Gs are and how long you endure it. Who doesn't not that? I don't think tony knows. It's not about acceleration, it's about the G-force.

Hey people! Dont any of you know about G forces? The only thing about G FORCES is that how much the pull of the Gs are and how long you endure it. Who doesn't not that? I don't think tony knows. It's not about acceleration, it's about the G-force.

G-forces are directly related to acceleration. Extremely high accelerations (very rapid change of speed, or direction) are one of the most deadly forces. The larger the acceleration, the higher the g-force. Thats why astronauts don't have a continusly changing g-forces, even though their travling at many thousands of miles an hour, they only accelerate for the first part of their journey. Acceleration does matter in the subject of g-forces.

I think we are all confusing a few terms here. In a traditional coaster such as MF, the forward velocity of the train is produced of the force of gravity. Therefore the forward acceleration, disregarding friction, will be 9.8 m/s/s. The G-force on your body during the fall is zero; you are falling at the same rate as the train. It is not until the bottom of the hill where the G-force really comes into effect. As the train changes direction (from down to up) a vertical G-force is felt pushing down on the passengers. Obviously this force is a component of both the speed of the train, and the radius of the track's curve as it heads back for the sky. When Magnum first opened, the big word was that it produced 3 G's at the bottom of the hill, the same as the space shuttle. That may be true, but on a coaster we only endure that force for a moment, while shuttle passengers feel it for the duration of the launch.

This brings me to the real point of my post. With the introduction of launched coasters, a new G-force component has been introduced. This is the force pushing the rider back into the seat, as apposed to down into the seat. Prior to launch, this force would be zero. If my calculation is correct, TTD would exert a force during the launch of approximately 1.37 G’s on the rider’s body, parallel and opposite to the direction of the train’s travel. As for how much the human body can withstand, this would be like lying on your back and having your 8-year-old brother sit on your stomach. Most of us could withstand that for four seconds.

I’ve never seen much discussion of this aspect of these rides (not that I’ve been looking). I’m sure there are some people out there who know a lot about the physics of coasters and would be kind enough to offer some insight on these topics.

And so you all know, 2 trips to CP this year, and still no laps!

ACTUALLY...

I do believe that TTD (mind me im no physicist, and please dont go off hating me if im wrong) but I heard/feel like TTD actually boosts from 0-100 in only 2-2.5 seconds, then just gradually (in the remaining second or two) adds that +20 on. Can anyone add to or confirm this?

Well, on opening day I actually timed the launch with my stopwatch in line and I had it reaching the hydraulic building in around 3.3-3.5 seconds, and it is advertised in the on-ride photo that it reaches 120 in less than 4 seconds, not in 4 seconds. Draken, it might not be as extreme as it taking as long to get to 100 as it takes to get the extra 20, but the faster you go the longer it should take to add more speed, so this might be true (although the launch accelleration does seem to be pretty consistent throughout).

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CP 2K3: 11

I timed it with my stopwatch too. I got 3.2 seconds. If you think about Xcellerator it goes 0-80 in 2.3 seconds. So TTD should accelerate in at least 3.45 seconds, but TTD has a 10,000 horsepower engine and I think Xcellerator has 9,000 hp so TTD should accelerate even faster.

The human body can take more. Some jets that launch off of aircraft carriers accelerate from 0-160 in less than 2 seconds, but the piolets are wearing special G-force suits!

The catapult on an aircraft carrier launches a jet from 0 to 175 MPH in about 2.4 seconds (309'). This equals about 3.3 G's. This is about 2.5 times the acceleration of Dragster.

Back in May, Tom (in another thread) made a comparison of the acceleration forces of all the fast rides. Quite interesting.

Tom said:
Since we are comparing launches again, this ranking should help answer a lot of questions. As you can see TopThrill, there are more intense launches than TTD, but I agree with you - TTD is a good mix of intensity, and duration.

FYI - WT was tough to rank since it really takes two launches to reach the top speed and there are not many stats posted about the time and max speed. You can see that Superman at MM truely is a boring launch - hope this helps.

Dodonpa - 2.71 Gs (107 MPH in 1.8 sec)
Hypersonic - 2.02 Gs - (80 MPH in 1.8 sec)
Xcelerator - 1.62 Gs - (82 MPH in 2.3 sec)
Dragster - 1.36 Gs - (120 MPH in 4 sec) OR 1.56 Gs if launch is 3.5 seconds - -Wicked Twister - 1.31 Gs (72 MPH in 2.5 sec)
Rock n Roll - 0.97 Gs (60 MPH in 2.8 sec)
Hulk - 0.91 Gs (40 MPH in 2.0 sec)
B&R Chiller (SFGA) - 0.79 Gs (70 MPH in 4.0 sec)
Superman: TE (MM) - 0.65 Gs (100 MPH in 7 sec)
Flight of Fear PKI - 0.51 Gs (54 MPH in 4.8 sec

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/inside_park/rides/thrill/2002/wt/qaa/qaa.cfm?showid=39#q39

that says this in the q&a:How fast is Wicked Twister? Wicked Twister reaches a maximum speed of 72 mph. It travels at various speeds throughout the ride as follows:

First launch (forward) – approximately 50 mph
Second launch (backward) – approximately 63 mph
Third launch (forward) – approximately 69 mph
Fourth launch (backward) – approximately 72 mph
Fifth launch (forward) – approximately 62 mph

so the launch is really a lot less because it goes 22 miles per hour lower in the first launch.

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