Breakdown!!

By electromagnetic, I'm referring to a magnet created with the flow of current, such as when taking copper wire, spinning it around a nail, and allowing direct current to flow through the wire to induce a magnetic field (wow... never thought I'd use that from elementary school). Let me know if I'm wrong on that.

Aaron

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17 straight years of real thrills and counting...

120 mph is not different than going 50mph. It's like saying your going to live falling 100 feet to 1,000 feet. You are pretty much screwed if the brakes were to fail on most coasters.

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Coaster World : Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 Network
http://www.megacoasters.com/~nitrousoxide

There is a huge difference between a car and a roller coaster train. If the train doesn't crush you if it hits another train behind you in the extremely unlikely case of a complete brake failular, then it's actully possible for you to survive a 120 MPH crash. I wouldn't be suprised if several people *walk* away from it either.

In car accidents, being crushed is the biggest cause of fatalitys. Then there is the risk of spine injury including the neck, and damage to the brain when it hits the skull. TTD's seats and headrest gives support in a way that it is feasable that people could survive an accident.

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Millennium Force 03'

Speed does matter. If an object moving at 50 miles per hour were to hit a stationary object, the force experienced would be less than hitting that stationary object at 120 miles per hour.

I started to work it out mathematically, but it's 2 am, and I'm tired, and I'm making a lot of mathematical mistakes. So, therefore, one of three things can happen:

* You take me for my word, <--- a favorite option
* I possibly do this after work tomorrow, or <---- eww!
* Someone else do this. <--- another favorite option ;)

If I do take this on, I'll have to dig through tons of notes and my physics books to see about getting it right. I'll probably do it... I like solving things like this, even if it does take a long time... just not at 2 am. ;) But I highly stress the "probably".

Aaron

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17 straight years of real thrills and counting...

[Edit] - The quick version of why... (I couldn't help it, lol.)

Acceleration = change of velocity / change of time. <=> a = (dv/dt).

Assume that when the collision occurs, the amount of time (dt) for the train to go from however fast it's going to zero (dv) is the same for both scenarios. In other words, the amount of time for a train to go from 120 to 0 is the same as a train going from 50 to 0. (Yes, this is wrong... work with me here, it's 2 am... you're going to get the "fuzzy math" version... plus, the tmes are so close anyway [I think] that it really won't matter anyway???)

If train A were to hit stationary train B at speed x, and train C were to hit stationary train D at speed y, and y > x, then it'd be somewhat easy to say the following:

Trains A-B: F=ma <=> F=m(dv/dt) => F=m((x-0)/dt)

Trains C-D: F=ma <=> F=m(dv/dt) => F=m((y-0)/dt)

Immedately we observe that dv/dt for Trains C-D is GREATER than dv/dt for Trains A-B. Why? Because (y-0) > (x-0), and earlier I assumed that (dt) is the same for both scenarios.

Plus, mass (m) in both are the same (yay!). Therefore, F(trains c-d) > F(trains a-b).

Yikes... I used physics, algebra, and discrete mathematics! This is too much... I'm going to sleep. Feel free to pick apart for errors, as I'm good at that while tired.

Aaron

*** This post was edited by TekGuy 2/5/2003 2:34:31 AM ***

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CP_bound said:
I think that on Xcelerator once the fins are dropped, and launch sequence has been initiated, that it cannot be stopped until the train is launced. Whether this remains true for Dragster has yet to be seen.

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What is most anticipated event of 2003? the debut of Dragster, the release of Metallica's new album, the release of Terminator 3, or the release of Matrix:Reloaded...tough call.

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Well, I've heard a "story" which I don't believe about the ride ops beginning the launch sequence while lap bars were up. Someone screamed abort and it was aborted. Intamins can and do get dispatched with lap bars up, at least in Europe. They do abort launches and shut down if too many people are leaning against the gates, as happened when some famous singer rode and fans were in the queue.

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SteelMonsters said:
There is a huge difference between a car and a roller coaster train. If the train doesn't crush you if it hits another train behind you in the extremely unlikely case of a complete brake failular, then it's actully possib le for you to survive a 120 MPH crash. I wouldn't be suprised if several people *walk* away from it either.

In car accidents, being crushed is the biggest cause of fatalitys. Then there is the risk of spine injury including the neck, and damage to the brain when it hits the skull. TTD's seats and headrest gives support in a way that it is feasable that people could survive an accident.

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Millennium Force 03'

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What!?

In car accidents the car crushes and because it crushes it takes the impact off of the drivers and passengers. Sure at high speeds it can crush its passengers but if the car didnt crush, they would be dead anyway. If you are saying that the train will not deform upon collision or wont crush, then the only deformable structure on the train is of course the riders. If the train didnt crush, then it would be an elastic collision forcing the train from 0 to 120 in a micro second. Many bones would break and people would die. Because cars deform some what upon impact is the only reason why people survive crashes because if it didnt crush and you were in a head on collision, it would feel just the same as if you were on the bumper. Energy has to go somewhere ya know.

Racing cars are made to "crush" to prevent injuries to the drivers. That's why the cars look like they're falling apart on impact.

And most of the time they can bail out with only scratches too

Speedy, I read that in Amusement Today, so I don't have first-hand knowledge of the launch sequence. I'm sure you have more info about the ride and its inner workings than most here.

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What is most anticipated event of 2003? the debut of Dragster, the release of Metallica's new album, the release of Terminator 3, or the release of Matrix:Reloaded...tough call.