My Raptor incident.

On my August 9th visit, I had a very, uh... "interesting" experience. I was riding Raptor at night, it was about 9:45, and I sat in the last row, on the far right. We set off for our ride, and we had a fast, out of control ride, typical of Raptor, and we came into the brake run. The one you hit right before you enter the station.

 Well, we were stopped there, waiting for the train in front of us to be dispatched. I looked over to my right (remember, I''m on the outside seat on the right), and I saw the hand rails, which had these little black lights on them. Being the curious, idiotic person that I am, I reached out to see if I could touch one of the hand rails. Well, right as I did that, the train in front of us dispatched, and we started to advance into the station.

So I'm sitting there with my arm extended trying to touch the railing, and all the sudden, we started to advance, so I ended up hitting one of the black lamps on accident. Well, it shocked the (insert censoring bleep here) out of me. I got a nasty shock, and that wasn't the odd part. The odd part is that everyone in my row felt it.

The point of all this? I was wondering why it happened. I thought it was because something may have been exposed on the lamp, and when I touched it, I was in the train which was connected to the track, station, and supports, so it in turn was grounded, and I just created a complete circut, but as I pondered it, that didn't make sense. I was sitting in a foam and plastic seat, and as far as I know, those are insulators, not carriers. I wasn't touching the metal handles either.

 My thoughts are, since it rained earlier in the day (and I mean like 8 hours earlier), that there may still have been water on parts of the coaster, but I didn't really feel any "wetness." I'm baffled.

Can anyone shed some light on to why this happened, and tell me why my entire car felt it?

NOTE: I'm endorsing any illicit, stupid, or Intamin2k-ish activities at the park.

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Joe
I'm not like them, But I can pretend. The sun is gone, But I have a light. The day is done, But I'm having fun. I think I'm dumb, Or maybe just happy. -Nirvana, Dumb
Edit: Stupid punctuation...

*** This post was edited by Intamin2k on 8/23/2001. ***

Your not the only one. This season I was a Curious George too so to say. I did the same thing and I did get a shock, but I don't think everyone in my row felt it. But it did rattle me a bit. i guess that's why they say keeps hands and arms inside the car at all times.

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MF Count: 21
Front Seat MF Rides: 2
First CP Rollercoaster: Corkscrew

Maybe they are bug zappers. You gguys made me think of that one Sunkist soda commercial.

Well electricity travels the path of least resistance too ground.  Your body was less resistance the the air. The steel of the coaster also provided a great path to ground of tiny resistance (like 2-10 ohms...measurement of resistance).  Basically the electricity went from the hot sensors through you, through the coaster to the closest ground rod.  You just provided the link to ground.
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This second hill is my favorite part of the ride. It is so Cool!
Gemini 100
Its Dan K's fault

You probably felt a strong static charge that build up on the train during your ride. I doubt that you were actually shocked by line current.

Yep that would be the static charge built up by the train.  The wheels themselves are insulated but build up a nice charge in the train when it is moving.  Normally the brakes closing on the beam of the train ground out the train.  However, once the train was rolling and you touched the grounded structure, you became the path to discharge the static electricity.  Done that one myself a few times not thinking about it in fact.

It would be a very bad thing if that was actually current from a device on the ride, but that also isn't possible.  The entire steel structure of the ride is grounded so if a wire did come loose and contacted it, it would cause a short and either trip a breaker or blow a fuse in the control system.

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-Brian
I really should be working...

Same thing happens on Gemini when the two trains connect via fingertips rather than open palms.  Ouch :)

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Scott W. Short, Rail Junkie
mailto:scott@midwestcoastercentral.com
http://www.midwestcoastercentral.com

Yeah, Scott, ouch is right, but it sure is fun when the other person doesn't expect it!
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UCSigEp
Isn't Disney World a people trap run by a mouse?
MF 2K1: 4
MF life: 12

*** This post was edited by ucsigep on 8/24/2001. ***

You should try your luck as a ride host on Raptor!  I got the worst shock of my life last year when I had my thumb sticking out to clear the train.  Some guest stuck his hand out of the side, just like we tell you not to, smacked my hand, and WHAMO, I dropped to one knee it hurt so bad.  Sometimes, when the train dispatches from the station, you can here a little noise like a static discharge.  I have seen many other crewmates receive the same shock I got.

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Raptor Chris 2000 and 2001

Hey Hooper, is your restraint down far enough!!!!!

Wow that is very interesting and could be a saftey hazard. I always wondered about those too.
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Live for FUN!

Don't let life fly by.

Suck it up Chris!! HAHA LOL!

I did this last Sunday. I was sitting (with about 12 other people on the train:)) on the left and reached out and touched the little platform thing the brake cylinders are on in the final brake run. Zapped the crap out of me. I will make sure I do that again! It was so great!

So great?! My spine hurt for 2 days after that!

You, Sir, are crazy. :)

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The name's Poochie D. and I rock the telly, I'm half Joe Camel and a third Fonzarelli. I'm the kung-fu hippie, from gansta city, I'm a rappin surfer, you the fool I pity. -Simpsons

...The Most Electrifying Coaster in Amusement Entertainment History!

Sorry, maybe some WWF fans will get that...

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MF count: 20

this is kinda off-topic, but why are B&M brakes so wide? the brake bars are too far apart for it to be a fin

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Coasterbuzz name: Same
Home Park: PKI
Never Been To CP but will probably go in 2002

Yep, they use the main box beam of the train to grab ahold of. 

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-Brian
"Chetto panelview"

oh, so thats it, that works really well, it stops the train in a pretty short distance
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Coasterbuzz name: Same
Home Park: PKI

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Intamin2k said:
So great?! My spine hurt for 2 days after that!
You, Sir, are crazy.

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I guess either I've built up a tolerance for static shock from my physics classes (I love Lyden Jar capacitors), or you got a much bigger shock than I did...
And yes, I'm already aware that I'm crazy :P

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-John Gilman; Proud Participant of the DT 80 and member of the O.C.!

I guess I will keep my arms inside the train at all times like the spiel says.

No kidding. Me too. No more attempting to touch supports ever again...unless I am on the Gemini, but only for the sake of nostalgia. Rob, you taught me well.
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model/talent-- Pro Model Management Inc.
OU Forensics 2000-01
Gemini ATL 2001