WEBVTT - How Rollercoasters Work, Minus the Fun 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.560 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:16.520 from House Stuff Works dot com? Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:19.720 the podcast on Josh Clark with Me as always is 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:23.000 Charles W. Chuck Bryant, And this is stuff you should know. 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:27.680 The audio podcast that is now transcribed and available on 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:30.200 the blogs. It there. Yes, the deaf and heart of 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:34.519 hearing community is ready to go. Yes, Josh, and that 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:38.800 is exciting. Expand the group of people that can get 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:42.800 on the train. You know what I'm saying. I think so, 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:46.720 I hope. So you're talking about listen, getting like to 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:49.879 experience a podcast and then yes, I know what you're 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:55.080 talking about. Um, Chuck, are you ready to do this? Yeah? 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:58.040 Have you ever? My arms are up? You're been on 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:02.760 a roller coaster? I am a roller coaster guy. I 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:06.160 wouldn't call myself one of those guys you know who 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:09.679 like make special trips to states just to ride the coaster, 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:12.520 but I've always been a fan. There are plenty of 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:14.840 people who do that, and not just the States. Like 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:18.920 Japan is big with roller coasters as well, and um 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:21.839 do they have huge roller coasters? I could totally see 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:24.440 one of them is on the list. Um I didn't 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:28.480 get the list. Well, I can't wait to hear it 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.160 with the other few hundred thousand people at the same 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:34.960 time who are listening to this. Um chuck. I am 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:39.160 not a roller coaster guy, despite being from originally Ohio, 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:43.160 which is the home of arguably the greatest amusement park 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.680 in the world, Cedar Points. Yeah, Sandusky, Yeah, right there 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:48.760 on the water. It's nice. It is very nice. On 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:52.360 the other side, you have the Breakers Hotel Cataba Island, 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.840 where my family vacationed uh for many years when I 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:58.280 was a kid, um, and we would go to see 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:01.320 your point pretty frequently. But I'm a very young age 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:07.360 I was terrified of roller coasters because let me paint 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:11.840 you a picture. When I was I think three, my 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:16.280 dad said, Josh, here we are at Disney World. Why 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:18.640 don't you let me take you on this great ride 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:22.200 called Space Mountain, which now is very tame when you 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.079 look at it. It's not tame to me. I've since 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:27.920 been on it and it's still not tame alright, even 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:30.760 as a from a three year old to a twentysomething, 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:35.919 it's no difference because I've been completely spoiled on roller coasters. Now, 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:39.600 I was a very young kid. My dad was taking 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:42.239 me on Space Mountain. I had no idea what to expect, 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:45.399 and I'm damaged. Goods Now, really did that just put 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:47.600 a dent in it for you? It did. Now, if 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:50.920 I actually go, if I can get the courage up 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:53.040 to actually go on a roller coaster, I have just 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.560 an amazing time. Yeah. Sure, but it's the standing in 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:59.960 line and going up the first hill that, like I could, 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:02.800 I can't do it. I can't do it. Chuck. Yeah, 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:05.320 I had a similar experience and that I would not 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:08.200 ride roller coasters. But I really enjoyed the park. Six 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:10.799 Flags obviously here in Georgia, and we had the family 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.000 seasons pass every year. And it's at a certain point 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:16.880 in age my father said, you know you're gonna go 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:18.760 on these roller coasters if we're gonna pay for you 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:21.040 to get in the park because we're and I used 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:23.520 to hanging out with the banana splits. It's not worth 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.760 the money that alone. Well, here's how bad it stunk 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:28.320 for me is I would wait in line the whole 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:30.680 time because I was with my family, and then when 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:32.760 the time came, I would walk through the car to 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:35.840 the other side, and I used to have terrors that 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:37.680 they would like I would slip and fall on the 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:40.760 seat and the bar would come down and that was it. 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:43.760 It's like a Scooby Doo theme park. Yeah, so he 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:45.680 forced me to go on I think the Mine Mender, 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:48.520 and I never looked back. I was like, thanks, Dad, 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:51.200 that was awesome. That is really great. That's the exact 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:54.400 opposite of my story, and that one came out really well. Yeah, 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:56.720 so I like him now. Yeah. Sure, Uman's actually ruined 0:03:56.720 --> 0:03:58.720 on roller coasters because her dead took her on Space 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:01.480 Mountain as well. He pretended like he didn't know what 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:03.760 was going on, you know, like he was freaking out, 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:07.800 and that's just ruined. Right, So our kids never going 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:10.400 to go on a roller coaster because both of his 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:12.600 or her parents are gonna be too nervous about that. 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:14.160 Plus the older you get. I mean I went to 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:17.600 see her point a couple of years ago, and it's 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:20.520 harder when you get a little older. The line seem longer, 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:24.240 the heat is more oppressive, and these roller coasters red 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:28.480 nicky yea and these roller coasters now are like astronaut training. 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:30.200 It's I mean I can take a lot, but I 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:32.520 would get off of some of these, thinking, man, we're 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:35.040 talking about the top thrilled dragster. Oh, they've got a 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.039 bunch of there. That kind of made me feel queasy 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:39.080 and it was fun, but it also tested the limits 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:42.919 of my intestinal fortitude. Nice. Well, let's talk about this. 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:47.000 I have to say, um, this, this um article by 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:51.560 Tom Harris, who's on par with the Grabster in my opinion, 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:56.479 um he uh. He basically breaks down exactly what's going 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:58.039 on on a roller coaster. And I was kind of 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:00.400 hoping that understanding this would make me feel or about it. 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:02.520 I don't think it's had any effect that at all, 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:04.960 but at the very least, now you and I can 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:09.480 explain what the deal is with roller coasters. Let's start, Chuck, 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:15.120 Let's let's take it back to sixteenth century Russia. Who 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:17.599 would have thunk it That's where it all began. Josh, 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:21.480 you're right, Um. Originally they had these ice slides, very 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:23.880 steep wooden slides covered in ice. You got a little 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:27.000 sled and I imagine it looks sort of like the 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:30.120 long straight water slide that they have today. Or I 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:32.800 took it like the ski jump, but without the jump 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:36.760 part at the bottom, you know. But it wasn't just 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:41.320 a sled. These things would these slides were covered in ice. 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:44.400 The track was, but then at times you could also 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:48.080 write a block of ice. So you can imagine some 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:51.320 crazy sixteenth century Russians riding a block of ice down 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:56.000 a seventy ft slope into a sand pit, loaded on vodka. Yeah. 0:05:56.200 --> 0:06:00.920 Probably that's that is all roller coaster historian degree. The 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.119 beginning of roller coasters, right, yeah, And the next step 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:08.239 is a little, uh, somewhat disputed. But the best story 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:11.680 we found was that the French got on board and 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:14.360 said we're gonna build one of these. But in France 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:17.480 it got hot, the ice melted, so they said, well, 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:19.920 let's just wax the wood. And then they said, hey, 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:22.080 let's just put wheels on it. And all of a 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:25.840 sudden you had a wheel roller coaster in eighteen seventeen. 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:30.000 First one, yeah, the first one was the Russian Mountains 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:36.039 of Belleville on France said they ruses Bellevide. Yeah, um, 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:39.479 and uh, like you said, eighteen seventeen, Yeah, that was 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:41.840 introduced and from that point on that was kind of 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:46.440 like the explosion of um modern Well, I don't want 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:48.960 to say explosion of modern roller coasters, because it took 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:55.159 a good thirty forty fifty years, but after that it exploded, right, Yeah, Yes, 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.080 the United States in Pennsylvania in the mid eight hundreds 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:01.039 had the first one in the US. And it was 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:03.080 sort of like they still have these two that go 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:04.760 up the side of a mountain. I know. I've been 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:07.120 on the Incline Railway in Tennessee. Yeah, that's sort of 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:09.560 what it's like, terrifying to it. Basically was an old 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:11.400 coal line that they would take you up in a 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.400 cart slowly, and they called it a scenic tour, and 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:16.920 then I get the impression they would let you down 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:20.000 a little more quickly, yes, adding to the thrill. And 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.600 this was like eighteen fifty. It was the mid nineteenth century, 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:25.680 and it cost a dollar and I went and did 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:29.720 I did the west a calcula and two thousand, ten 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:32.680 dollars A. Well, I don't know, man, I mean that 0:07:32.800 --> 0:07:35.840 this is it. Well, no other thing even resembling a 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:39.480 roller coaster in the United States. You're gonna pay twenty 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:43.160 five bucks. And it probably either that or playing Russian routlette. 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:46.800 They probably ensured it was rich people too, which rich 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:50.920 people in old coal cars. So UM from that point on, 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:54.880 Pennsylvania apparently was a UM has had like the long 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:58.800 standing tradition, longstanding history of roller coasters because they had 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:02.760 that called the mouk Chunk switched back Railway that was 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:05.400 that first UM roller coaster you described, and then they 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:08.440 had real ones like Kenny Wood Park there one of 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:10.560 the first amusement parks. Yeah, it's still there. And then 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:13.160 of course the world famous Coney Island. And then the 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:17.640 nineteen twenties happened and there are as many rides um 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.680 as as many rides I don't know roller coasters, but 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:25.080 there were as many rides in operation in nineteen states 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:30.760 as there are as there are roller coasters today. Uh yeah, 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:33.440 so they replaced the old obviously. Well yeah, that's part 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:35.520 of it. But at the same time, UM, you would think, 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:37.559 like you just keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger, 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:39.560 and there'll be more and more and more. But the 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:42.160 Great Depression of World War two kind of cut the 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:44.400 head off of roller coasters in amusement parks for a while. 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.200 It wasn't ntil the seventies and eighties that you know, 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:50.600 the the the advent of the modern roller coaster that 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:55.080 you know and love today and I hate really began. Yeah, 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:57.440 so you don't even go to parks probably then, right, 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:01.040 I went to Dollywood. That was fun, but we did. 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:05.200 We wouldn't ride that roller coaster. That's pretty low stress, 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:07.120 I would think, as far as because there's so much 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:10.760 other stuff to do. It's no cedar point, no point. 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:14.600 It's just like shame, humility, shame, you know, every every turn. 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:17.560 Uh So, should we talk about some of the components 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:20.559 of the train itself and how it works? I think 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:24.080 we should, because really I was surprised at how um 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:26.599 ridiculously simple this is. Yeah, and you know what I 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:28.960 didn't know, and maybe I'm a dummy, but I didn't 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:33.400 realize that almost all of the ride is based on 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:39.240 just for momentum and so it's acceleration and gravity, yeah, 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:41.360 all those things combined. But it's not like there's points 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.000 along the track that like, we're slowing down, we need 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:47.960 to give you an extra magnetic boost at this point. Yes, 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:52.240 it's all found in that initial um first hill, yes, 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.680 which you're carried up the hill many times by a 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:58.480 chain lift. You know that sound. That sound probably strikes 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:03.559 fear in your or the slower versions even worse. Yes, 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:05.240 and that is uh, it's sort of like a bike 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:08.480 chain on a loop, and there's a a motor that's 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:10.160 just kind of Turning's a gear at the top and 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:12.400 the motor at the bottom, and you put onto it 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:14.840 with it's something called a chain dog. It's basically a 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:17.040 hook and it pulls you up the hill like on 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:19.520 a conveyor bolt, and then releases you at the top 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:23.079 and then physics does its thing right, and then another 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:25.360 way to get up the hill is the catapult launch lift, 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:28.840 which is um slightly more sophisticated. This is like, um, 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:31.800 what was the name of the ride? Yeah, that was 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:35.520 that I had an idea. Actually that might be magnetic. Yeah, well, 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:38.200 there's there's basically two ways to do it. The linear 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:43.040 induction motor produces magnets, right, and they are attracted to 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:46.160 one another, and it's the motor is attached to the 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:49.160 train cars um, and the motor is moving along the 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:51.760 track because of these two magnetic fields that are attracted 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:54.199 to one another, and it's pulling the train with it, 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.240 and that can generate really high precise speeds all of 0:10:57.240 --> 0:10:59.800 a sudden, which I prefer being shot out of a 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:02.720 can in on that Kingdom. And then another way to 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:04.719 do it is to have two sets of wheels that 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:07.560 are spinning really quickly that kind of grip the train 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:10.440 cars and then shoot you up there too, you know, 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:13.360 both massive acceleration. Initially I think I don't know what 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:16.000 the number is, but zero to sixty and the blink 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:18.480 of an eye, I think that is it the top 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.040 speed or the top thrill drags. I think it's top 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:22.960 thrill drags. Okay, so that one goes like to a 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:25.400 hundred and twenty miles an hour and like a second 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:28.240 or two. Yeah, it's a a top speed of a 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:30.559 hundred and twenty and you must get that right out 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:34.040 of the gate um. And then lastly, the really big 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:38.400 component um that operates roller coasters, or the brakes. Yeah, 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:40.640 and they're not so different than any kind of disc 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:44.800 brake in theory. Um. Basically it clamps down on these 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:49.080 metal fins and the pads slow it down. Yeah, when 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:51.760 the little sixteen year old pimple wee face kid pushes 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:54.600 the button. Actually it's all computers. But yeah, don't scare people. 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:56.120 I like to think that your life is in that 0:11:56.559 --> 0:11:59.640 that that boy's hands, right, that that one teenager from 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:03.520 the sin since I forgot to push the button. So those, 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:06.719 those are the components of the Those are the moving parts, right, 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:09.760 But then you also have the track itself, which is 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:13.800 basically broken down into two categories. You have steel coasters 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.560 and you have wooden coasters woodies, I think, as they're 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:21.439 affectionately known by enthusiasts, by sickos. Actually I don't know 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:23.320 if I think. I think they're called woodies. I might 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:25.880 have just made that up. So obviously the woodies are 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:27.880 those big old school ones you still see. I don't 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:29.880 even think they make wooden ones at all anymore, do they? 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:32.439 I don't know. Because the tallest one is the son 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:36.920 of the Beast at King's Island or King's Dominion, And um, 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:40.719 that one is old. That's like eighties. Yeah, And I 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:42.840 would imagine they keep topping them if they were going 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:45.719 to keep building them. Well, so the deal obviously, you know, 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:47.680 you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:49.880 this out. There's not nearly as much flex in a 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:53.840 stiff wood planks, so they don't do tons of twisting 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:55.920 and turning. It's really just about up and down, up 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:58.360 and down. Plus height is a big factor as well. 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:00.959 I think it high that the Son of the Beasts 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:03.480 is about half as tall as the highest steel coaster. 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:07.920 Yeah right, Um, and it's I would imagine expense is 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:11.120 kind of a big deal. Maintenances is huge because these 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:15.480 are basically like railroad ties, you know, every few feet 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:18.640 and they're interlocking and supporting each hill and twist and turn. 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:22.719 They're just inherently more dangerous because they're less precise. Yeah, 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:25.559 but for nostalgia, you can't beat it, that is true. Then, 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:28.360 of course you have the steel track, and these are 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:30.800 the ones where you suddenly can go upside down on 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:35.200 a corkscrew and you can dangle from it and basically 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:39.000 just come as close to death as possible. Uh, yes, Josh. 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:42.520 Nineteen fifties is when tubular steel first made its debut. 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:45.679 And uh, here you've got wheels that are made of 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:49.720 polyurethane or nylon, sort of more like a skateboard wheel 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:54.280 and fire. Yeah, and they generally have like wheels on top, 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:57.040 wheels on the side, wheels on the bottom, and it's 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:00.480 just clamped down on that sucker. Yes, very well. Yeah. 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:05.000 Then there's other ways that the train car can be 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:09.680 attached to the track. Um, you can have a suspended coaster, 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:14.560 which like hangs down from a track above and it's 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.120 not um, it's not fused, so you can like kind 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:19.560 of turn or flip out to the side. Are a 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:23.280 flip out in general? Um? And then there's the inverted coaster, 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:25.800 which is the same thing, except it's it's fused to 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:28.760 the to the track. It's not going from side to side. 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:31.880 It's frigid. Yes, it is the word I'm looking for, right, Yes, 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:37.520 what else you've got? The the flying that's when you're 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:41.360 in a seated position, but your first Yeah, but you're 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:43.960 rotated up and I think that's the one that six flags. 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:46.760 You're like sitting flat and then they pull you up 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:51.440 and backwards until you are completely ninety degrees facing straight down, 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:53.880 and then they'll let you go when you start from there, right, 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:55.600 there's also ones where you're sitting and then like the 0:14:55.800 --> 0:15:00.280 car actually reconfigures so you're flat, so your chest is 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:03.800 parallel to the ground as if you're flying. Right, Yes, Okay, 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:06.760 is that the fourth dimension? I don't think. I think 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:09.760 fourth dimension would be maybe, um, like if you have 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:14.280 a suspended coaster and it was on a ball bearing joint, 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.520 so when you went around a curve. You could actually 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:20.280 like do a three sixty and kick out to the side. 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:23.800 It's not just forward, back up down the fourth dimension 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:28.080 are they horrible? No, it's it's basically, um, you're sitting 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:30.760 in a in a seat that's like a wing that 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:32.480 is on the outside of the tracks. You have the 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:34.120 track in the center and these two little wings on 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:37.600 each side, And as you're going through these loops, your 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:42.280 car itself, your seat itself is actually performing loops as well, 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:45.360 sometimes in the opposite direction of the loop you're currently in. 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:48.560 It sounds awful. Um, that sounds like also what you 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:53.880 just described as um as a pipeline uh coaster as well, 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:57.000 like the tube, the steel tube is going in down 0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:59.320 the middle of the car. The fourth dimension is just 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:03.400 an extra spin on the pipeline design, right spin literally Yeah, 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:05.320 I didn't even mean that. And then of course there's 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:09.400 stand up, the traditional sit down stand up you like those? 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:13.200 I think I've only been on one and I liked it. Yeah, 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:18.120 there's the locknus I think King's Island. Yeah, yeah, I 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:20.200 don't know too much for you. I just didn't add 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:22.280 much of it, Like I have to stand up all day. 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:24.160 I go on a roller coaster, so I can sit 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:26.200 for a while for my money. That the ones where 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:28.840 you hang uh hang down in the seat, Like if 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:30.760 you sit on the outside front row of those, it's 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:32.600 just like it feels like you're flying. Yeah, a lot 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:34.320 of fun. Yeah, I've not been on one of those, 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:37.080 probably never will. Um. And then of course there's bob 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:40.520 sled wheeled trains on it you shape track, probably the 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:42.960 most dangerous and old timing of all. I would think 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:49.040 basically like the retro Russian sled thing, except that the 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:51.320 black advice. That's right. Okay, so there you got. There's 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:53.840 a roller coasters. Those are all the parts moving and 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:56.880 otherwise it's physics time. Now it is physics time, so 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:01.760 chuck too. Basically, a roller coaster ride is an interplay 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:06.440 of two forces. You have gravity, the downward pulled gravity, 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:11.040 and the force of acceleration. Yeah, acceleration to me is 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:13.119 where it all happens. Okay, I mean they're all actually 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.240 working together, along with the visual cues, which we'll get 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:19.119 to is really what makes it happen. But the acceleration 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:22.960 to me is where you get your your rush. And 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:26.440 and this is physics, but it's actually pretty interesting because 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:29.000 we can explain things like the feeling of your stomach 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:30.880 leaving your body and not kind of thing. So don't 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:36.399 go away, so chuck um too. To gain momentum, to 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:40.879 generate speed velocity, forward momentum inertia, I think is what 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:46.080 it's called. Right. Um. You just about every roller coaster 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.240 has at first hill, right, Yeah, that gets you going. 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:52.400 It's got always got to be the tallest one, right um. Yes, 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:54.600 And when you're at that point, you are at the 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:57.520 peak of what's called potential energy. As you're going up 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:01.600 the hill, you're you're increasing potential energy until you crest 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:05.720 the hill and gravity takes over, pulling you downward, right. 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.399 And at that point, your potential energy is converted to 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:14.240 kinetic energy, which is that downward momentum. That's right. So 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:16.159 as you go further and further down the hill, you 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:19.600 lose potential energy, you gain kinetic energy. And then every 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:24.119 successive hill after that takes advantage of a constant change 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:27.520 between kinetic and potential energy to keep your speed going, 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:30.520 to get it going faster, to slow you down. Um. 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:34.840 And that's how the roller coaster stays going as quickly 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:37.080 as it does throughout the whole ride, and it stays 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:40.520 in motion. Mr Isaac Newton had a little rule, let's 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:43.760 call it a law, first law of motion, that something 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:47.080 in motion tends to stay in motion. And that's what's 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:49.479 going on here. And you know, the roller coasters are 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:53.359 precisely designed, like you want to go down that first 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:56.160 hill and go up the second hill and be like, oh, 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:58.760 I couldn't quite make it, and then you're going back down, 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:02.280 although the King car has been known to not be 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:04.879 able to make it up that hill. What. Yeah, it 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:08.120 happened to me once we did the first TV commercial 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:09.920 for the King took. I was working on it. So 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:13.480 we wrote it like a dozen times without anyone there, 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:16.000 and a couple of times. And it may not do 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:17.800 that anymore. They might have been working the kinks out. 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:19.760 You get shot up straight up in the air, and 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:23.080 you come back down and do it again. You know, 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:27.440 they relaunch you. It may still happen. You have this 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:31.080 look of terror, Josh has just fallen over. Sorry, you 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:35.720 get some smelling salts, alright, so um geez, okay. See 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:37.719 I love it though, because you get two shoots out 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:40.200 of the gate, which is the most fun part. Yeah, 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:41.920 I mean, I can see how you would appreciate that. 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:44.240 I find that that's just awful. I wish you hadn't 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:46.399 told me that. I'm never going on that. We never 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:50.200 get um. Alright, So, like you said, object in motion 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:54.080 tends to stay in motion, and um, there are opposing forces. 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:57.159 But the track is any any roller coaster tracks going 0:19:57.240 --> 0:20:00.359 to be designed to take advantage of building up entil 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:03.359 and then potential energy and then releasing it as kinetic. Right. 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:08.200 So while this is happening, Um, you're you have acceleration, 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:11.360 but you also have gravity, and gravity is constantly exerting 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:15.320 a downward pressure on your body. The reason gravity is 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:18.280 exerting that pressure is because, Chuck, did you know that 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:23.640 the earth atmosphere actually has measurable weight and it's considerable. Okay, 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:29.120 can I tell you what it is? Four close four 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:34.360 point four one quadrillion tons, So that's four point it's 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:39.280 four comma four one and then zeros that is that's 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:42.320 that's a lot of weight. Um. Obviously it's not pressing 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:44.800 down on you all at once, or else you would 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:47.680 be crushed into oblivion or just pushing up. Right. Well, 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:52.240 gravity is pushing down and you should conceivably if the 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:56.040 Earth was um like a kind of a warm marshmallow, 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:59.280 you go right into the center, but you don't because 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:02.600 the earth isn't a warm marshmallow. So the ground actually 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:06.320 presses back up. Right. There's pressure from the from the 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:11.760 um resistance created by the ground, and that's the sensation 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:15.760 of weight exactly, because the the bones and your feet 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:18.280 press up to the bones on your leg and etcetera, etcetera, 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:20.320 and all of a sudden you feel like you have 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:23.200 a little bit of weight to you right, Yes, so 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:27.119 that's the feeling of gravity. Yes, Then acceleration has its 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:29.359 own for has its own feeling. Yeah, And that's my 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:33.160 favorite because that's when your body and it's interesting because 0:21:33.200 --> 0:21:35.200