Here is the nswer to your questions Craig the Coaster Freak and s. The reasona person blacks out on a ride is because of the lack of oxyegn flowing to the brain. When a person experiences high g forces such as 4 or 5 or 6 or more g's for a sustained or continous amount of time, that person can black out. When that person experiences those g's there is so much pressure on the heart brain and body that blood cannot flow upward toward the brain. The brain then cannot function without oxygen and a person passes out or faints basically and is unconsious. (sp) Then when the g forces return to normal or at least close to normal, the oxygen flow returns and flows to the brain when a person is "revived" and "wakes up" again. From 5 to 8 g's a person is known to black out. At 20 g's of lateral g's a person is known to have blood bleed from their ears and at 40 g's of lateral acceleration, a person is known to die. G's and black out are, user S, extremely dangerous and very uncomfortable for riders and that is why they are avoided as much as possible. High g forces can cause black outs which in turn can cause injuries.
There was once a loop in France that pulled 12 g's through its loop. It was 30 feet high for a ramp and then it flowed into a loop and then came out of the loop and the ride was over. Riders were known to break their necks, have back problems and oher severe injuries due to the 12 g's the loop produced. G's are extremely dangerous to a certain extent. If g's are kept under 5 at all times and maybe for only 2 or 3 seconds, then coasters are usually safe and not dangerous. Most g's are always under 5 g's and maybe hit 5 for literally only a few milliseconds.
Maybe people have been known to blackout for the Shockwave coaster through the double loop sequence at a six flags park in texas. The author of a coaster book I had read blacked out during the ride. Blackouts are not healthy at all.
A person can experience a black out and know when it is coming and what will happen from a few things...
1. You (the rider) will experiences great or extreme amounts of force and pressure on the top of your head and your whole body that will push you down into the seat and I mean you will scrunch up like a scared turtle.
2. Your vision will become fuzzy and blurry such as when you open your eyes in the morning and can't focus to well.
3. Then your perpherial (sp) vision, which is the vision dpending how far to the side you can see without turning your head, will become smaller and smaller until you can only see straight ahead.
4. Then the window of vision will become smaller and smaller until it disappears and you cannot see anymore at all. Everything becomes black and now you have just experienced a black out.
Lastly, red outs occur but they are far less common but are much much much more dangerous. A red out is when too much blood flows to the brain. There is too much pressure and the blood flows to the brain but too much and there also is not enough blood circulating through the heart. A red out can occur when a person goes through the outside of a loo[ such as on an inverted coaster like Alpengeist at BGW. A red out can occur at 3 g's of force on an outside of a loop. What is so bad about red outs are that if too much blood flows to the brain and enoguh pressure is put on the brain, then a red blood vessel can pop inside the brain and instantly kill someone... so you can see S that redouts and blackouts are dangerous.
And if anyone is still reading this long mesage and want to know, but I had met the ride designer of Millennium Force at PKI last year and he told me that the most forces and most g's takes place when a person is in the 5th row of the train just in case anyone wants to know this if they are planning on riding the Force.
That is your science lesson today, a long but interesting one, unlike other ones that I have submitted before. Bye!
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Dave
