Coaster Myths and Misconceptions

"Threads that have been silent for six years can't be resurrected"

HAH! Shows people what they know! Oh, sorry, carry on. ;)

Tom

Hopman said:Gee, maybe we should just get "Mythbusters" to do a show dedicated to amusment park rides and roller coasters. I'd like to see what kind of funny stuff they'd do. (snip) "Are you more likely to hurl on an empty stomach, or a full stomach?"

They did some of that during the testing of ginseng for queasiness on spinning rides...

You should always ride in the back of a coaster, because it goes faster than the front.

I can never figure out if that means you shouldn't ride in the back, because you'll slam into the cars in front of you, or you shouldn't ride in the front because the cars behind will slam into you. Either way it doesn't work out too well.

^^People just over simplify that one. Providing that the train is accelerating, the back of the train is going faster at a specific point on the track then the front of the train was at that same point. The opposite is true if the train is decelerating. Basically it means that the back will whip over the tops of hills and experience its fastest speed somewhere in the down part of a hill right before it bottoms out, whereas the front will pull more positive Gs (because its going faster then) in the valleys of hills and experience its fastest speeds on the upward part of a hill right after a valley.

Is that how a coaster works? Gee...thanks Mr. Wizard! ;)

I prefer to believe there is some magic involved. ;)

RatherGoodBear said:
You should always ride in the back of a coaster, because it goes faster than the front.

If that were true, wouldn't they get back to the station first?

^Maybe he was referring to Racer or American Eagle backward facing trains before they turned them around. :)

RatherGoodBear said:
You should always ride in the back of a coaster, because it goes faster than the front.

Ehh, I must admit to telling my friends this when I want to get a backseat ride...beats the heck out of trying to explain coaster physics to them.

Jeff said:

RatherGoodBear said:
You should always ride in the back of a coaster, because it goes faster than the front.

If that were true, wouldn't they get back to the station first?

Or it could be a tie.

I think that steel coasters are a little under supported at times. Engineers can be a little too trusting to the numbers, and not what is actually happening. Wood coasters are quite sound, although the flexing can loosen nails (which is why they are inspected more than steel coasters). I would like to see steel coasters looked at every morning like wood coasters, or at least do a thorough inspection once a week, including track and supports, checking for cracks and potential fatigue points.

Mythbusters: Amusement Park, would be a great episode. I know a lot of little carnival myths that would be fun to test.

^Best way to get that is to start emailing them, its too bad Thrills Chills and Spills isn't around anymore, we could have had an amusement park special like they have for Shark Week.

I heard these at SFMM today.

"The seats on X2 are out to the side of the track. Eventually they will fall off."

"When the flames shot out at the end (of X2) I thought the ride was exploding."

*bump*

I had to bump this thread up to the top after overhearing this scientific gem while waiting to ride Phoenix today.

Kid points toward the Round-up from the platform. Dad says, "That's the Round-up. I don't think you'll like that. It spins you in tight circles and it puts 1 G on your body. Having 1 G force acting on your body, that's some intense stuff."

Apparently for some people it is.

Common misconception #79:

There are no lazy, or uncaring employees at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Why ya gotta be such a hater, RP? SFMM roXors! I'd go every day if I could....

On line for Apollo's Chariot:
"Did you hear that a bird hit Fabio on this ride"

This, funny enough, really DID happen.

http://www.coasterforce.com/images/parkguides/BGE/apollofabio.jpg

"Bringing back six year old threads on coaster boards, not once but twice, is a great idea.

That's the biggest doozy I've heard in a while! ;)

A good friend of mine works for the Denver police and for years he has told me the story about how some guy got his head cut off while trying to stand up on...Lakeside's Wild Chipmunk coaster. However this happened way back in the early 60s..he is only 42 so..of course he doesn't remember.

Then there is this...

In June 1990 the city of Denver was hit by a sudden massive thunderstorm. Lots of hail and wind. The hail was so big it knocked several people on the Mr. Twister coaster out cold. True? Well the part of Mr. Twister isn't but some woman did get hit in the head by hail while she on the ferris wheel. She wasn't hurt that bad but it didn't stop her from selling the story to the National Enquier ( yes that National Enquier ) who ran the story where she made all these claims about people getting knocked out on all the rides at Elitches not only mentioning the Mr. Twister myth but even claimed to have seen the body of a dead little girl being carried away by the Denver paramedics. THAT part was false as the city of Denver , local Denver TV and Elitches all said that did NOT happen. As a result both the woman who sold the story and the National Enquier was forced to apologize to Elitch Gardens for making up such a story.