Archives for : Roller Coasters

Fear Factor

Posted by :David Manly On : July 21, 2011
2

Category: Fear, Overcoming your fears, Roller Coasters, Skydiving, Vegas

Fear is all around us: Whether it is a child afraid of the dark, a significant other petrified of heights or a friend terrified of public speaking.

It is everywhere.

Fear is good, for the most part. Biologically, it puts your body in a heightened state of awareness, allowing you to be ready for whatever situation comes your way, commonly referred to as the “fight or flight” response.

When you are scared, your body releases a cascade of chemicals (including catecholamine, acetylcholine and epinephrine) that cause a series of chemical reactions in your body that increase your heart rate, breathing and muscle tension. In essence, your body becomes primed to fight the fear, or take flight and escape.

Charles Darwin, in his book The Expressions of the Emotions in Man and Animals, describes the fear response with such amazing detail that I could not possibly do any better.

“Fear is often preceded by astonishment, and is so far akin to it, that both lead to the senses of sight and hearing being instantly aroused. In both cases the eyes and mouth are widely opened, and the eyebrows raised. The frightened man at first stands like a statue motionless and breathless, or crouches down as if instinctively to escape observation. The heart beats quickly and violently, so that it palpitates or knocks against the ribs… That the skin is much affected under the sense of great fear, we see in the marvellous manner in which perspiration immediately exudes from it… The hairs also on the skin stand erect; and the superficial muscles shiver. In connection with the disturbed action of the heart, the breathing is hurried. The salivary glands act imperfectly; the mouth becomes dry, and is often opened and shut.”

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”

As comforting as the subhead above, said by the former United States president Franklin Delano Roosevelt is, it can be difficult to realize that when you are paralyzed with fear. But, if you gather the courage and face your fears, like F.D.R. said, the emotion will no longer have control over you.

Like most people, I was scared of heights as a young child. It wasn’t bad, but looking up at a high building or down a substantial distance would make me slightly nauseated and dizzy. All in all though, it was an easy situation to avoid.

Then, whether out of love or simply perverse pleasure, my older sister got it in her head to take me on a rollercoaster at an amusement park when I was a young kid. I was understandably a bit nervous leading up to it, and there may have been some crying and pleading while waiting in line. But, my sister strapped me in and we went up, up and up … before we succumbed to gravity and went down like a ROCK.

Up and down on the coaster we went – my sister screaming for joy and me just screaming.

Then, something switched in my brain. It began slowly at first but began picking up speed like the coaster I was on. Suddenly I found myself screaming, not out of fear, but out of joy. Slowly, as the day went on and we progressed to bigger and faster coasters, my fear began to ebb until it was eventually transformed into enjoyment. That is not to say that I wasn’t still afraid of falling and such, but I could control my fear, embrace it and learn to enjoy the ride.

After that day, heights no longer scared me. I could go to the top of any skyscraper and look down with impunity, simply enjoying the view.

Then, three years ago this August, my brother Daniel and I did something that brought that fear right back to the forefront of my mind. If the tallest rollercoasters around didn’t scare me, then the only solution was to go bigger … three miles higher, to be exact.

It’s not the fall that kills you, but the landing

We went to Las Vegas for a vacation and decided to strap ourselves into a parachute, board a small plane, and jump out in an activity known as skydiving.

The experience was an interesting one, as we got a safety demonstration on how to properly fall out of a plane, how to get into the proper free-fall position (arms and legs out, slightly elevated above your head) and how to land (legs out, akin to going down a slide).

Seeing as it was my first skydive, I needed to be attached to an instructor in what is known as tandem skydiving. My instructor, whom we will call Scott (not his real name), was a shaggy-haired man who had completed more than 100 jumps at the time that we met.

The next step was to put on a very uncomfortable dark blue flight suit, harness and helmet that made you resemble a cross between a sperm and a Smurf.

Meet Smurf Twin 1 and Smurf Twin 2

Then, my instructor attached a cable from his harness to mine, so we could never be more than a foot or two apart, which put the tandem in tandem skydiving. Following that, we marched to the plane with eight to 10 other ‘teams’ and took our seats.

The plane was small and furnished with just a few benches: Scott and I sat at the very back of the plane, while Daniel and his instructor sat near the front. And just like that, we took off with a jolt to our destination three miles up and a few miles away from Las Vegas for our landing zone in the surrounding desert.

As we slowly spiralled up to our drop zone, the anticipation began to build and the fear began to manifest. I began to breathe heavily, followed by a light dusting of sweat on my forehead and hands, ending with my hands uncontrollably shaking.

“You nervous?” Scott asked, mildly concerned.

“No … yes … maybe,” I replied hesitantly.

“Any last words?” Scott said with a sly smile.

“I hope I don’t die.”

One small step …

And then, as the plane levelled off, the inside cabin filled with silence. You could feel the tension rise in the air as all the skydivers looked out the windows at the blue sky that was revealed. We were so high that you could slightly see the curvature of the Earth.

“Three,” said the Captain over the loudspeaker. “Two. One.”

“Go!”

A deafening roar filled the plane as the front door was unlocked and all the air flew out of the cabin. The wind was so loud that all communication was done by hand signals as the first skydivers disappeared.

Staring with my mouth agape, I saw my brother saunter over to the window, look at me with absolute fear, and then he was gone. I thought I heard him scream, but that may have just been the wind howling in my ears.

Slowly, all the skydivers moved to the front door and fell out.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t actually jump out of a plane. It’s more of a lean forward until you fall type of experience.

Scott lead me to the door, so I was staring out at the sea of blue and brown, before yelling in my ear, “Are you ready?”

“Do I really have a choice?” I screamed back.

Scott smirked.

“No.”

“Then let’s go!”

Scott then tilted my head back, and began to rock back and forth, edging closer to the open door.

“One.”

I breathed deeply to calm myself.

“Two.”

I thought: This is really high.

“Three!”

I leaned forward and fell into the blue.

Careful, that first step is a doozy

A very interesting realization occurred as I fell, headfirst, towards the ground. As I left the plane, the cold air (due to the altitude) bit at my face and cut through my flight suit like a knife as I plummeted down. The sensation of free-fall is incredible, and I had never (or have since) felt anything like it.

As thrilling as the experience was, I understandably screamed and screamed and screamed until no sound came from my mouth. The anxiousness I had felt leading up to the jump was replaced by adrenaline-inducing horror, which then made way for pure joy, as seen by the real video of my skydiving experience embedded below, for your viewing pleasure.

NOTE: At a point in the video, I pinch my nose and pop my ears due to the differential air pressure (like in an air plane) as I’m falling. While it looks rather silly, it needed to be done, as it could get extremely painful.

Embrace the fear

As you could see at the end of the video, I fell to the ground in a fit of hysterics that lasted for a good five minutes. I was so excited and pumped full of adrenaline, that I could not even walk in a straight line when I eventually found my footing.

It really brought to mind the old adage, that whatever does not kill you, makes you stronger. I always took a literal view of that saying, but I believe I understand it better after my skydiving experience.

Stronger does not necessarily reference the physical, but perhaps the emotional and mental. By facing my fear gradually (first roller coasters, then skydiving), I was able to emerge an individual stronger than I was before.

But, what’s next?

After successfully falling out of a plane and landing safely, I thought there was nothing left to face. Until my sister found something entitled the CN Tower Edge Walk.

The CN Tower, located in downtown Toronto, is a very large spire that is the world’s fifth tallest free-standing structure that towers over the city at a height of over 550 meters (or 1,800 feet). And the Edge Walk is exactly what is sounds like: a walk along a 1.5 metre-wide ledge on the tower’s highest pod, which rests approximately 350 metres above the ground.

Hopefully I will be able to think of better last words this time!

The Ups and Downs of Physics

Posted by :David Manly On : May 10, 2011
1

Category: G-Forces, Kinetic Energy, Physics, Potential Energy, Roller Coasters

It has been an interesting week!

On May 2nd, I went to the university where I did my undergraduate degree, and held a workshop on science communication (as I mentioned in my last post). I also had a new post pop up on Scientific American entitled “A True Duck Hunt – Interview with Donovan Hohn,” and I was going to write about both of them, until I went to a popular amusement park on May 7th and experienced something that had never happened to me before.

But for you to understand it, I’ll have to back up a little.

Approximately seven or eight years ago, I worked at that exact amusement park for two spring/summer’s in the merchandise section. I had been to that park many times throughout my life, and had long enjoyed the samplings of roller coasters and other rides that were present. I hadn’t been scared of a roller coaster for a long time, not since I was a child, and believed that it would be fun to work there.

As all employees did, I started out as a cashier in a store, and rapidly got promoted to cash lead within that first year and really enjoyed the job! The second year, I was promoted to a manager, but I did not have as good a time, and stopped after that summer. But, due to a variety of situations, I hadn’t been back since.

So, I was looking forward to heading back and seeing what had changed and go on the new rides that had popped up the last number of years. And, it was a blast! Had a great time with the friends I went with, and went on tons of rides.

But then, at around 3:30pm, we went on a wooden roller coaster and just as we were about to go down the first hill … it stopped. We just sat there in the car, at around a 45-50 degree angle; all the while a voice kept stating over the loud speaker that there was a “delay” and a “technical issue.”

Where my friends and I were stuck, right near the very top of the first hill.

 Really makes you wonder about the faith you put in the hands of the engineers and ride operators, doesn’t it?

During this stop, I spoke with my friends about what it means, how long we were going to spend up there, and then the ride started again (total elapsed time was only about 5 minutes).

Now, I do not know if I was more conscious of the ride, but it was much bumpier than usual, even leading into the flat stretch leading to the platform. That was, until it stopped AGAIN.

This time, after three minutes, the ride attendants manually released our harnesses and had us venture along a rickety wooden walkway to the platform. I spoke to the manager there, and our compensation was a “front of the line” treatment of any coaster of our choice. After a brief discussion with my friends, we decided on the one close-by.

As we made our way up to the next ride, we were told that we would be seated at the very back on the next car. But, to our surprise, THAT ride broke as well. So, the manager told us we were now able to receive two “front of the line” treatments, but not before my friend asked if we could get a free ice cream sandwich in lieu of that. I proposed cash, but he rejected both.

We then made our way to the first of our new set of coasters, and were understandably nervous. After all, two rides had broken, and we were not feeling confident on the third time being the charm.

But, to all our surprise, the ride went off without a hitch. The ride was thrilling and totally alleviated any and all stress we might have had regarding the safety and maintenance of roller coasters at an amusement park.

The second of the “front of the line” coasters was one of the busiest in the park, and we had visited it much earlier in the day. This time, sitting in the back, we all strapped in and made jokes until the ride started up the first hill.

You could tell that all of us were thinking he exact same thing: Please don’t break! And it didn’t.

But what did happen was just as interesting.

As we went up the first hill, the drop following was a nail-biting 75 degrees and the cars quickly accelerated to approximately 125 km/hour (or 77 mph) for over 3 minutes, according to the ride’s website. Quite a ride!

Watch out for that first step …. it’s a DOOZY

 The first time I had gone on it earlier that day, it was an exciting ride. But this time, seated at the very back, it was much more intense. For a brief moment, as I came out of the first drop, black spots appeared in my vision from the intense G forces.

It was a thrilling and adrenaline-pumping ride, which afterward left my friends and I utterly exhausted. It was just that draining.

But, it got me thinking about the physics of it all.

When the car is pulled up the hill on the track, it slowly builds up potential energy (stored energy) that will be converted to kinetic energy (motion) once it falls [see point W on the picture below]. Therefore, when the car reaches the top of the hill and begins its descent, all that stored energy is converted into the energy of motion, helped along by our old friend gravity [point X].

A roller coaster at the top of the hill (W) has an abundance of potential energy, but no kinetic. But, after the first drop at point X, all the stored (potential) energy is converted into the energy of motion (kinetic). Approaching point Y, potential energy is regained as kinetic is lost, which then is switched at point Z.

Basically, each loss in height corresponds to a gain of speed (potential to kinetic), and each gain in height corresponds to a lack of speed (kinetic to potential).

As you begin to fall, that momentary sensation where you are lifted out of your seat is known as negative G forces (or negative Earth’s gravity), where you experience the sensation of feeling like you weigh less than usual. In contrast, when you come out of the dive and go up the next hill, you experience positive G forces (or increased Earth’s gravity) and feel you weigh more than normal.

The best way to think about it, at least for me, is by using the example of NASA”s infamous “Vomit Comet,” which trains astronauts how to handle zero G situations, such as being in space.

What they do is fly in a series of parabolic arcs, similar to those that a roller coaster experiences. The only difference is that it is much, much faster, and so the G forces you feel are more pronounced and sustained.

But, for every yin there is a yang, and when the plane goes up, you experience the proportional positive G’s.

For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, and go up on the vomit comet, on a stable and level flight, you would weigh 1G (or Earth’s gravity), or 150 pounds.
When you begin to go up the arc, you will experience 2G (or double the Earth’s gravity) and it will feel like you weigh 300 pounds.
But, when you approach the top of the arc and begin to go down, you will experience 0G (known as weightlessness) and will weigh 0 pounds.
And then the whole process begins again.

Provided by: SpaceTravellers

 There are other forces acting upon you during a roller coaster ride as well, such as centripetal and centrifugal forces, which help you stay in your seat instead of falling out during a loop-de-loop.

Centrifugal forces are pushing you to the outside of the loop (this is what you feel when you go around a sharp turn and your body is thrust away from the direction of the turn), while centripetal forces are balancing those outward forces and keeping you in your seat throughout the loop … even if your stomach may be left on the starting platform.

In fact, most rides that have loops would be safe without restraining devices, based on the physics alone. Luckily for us, there are laws against that, so engineers and designers of coasters need to have them equipped on all rides to keep everyone safe in the event that something does go wrong.

So, the next time you are screaming your lungs out as you plummet to the Earth on a steel or wooden track, give a quick shout out to physics for making it all possible.

I would like to thank the lovely and talented Summer Ash, an astrophysicist (who can be found here on Twitter). She was invaluable in helping me remember my Grade 12 physics, and made sure the science and explanations made perfect sense.