GigaG Posted September 7, 2013 Posted September 7, 2013 OK, so recently I noticed something in the Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom (which I will refer to as ZDoD or Z:DoD) interview, which can be found here. Six Flags said the ride would have a freefall of 10 seconds. Naturally, I was suspicious, so I decided to do some online calculations. I didn't use the air resistance because I don't know how that works and the calculator (I'm just using a "punch in the numbers and go" online calculator) wants the mass for that.Here are my conclusions- -To go 90mph, you must freefall 270.77723789469 feet. I'll just round this to 271. -A freefall from 271 feet takes 4.1043726674109 seconds (4.1 seconds) So obviously, they must be including the time of slowing down. Maybe the time from drop to stop is 10 seconds. Even if the freefall lasted the whole tower, it would not be 10 seconds- -A 415-foot fall accelerates to 111.4193141698 mph and lasts 5.0790932893973 seconds. So how big is a 10-second freefall? 1,608.7024278215 feet, and hitting 219.36851288475 mph. While I'm no expert (and certainly can't prove this, not knowing the density and/or mass of the ride vehicle), I think terminal velocity is going to come into play soon. So, I would like to know, wouldn't it be fun to know the exact statistics of a coaster? If TTD/KK launches any faster or slower on average, Formula Rossa's launch and trims (the only source I know says 65mph post-trim), etc... wouldn't it be fun to know? The issue with doing these calculations on an average coaster is taking into account friction, slope, mass, lift speed, trims, etc... at this point, NoLimits is easier .
ernierocker Posted September 7, 2013 Posted September 7, 2013 (edited) It's all marketing. Twisting facts to make your product look better. I think you are a little too into Math. Coasters are meant to be fun, getting that much into the numbers is more headache inducing than fun. Edited September 7, 2013 by ernierocker
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