DoinItForTheFame Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Hey everyone, I have a quick questions for you all. (I've done a google search, and a search here on the forums and I got nothing. So I apologize if this has already been discussed.) Many years ago while watching a travel channel theme park show I remember someone saying "...and then _______ law kicks in and your body perceives the height to be twice what it actually is...." Recently I've been trying to find this "law" which I am assuming is like a Newton law or something, and I have found nothing. I was hoping someone here has heard of this before, and knows what it is called. While on topic. Have you ever been on a roller coaster and you perceive it to be twice as tall as it actually is. IE: you're on a 100ft coaster but it seems like you are 200ft up? I always have this altered perception on drop towers. Anyone else have it as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyRCT3 Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 I think this may be what you are looking for - Emmert's law Which can be derived from - Forced perspective Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoinItForTheFame Posted June 29, 2014 Author Share Posted June 29, 2014 ^ That's the one. Have you ever experience this while on a roller coaster and/or thrill ride? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 So it is possible to create an illusion of higher drop if a park puts a photo of the first drop at the station because people might stare at it for a long time? That's really cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Her0ofLime Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 I don't know why, but on the ground, I always look at coasters to be SMALLER than they actually are. This always applys to me for B&M hypers, where on the ground 200ft looks like 75ft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcjp Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 ^I get the exact same feeling. When I get to a park (especially if I've never been there) I get the feeling that the coasters are quite small but when I climb to the top it all feels quite taller. When I went to Portaventura this year (and I had actually already been there) I was looking at shambhala and thought: this is actually not so tall, how can this be the tallest in Europe? (when I did know it was properly tall). Then when I got on it and went up the lift I remember thinking: "That's more like it." as it felt taller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmicha Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 I don't get this on roller coasters, but on any flat ride I do. Drop rides and swings are the worst for me. I get extremely uncomfortable and then realize that despite feeling super high up we're still well below surrounding coasters I have no problem on. I just rode Black Widow at Kennywood the other week and that was probably the worst case of it I've ever had. I've never been quite as scared as I was on that ride. It just felt so insanely high. And then I went and rode Phantom's Revenge 5 times in a row without feeling like I was anywhere near as high up despite the opposite being true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcjp Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 ^When I first saw Maxair at CP I thought it looked ridiculously small (given what I expected) but then when I was riding and swinging I felt it was quite taller (and really was as the structure itself is only 84ft tall but you reach 140 when riding). I remember looking at Gatekeeper to compare the sizes while on it and thinking "the height difference doesn't look like much". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 I remember feeling MF, TTD as tall as Maverick when going down the big drops. Maybe Maverick's first drop is too good but it is such a weird feeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiMiT Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 I get this feeling on high diving boards quite often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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