Dreamworld, located in the Gold Coast, Australia, draws in hundreds of visitors everyday due to its extreme thrill rides and various attractions. Multiple thrill rides at the park have been researched and experimented upon, to evaluate the physics of the ride. The Tower of Terror II is one of the rides that has been looked upon and tested on. The Tower of Terror II is an L-shaped ride, the ride consists of a 6000kg cart (7000kg with the maximum 14 passengers) that travels horizontally across a track raised four metres above the ground until it travels vertically up a tower measuring 119 metres, it then enters a state of free-fall and returns to the starting position. The cart reaches speeds of 161km/hr (44.72m/s) in around seven seconds …show more content…
The 6000kg cart starts from rest (Point A); the cart begins to be moved by electromagnetics that emit 2,200,000 Watts. By the 10 metre mark, the cart has already reached its maximum speed of 44.72 m/s, due to it being accelerated by 36.66m/s (Figure 2.1). The cart is then propelled at a constant speed for a total of 200 metres (Point B); the cart is then left on its own as it enters the curve of the track. The curve has a radius of 100 metres, which becomes slowly tighter, by point C; the curve has a radius of 50 metres. At point C, riders experience 4.5g. The cart then gradually slows until it completely stops at Point D, 12 seconds has elapsed at this point of the ride. The cart then enters free-fall and is accelerated by gravity, the force acting up upon the cart at this point is 58, 860 N (Figure 2.2). Twelve seconds of time elapsed in the time it takes the cart to roll back to the beginning of the …show more content…
Increasing the work of the magnets to 3,000,000 Watts increases the force of the cart to 15,000 Newtons. The force of the cart being 15,000 Newtons allows the cart to reach and acceleration of 2.5m/s, instead of 1.8m/s. This increase in acceleration leaves the cart travelling at a faster velocity than the previous version of the ride. This faster velocity causes the cart to travel up to a maximum height of 164.75 metres instead of the previous 115 metres.
Conclusion
Adjusting the Watts of the Electromagnets on the Tower of Terror II to 3,000,000, allows the cart to travel much higher vertically, as well as increase the speed. Increasing the Watts makes the cart travel 50m higher up the tower. Adding in this increase of height will improve the thrill of the ride overall. This increase in thrill is caused by the amount of extra time that will be spent in the air due to the extra height.
References Dreamworld.com.au, (2014). The Tower of Terror 2 | Thrill Rides at Dreamworld Theme Park |. [Online] Available at: http://www.dreamworld.com.au/Rides/Thrill-Rides/The-Tower-of-Terror-2.aspx?tileid=633941400668840000 [Accessed 20 Aug.