Thrilling Accelerated Drop
The 'Abyss Turbo Drop' is a vertical ascent and rapid descent ride on a tower of 62 m height. Ascending slowly on a platform, passengers can have a spectacular view of the park and sea. The platform is stopped briefly at the top of the tower, where passengers anticipate a thrilling accelerated drop that is faster than free fall. The rapid drop lasts for two seconds or so, followed by a sequence of rebounds at the bottom of the tower.
Descending Faster than Free Fall?
We know that all objects fall with the same acceleration due to gravity g near the earth's surface. So what is meant by descending "faster than free fall" on the ride? Actually at the instant of take off you do not fall freely under gravity, but is thrust downwards with an acceleration larger than g. The ride exerts a force on you, and that is why "a force of negative g is felt", as mentioned in the ride description. However, the powerful downward thrust exists only for a very short time, and thus after acquiring a high downward velocity almost instantly after take off, you fall at a milder and nearly constant acceleration for the rest of the drop.
How does the Turbo Drop Work?
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Mechanism of the ride |
The motion of the passenger platform is controlled by the air flow in four gas cylinders (you can see the yellow tubes inside the tower in the photo). Inside a cylinder, there is a piston connected to two cables which link to the passenger platform outside (see the illustration). When air is pumped rapidly into the cylinder through the valves, a pressure difference between the upper and lower parts of the cylinder is created. This forces the piston to move inside the cylinder, driving the external platform up and down. Do you want to know in detail how each step of the exciting journey is controlled? Take a look at the animation below.
Take the Abyss Turbo Drop!
Now you understand the mechanism of the ride. It is time for us to experience the incredible drop on the Abyss Turbo Drop! Take the ride and remember the feeling you have in each stage of the journey. In the activity below you will be asked to interpret the motion of the ride based on your own feeling and your knowledge of physics.
You can also carry a datalogger with you so that you can acquire motion data at the same time you experience the thrilling ride of the Turbo Drop.
Studying the Turbo Drop at a Distance
Having experienced the thrilling accelerated drop, let's try to study the motion of ride from another point of view. It is interesting to look at the up and down the motion of Turbo Drop at a distance, and hear people screaming loudly at the thrilling drop. Let's take a video of the overall motion and study it with the Motion Video Software. You will be able measure the velocity and acceleration of the ride at each stage of the journey.
