SPACE's Top Speed

[ISTCrew20]

I was with Donickco Yesterday when he asked, and the CM did indeed say 45 MPH.....I know it goes 16 RPM cause my dad, who tored backstage of the atraction, got to see all the specifics about it. I told Kyle about the 16 RPM thing, and he figured this all out.

 

[WDW John]

Originally posted by DogsRule!
I'm told the centrifuges spin at 16 rpm

I'm just wondering: is 16 RPM the top speed or the normal operating speed? Could we possibly see more RPM in a future 'upgrade' for a more intense experience (sorta like we get with ToT)?

 

[viget0514]

This all works out

Originally posted by ISTCrew20
I was with Donickco Yesterday when he asked, and the CM did indeed say 45 MPH.....I know it goes 16 RPM cause my dad, who tored backstage of the atraction, got to see all the specifics about it. I told Kyle about the 16 RPM thing, and he figured this all out.

Right, this is probably all true, b/c if the circumference is indeed 185 feet, the radius would be about 9 m (in metric units), and the linear velocity would be about 15 m/s (assuming 16 rpms). The formula for centripetal force is mv^2/r, where m is mass, v is linear velocity and r is the radius of the 'fuge. m can be ignored for now, b/c we really only care about acceleration, so 15^2/9 is 25 m/s^2.

The acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s^2, thus 25 is approx. 2.5 times that , or 2.5 G's!

Yeah high school physics!!!

 

[niteobsrvr]

Re: This all works out

Originally posted by viget0514
Right, this is probably all true, b/c if the circumference is indeed 185 feet, the radius would be about 9 m (in metric units), and the linear velocity would be about 15 m/s (assuming 16 rpms). The formula for centripetal force is mv^2/r, where m is mass, v is linear velocity and r is the radius of the 'fuge. m can be ignored for now, b/c we really only care about acceleration, so 15^2/9 is 25 m/s^2.

The acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s^2, thus 25 is approx. 2.5 times that , or 2.5 G's!

Yeah high school physics!!!

WOW

very impressed - would be hard for anyone save a propulsion scientist at Lockheed or NASA to argue with that.

 

[Al]

Originally posted by PhotoDave219
Uh, that might be its operatiing speed. I gotta think they could make life seriously miserable for people if they really wanted.

You made me think of that time in one of the James Bond films (moonraker?) where JB is in a centrifuge, and this man goes and changes the speed, therefore almost killing him :lol: :lookaroun (I am pretty sure(/hope!) Disney have "removed" this feature )

 

[PhotoDave219]

No Mr Bond, i expect YOU to die....

I would assume that there are lots of saftey equip that keeps the centrifuge from operating at speeds to create extreme g loads similar to centrifuges used by NASA & the Air Force for extreme testing.

That not withstanding, i'm still willing to bet that the equipment could handle it, just not the guests. I wish i had ridden it when Rob did, when it pulled about 4 G's during the initial CM testing.

 

[WDW John]

Originally posted by Al
(I am pretty sure(/hope!) Disney have "removed" this feature )

Don't worry, if they didn't you can just use your projectile firing watch to stop the whole thing and save yourself.

 

[wdwmagic]

Originally posted by PhotoDave219

That not withstanding, i'm still willing to bet that the equipment could handle it, just not the guests. I wish i had ridden it when Rob did, when it pulled about 4 G's during the initial CM testing.

Space installed in WDW hasnt tested with guests running at 4G, where did you hear that?
From what I have been told by some people involved in the project over the last 5 years or so, 2.5G is the max performance on the unit installed at Florida. The WDI prototype tested off site could do 3G, and a unit installed over at NASA can deliver 4, but not Mission Space.

 

[mkt]

I never said it hit 4 G's when I rode it.... I said it was more intense the first time I rode it

 

[PhotoDave219]

Ooops. I F'd that up...... Sorry Rob...