Superman Ulimate Flight is one of the wildest rides at Six Flags Over Georgia.
| Superman Ulimate Flight is one of the wildest rides at Six Flags Over Georgia. |
If you've ever been on a roller coaster, you know what it's like: You go up, you go down (boy, do you go down!), maybe you go upside down, and then, suddenly, it's over. But not all roller coasters are created equal. As technology gets more and more advanced, coasters get bigger, faster and flat-out wilder. This year's crop is the wildest ever.
The first true roller coaster in America was built at Coney Island in New York City back in 1884. It was called the Gravity Pleasure Switchback, and it moved at a scorching 6 miles per hour. Nowadays, roller coasters have a bit more zip. The Superman coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, is one of the world's fastest. It reaches a top speed of 100 miles per hour.
What makes such blistering speed possible? Computers. Before engineers build a new coaster, they make a complete model of it on a computer. They want to make sure it's as safe—and as scary—as possible.
Allan Schilke is one of the top roller coaster designers in the world. He's the man responsible for X, one of the most twisted coasters ever. When a roller coaster moves around a curve fast, he explains, it puts stress on your body, just as a car does when it turns a tight corner. Computers help Schilke figure out just how far to go without overstressing the body. "There are upper limits, because you can break a bone or a joint," says Schilke. "Anybody can handle 5 Gs"—that's the equivalent of five times the force of the Earth's gravity—"but not for more than 5 seconds, or you'll black out." Yikes!
Computers also keep track of the location and speed of the coaster cars (which means that those guys who look like they're running the ride aren't doing much). "There's really nothing they can do wrong," says Schilke. "Even if they wanted to crash two trains together, they couldn't."
|  The world's tallest, fastest "double-twisting impulse coaster" has two 200-foot-tall poles. |
The Thrill of It All
Even though coasters keep getting scarier, more people want to ride them. Last year, a record 319 million people visited theme parks and took about 900 million rides. What's the big attraction? Psychologists say that there's a certain type of person that naturally seeks out extreme experiences. "They thrive on things like change, variety, intensity," says Frank Farley, a psychologist at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "These people are actually attracted to thrills."
He also believes that these thrill seekers—he calls them Type T personalities—are more adventurous and creative than other people. Albert Einstein was a Type T. "If we weren't willing to seek stimulation," he argues, "the human race wouldn't be where we are today."
What's next for coasters? Well, if he can get the city government to approve it, Schilke plans to build a 510- foot-tall ride that will dive straight down the side of a skyscraper in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. Einstein would have loved it.