Swing Rides

Pirate Ship Swing Ride (photo by Ziko van Dijk, via wikimedia commons)

Ship swing rides are often found in amusement parks and at carnivals and fairs. They can serve to illustrate several important principles from physics including torque and rotation, periodic motion and the physical pendulum, and applications to work and energy. This simulation was originally inspired by the Pirate Ride at Hershey Park. The "ship" part of the ride has a center of mass that lies 14 m from the pivot point (approximately the center of the boat). The ship swings freely from the pivot, and is driven by a roller built into the floor directly below the ship. The operator selects either the clockwise torque button, the neutral button or the counter clockwise torque button to change the motion of the ship. Because the drive can only push the ship when it is in contact, the drive is only available when the ship is within 30º of its lowest postion. The box surrounding the drive buttons turns black when the ship coes not contact the drive roller,or white when the drive is available. Depending upon which drive button is selected, the drive mechanism applies a constant torque on the ship unless the ship moves out of contact with the drive roller. Thus the drive can be used to speed up or slow down the ride.

Ship being driven by a clockwise torque, whose button is green indicating the torque is being applied.

In addition to the drive controls, there is a play/pause button, a reset button and a check buttons to display the force of gravity and the reaction force of the seat on the rider for three positions (far left, middle and far right) and plot the g-forces (apparant weight of the riders compared to their normal weight) as a function of time.Hershey Park ride does not go much beyond 90º, although some versions of this ride do go all the way around. Try driving the ride through a complete sequence from start to finish (don't forget the ride must be brought to rest so that your riders can safely disembark.

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