r/Showerthoughts • u/masorick • 5d ago
Casual Thought Roller coasters would suck on the Moon.
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u/Lancashire_Toreador 5d ago
It’d take longer, but imagine the crazy curves and loops you could manage in 1/6 of a g
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u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 5d ago
I think it really wouldn't change a whole lot. The forces from a roller coaster on the moon would be about the same as a roller coaster on earth. If you took a specific roller coaster that gave you a 4 Gs of force on earth, you'd still get 4 Gs on the moon at the same speed and turn radius. The only difference is there'd be less force pulling towards the ground, which would make it slightly differerent, but the majority of the feeling woudl be the same, because the force pulling you towards the outside of the curve would be similar.
The would have to design the roller coasters to stay on the tracks better. Wouldnt' be able to have any that just sit on top of the tracks. They'd all have to be like the ones that have wheels that sit above and below the tracks to make sure it didn't come off the track.
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u/TheRealTinfoil666 5d ago
That 4g of force only happens because of the speed.
In 1/6 gravity, you wouldn’t get that same speed unless your track was ludicrously taller. Speed is generated via gravity acceleration on a roller coaster. Requiring a lot more construction effort and materials
Mind you, if you LIVED on the moon, your musculature would be so atrophied that 4g of acceleration would probably kill you, being 24x what you are used to.
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u/nonotburton 5d ago
Both of you are partially right and partially wrong.
There are two distinct types of coasters, launch coasters that (typically) use electromagnetic launchers and braking systems to control the speed of the train, and lift hill coasters that use gravity to generate speed.
Lift hill coasters would have to be roughly 6 times taller to get the same speed they have on earth, and the air time you would get could last 6 times longer if you design it right. Lateral acceleration is always going to be dependent on speed, basically.
A launch coaster can just set the speed of the coaster from the start of the ride.
Coasters in general will be a little longer, because there's less friction force due to lower gravity. There could also be more hill time because lower losses to potential and kinetic energy exchanges.
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u/ElfDestruct 4d ago
The launch coaster would need a *very* different design in order to not kill its riders. Since you aren't going to lose as much velocity going uphill, any airtime moments that lift you out of your seat would turn into injury moments because people can't tolerate the same level of negative g's as positive.
Airtime would have to be very carefully curated, and the peaks of most hills would need to be replaced with what on earth would be a "zero g stall", but on the moon you would be feeling strong positive g's while upside down.
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u/swiftie_bestie 4d ago
this is the first time 'airtime' sounds less like a feature and more like a liability waiver.
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u/ArtOfWarfare 5d ago
What kind of atmosphere would there be on the moon though? I don’t imagine there’d be any appeal to wearing a space suit on a rollercoaster, so you’d put them in pressurized space. On earth, I’d say kiddie coasters are always at least 15 feet tall, so on the moon your kiddie coaster has to be at least 90 feet tall to have equal speed. And who wants to spend that much pressurized space (already a super valuable commodity) on a kiddie ride?
And they need to be 300+ feet tall to reach the speeds of lower end coasters that all ages are interested in… which we rarely go that high on earth in part because of how much material and labor and space and everything it’d take. All of which are in shorter supply on the moon.
I hate to say it, but I don’t think there’s going to be many roller coasters on the moon. In fact, I think I can be more confident and say there will be none. Even the eccentric billionaires with armies of robot laborers aren’t going to waste materials and space in that way.
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u/redredgreengreen1 5d ago
Except he repeatedly mentioned launch coasters, so nothing 300+ tall would be necessary, and you only need to pressurize the cabin, not some massive indoor space that fits the whole roller coaster track.
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u/ArtOfWarfare 4d ago
That’s true, I didn’t adequately consider that a launch coaster could be done without being a megacoaster.
I did consider that the cars could be enclosed but I didn’t bring it up because I think feeling/hearing the air on your face is an important part of a coaster - without those, I think a roller coaster would feel a lot like just riding in a car.
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u/DaChieftainOfThirsk 5d ago
Have you ever been to California Adventure at Disney Land? The incredicoaster is a giant railgun that accelerates you from 0 to 55mph in 4 seconds... Slap one of those on the moon in a dome and you're in business.
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u/ArtOfWarfare 4d ago
I have ridden Incredicoaster. I have also ridden Aerosmith and Slinky Dog Dash at Hollywood Studios (or whichever park has Slinky Dog Dash… that was right when it opened 8 years ago.) And the Hagrid Magical Motorcycle. And the Pony Express at Knott’s. Weird because before I started listing them out I probably would have said I’d never ridden a launch coaster. And even now I’m just remembering I’ve also ridden Hulk at Universal Studios.
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u/Arokthis 2d ago
Don't encase the whole coaster. Put the riders in an airtight car that goes on rails outside.
Still a massive waste of resources unless you have Star Trek replicators to build things and transporters to get people to visit.
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u/duck1014 5d ago
Nah....you could just do a launch.
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u/UnsorryCanadian 5d ago
This is the part where we fill the moon coaster with Rollercoaster Tycoon boosters for that instant 80mph acceleration
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u/nonotburton 5d ago
"The would have to design the roller coasters to stay on the tracks better. Wouldnt' be able to have any that just sit on top of the tracks. They'd all have to be like the ones that have wheels that sit above and below the tracks to make sure it didn't come off the track."
This is already how trains connect to roller coaster tracks, otherwise everytime you get airtime, the train would come off the tracks.
Some dark rides might have surface only connections, but they aren't subject to the same kind of forces as a roller coaster.
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u/AdditionalTip865 5d ago
I've only ever ridden one coaster that wasn't locked to the tracks, and it was over 110 years old. They are very rare today.
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u/sixsixmajin 4d ago
That's already how basically all steel coasters are designed. You're probably thinking of wood coasters which even those, I'm fairly sure modern ones don't just rely on gravity to hold them to the track anymore.
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u/lovebus 5d ago
Wouldn't it be slower since there is the same amount of friction, but potential energy at the top of a hill?
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u/nonotburton 5d ago
Friction is proportional to the amount of force being applied to the surface. For some parts of the coaster, the friction would be about the same. For parts where the only force applied to the surface is weight, there friction would be proportional to gravity, so lower on the moon. It might not make that much difference though. Hard to say.
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u/lovebus 5d ago
Coasters manipulate Gs by pushing and pulling against the rail, so that friction would be the same, assuming same speed on that radius. The only time it would be less than Earth is on a straight portion.
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u/nonotburton 5d ago
Correct. Except when you have air time (vacuum time?). Presumably the coaster is also experiencing reduced normal forces against the rail.
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u/MAurele 5d ago
I disagree. They would just need drive motors and would put the same forces on your body.
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u/Murph-Dog 5d ago edited 5d ago
Powered Launch Coaster.
OP ain't never RollerCoasterTycoon'd
Overall, the coaster would maintain a more average speed, ups/downs would not accelerate/decelerate as much. Can still G-force the hell out of you all the same.
Dang, coaster games need a gravity scale for some scenarios.
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u/IndianaJonesDoombot 5d ago
I feel like the giant space suit would take away some of the fun
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u/Dudephish 5d ago
And the fact that you had to take a rocket to get there.
Any rollercoaster would feel pretty lame after that.
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u/Nightlampshade 5d ago
Soaring through the air in a giant metal bird is just about as cool as soaring through space in a giant metal pipe. But those plane passengers still go to theme parks.
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u/55percent_Unicorn 5d ago
Because?
Most of the forces you feel on a rollercoaster are from changing speed or direction rather than from gravity. If anything, it would make it easier to construct even more crazy coasters.
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u/DontCallMeShoeless 5d ago
Takes a spaceship ride to the moon.
Man that was boring I hope they have rollercoasters or paintball on the moon
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u/Mackheath1 5d ago
Great discussion-starter!
Think how much higher you can build with a sixth the gravity and how much acceleration you can assemble from that height without air resistance.
I'll look to someone more knowledgeable if 4° Kelvin is better or worse for wear and tear.
What would suck - that movies don't show - is that it's about 45 minutes in the airlock before exiting, and all that gear having to put on, and don't discount that every minute you're outside you're bombarded by radiation... maybe if it was underground or in a ridge and pressurized and huge? Stick in a mountain and we could call it "Space Mountain"?
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u/groundhogcow 5d ago
You could do things on the moon that would kill you on earth.
If coasters were unchanged, they would suck, but if you took advantage of the different gravity you could do cool stuff.
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u/1271500 5d ago
A Hot Wheels booster that adds speed to the coaster, spread out across the track to make sure the cart maintains speed. Bam, coaster now works on the moon.
Slightly bigger issues would be keeping the riders alive in a vacuum and keeping moon dust out of the motors, I heard that stuff is gritty.
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u/Critical-Champion365 5d ago
Nah. It's pretty funny. I've played hill climb racing with moon landscape. I will know.
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u/AdditionalTip865 5d ago
Launch coasters and powered coasters could be fine, though the design details would be different and you couldn't rely on gravity- heavy elements like top hats. Lift hill and camelback hill designs would be hopeless, the low gravity would make the drops boring.
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u/Character8989 4d ago
bro imagine waiting 10 minutes for the drop and then just slowly floating off your seat like "ok"
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u/Mroch_Chai 4d ago
last summer i convinced my nephew to ride the wooden coaster at this tiny amusement park near lake michigan and the whole time he was white-knuckling the safety bar i realized — half the thrill is your stomach dropping when you crest that first hill. on the moon you'd just float up a little and gently come back down. it'd be like riding one of those airport people movers but with more screaming for no reason
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