Fear seekers and roller coasters PART III

A question that I find interesting is why people find joy in riding scary roller coasters? This may be caused by chemical reactions in the brain. The chemicals that cause such reactions are called "neurotransmitters". By chemical reaction, these chemicals allow signals to pass between neurons in the brain. Some scientists believe that some people enjoy activities that cause fear because their brain causes them to have higher levels of a specific neurotransmitter called dopamine, because of fear. According to what I've been reading, I think dopamine is usually related to a human's ability of feeling reward and becoming motivated to do something. When a person's brain chemistry has more dopamine than usual, activities and sensations often become more pleasurable. The person may also even experience euphoria.

http://static.travelmuse.com/docs/artwork/amusement-parks/overview/amusement-parks-overview-six-flags-magic-mountain-tatsu-ride-full.jpg

It’s hard to say which roller coaster is the scariest in the world because they can be compared in speed, height, length, number of loops, or how twisted they are.

Here I’d like to present feelings that are accompanied by G-force:

• -1 g – feeling of tightness inside your head very much like when standing on your hands. It’s safe unless its long. It feels like if you would be falling out of a chair.

• 0 g – weightlessness.

• 1 g – every day load factor.

• 2 g – feeling of heaviness.

• 3 g – movement becomes difficult.

• 4 g – movement becomes practically impossible. The feeling of disorientation.

• 5 g – Possible problems with sight.

• 6 g – Most passengers have problems with vision. Some experience trouble breathing. It’s possible to lose conscience.

Some Discovery video that explaining this process:

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/time-warp-roller-coaster-science.html

Since we know much more about roller coasters I would like to go back to presenting (mentioned in the first part) Six Flags. Six Flags Magic Mountain, just outside the Los Angeles area, has more rides than any other amusement park in the world. Currently there are 18 rollercoasters, many of them being record breakers. You can find all kind of rides there: the classic wooden variety as well as steel. Carriage or hanging (where your legs are hanging freely). Some attractions drop you from a great height while others send you through complete loop. One of the best ride is Magic Mountain’s X, the first roller coaster in the world that spins in four dimensions at the same time. Those who ride Superman experience 6,5 seconds of weightlessness.

Below, I present a map of this park.

http://mappery.com/map-of/Six-Flags-Magic-Mountain-Theme-Park-Map

Other attractions offer the possibility of purchasing gadgets from movies. During my time visiting this park, I’ve seen many people buying Batman or Superman cloaks and riding on rollercoasters while wearing them. That looked quite amazing. What’s more, it’s even possible to buy a photo of yourself taken during the ride, and afterward take it home as a souvenir or perhaps as a proof.

Not far away there is also another Six Flags park – Hurricane Harbor. This one is dedicated mostly to water entertainment. But it’s not just simply a water park, to the contrary, Hurricane Harbor also features extremely thrilling water rides.

And now some of the worlds records of the roller coasters:

Record	World		Europe Poland
Tallest	Kingda Ka (USA)	137m	Silver Star (germany)	73 m	Tic-Tac Tornado	21 m
Fastest	Formula Rossa (ZEA)	240 km/h	ring°racer (germany)	217 km/h		60 km/h
Longest	Steel Dragon 2000 (Japan)	2479 m	Ultimate (great britain)	2268 m		ok. 700 m
Biggest downfall	Kingda Ka (USA)	127 m	Silver Star (germany)	65 m		20,5 m
Biggest angle of a fall	Mumbo Jumbo (great britain)	112°	Jet Star	ok. 45°
Biggest G-force	Tower of Terror (RPA)	6,3 g	Sky Wheel (germany)	5 g	Tic-Tac Tornado	4,2 g
Biggest acceleration	Dodonpa	2,7 g	ring°racer	2,46 g	-

(table from Wikipedia)

Here is a video of the fastest ride in the World. You can find it in F1 theme park located in Dubai:

And now here are some videos of the most thrilling attractions:

Would you like to try one of them?

Do you personally like fear? Do you find it exciting?

How do you think amusement parks will look like in the future? Do you have any ideas as to what other parks could feature?

Here is some concept art for Dubai’s marvel superheroes’ comics theme park:

http://www.ramascreen.com/dubais-marvel-superheroes-theme-park-concept-art

Do you think this is how the future of theme parks will look like? I wonder if there will ever be a real-life theme park like Jurassic Park, as depicted in the Steven Spielberg film of the same name: