Editing 2973: Ferris Wheels

{{comic
| number    = 2973
| date      = August 16, 2024
| title     = Ferris Wheels
| image     = ferris_wheels_2x.png
| imagesize = 624x280px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = They left the belt drive in place but switched which wheel was powered, so people could choose between a regular ride, a long ride, and a REALLY long ride.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BELT POWERED BY A DIFFERENT WIKI PAGE IN ORDER TO KEEP THIS ONE GOING - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic depicts an attempted connection of three {{w|Ferris wheel}}s using a {{w|Belt (mechanical)|mechanical belt drive}}, a system typically used to transfer motion between rotating shafts. By connecting the wheels at different circumferences, the relative motion is geared up or down. If the belt passes around the circumference of one wheel and is connected around the hub of another, the latter will rotate significantly faster. In this case, the second wheel's circumference is in turn connected to a third wheel's hub, resulting in even greater rotational velocity. However, this setup is mechanically unsound and possibly dangerous, as Ferris wheels are not intended to be connected in this way.{{cn}} As shown, the first wheel on the left is running at a normal speed, while the other two are rotating increasingly fast, leading to a potentially hazardous situation where passengers are flung around at various (possibly {{w|G-force#Human tolerance|quite hazardous}}) extents.

A Ferris wheel might have a diameter of about 200 feet (60 m) and takes around 10 minutes per full rotation.{{acn}} The apparent ratio between the connected wheels in the comic is approximately 12.5:1, meaning the motion is significantly sped up as it’s transferred. The second Ferris wheel, driven by the first, could spin at around 1.3 rpm, with passengers moving at 9 mph (14 km/h), which is faster than usual but not inherently dangerous. However, when this motion is further transferred to the third Ferris wheel, it could spin at 16 rpm, with passengers traveling at over 110 mph (180 km/h), subjecting them to 8 Gs of force—conditions that would be hazardous.

In the caption [[Randall]] says that he was fired for this ill-advised modification, highlighting the impracticality and dangers of the idea. A cruise line also fired the cartoonist due to an unsound engineering proposal earlier in [[2935: Ocean Loop]].

The title text imagines the consequences of leaving the belt drive system in place but switching which wheel is powered. If the most extreme wheel (the third one on the right) is powered, the gearing would be reversed, making for a possibly pleasant and normal ride on the right-hand wheel, but rendering the experiences of the riders on the other two wheels far too slow for an enjoyable carnival ride. One revolution of the center wheel might take two hours and five minutes<!-- three hours and twenty minutes if ratio 20:1 -->, while the left wheel would take more than a day (twenty-six hours to be exact) <!-- multiple days if ratio 20:1 --> per revolution. <!-- Based on the ratios above; I didn't do the intermediate math. Also, this wiki has comments? Neat! --> <!-- Other Person here, can someone check the numbers by doing the math? Thanks! --> <!-- Another person, I recalculated them using the ratio 12.5:1 and put the earlier results in comments, while still starting from 0.1rpm --> This exaggerates the impracticality and unintended effects of using a belt drive system on Ferris wheels, humorously illustrating how such an idea would lead to absurdly varied ride experiences.

==Transcript==
:[Three Ferris wheels are shown side by side, with some people stood on the ground for scale. Each of the first two wheels has a belt connecting its circumference to the axle of the wheel to its right. "Agitrons" indicate that the middle wheel is turning notably faster than the left wheel, with the gondolas seen to be rocking significantly at all points round the wheel. The spokes of the right wheel are completely replaced by "motion lines", indicating that the the right wheel is turning the fastest of all. All its gondolas are hanging outwards against centripetal force, interspersed with their own motion lines.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The county fair fired me for adding a belt drive to the Ferris wheels.

==Trivia==
The first (slowest) wheel can be seen to notably lack a 'spoke' at approximately the five'o'clock position<!--; i.e. the eighth of eighteen, counting from clockwise from vertically up, with the ninth and tenth being visible (though their respective 'cars' aren't) through the supporting structure) -->, supporting the point where its respective passenger seating is hung. Clearly, however, the wheel design is strong enough to withstand much greater forces in the other two versions of the wheel (which appears to be complete in the case of the second<!-- the '8th' and '10th' spokes being noted at least by their agitrons seen peeping out around the support structure, the 9th and 10th carriages being totally obscured but presumably there -->, though the thin spokes are only seen as blurs in the third wheel<!-- and 9th+10th passenger seatings obscured -->) suggesting that there may not be significant danger from this omission. It does not bode well, however, for general {{w|Occupational Safety and Health Administration|OSHA compliance}}<!-- alternately, using {{tvtropes|NoOSHACompliance|...}}? --> in how they erect/maintain the rides, even before the belt-drive idea added its own issues. 

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Engineering]]