written by Michael R. Gallis

The Free Fall Ride Model allows a user to design a ride by adjusting the height versus time graph. The apparant weight of the rider arises from the ever present acceleration of gravity in combination with the acceleration of the elevator. If the elevator is stationary or moving with consant speed (i.e. not accelerating), the rider feels their normal weight. If the elevator accelerates upwards, the rider feels heavier and if the elevator accelerates downward the rider feels lighter. With a strong enough downward acceleration, the rider can experience effective weightlessness or even negative g forces (requiring seat belts or restraints to avoid head trauma!).

The Free Fall Ride Model was created using the Easy Java Simulations (EJS) modeling tool.  It is distributed as a ready-to-run (compiled) Java archive.  Double clicking the jar file will run the program if Java is installed.

• Download ejs_gallis_mech_FreeFallRide.jar - 2238kb Java Archive File

Last Modified June 6, 2014

This file has previous versions.

The source code zip archive contains an XML representation of the Free Fall Ride Model.  Unzip this archive in your Ejs workspace to compile and run this model using Ejs.

• Download ejs_gallis_mech_FreeFallRide.zip - 998kb Compressed File

Last Modified June 6, 2014

This file has previous versions.