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Man injured by metal part falling from roller coaster

18 Comments

A 42-year-old man was injured after he was hit by a metal part that broke off a roller coaster at Nasu Highland Park in Tochigi Prefecture on Saturday.

According to police, the accident occurred at around 3 p.m. Sankei reported that the man, who was visiting the amusement park from Saitama Prefecture, was walking beneath the roller coaster when he was hit on the head by a metal object that fell from the coaster.

The man was taken to hospital and received three stitches for a gash in his head.

Police said the object that fell on him was part of a chain about 20 cms long and 5 cms wide. It fell about 14 meters before hitting the man.

The roller coaster remained out of operation on Sunday, the park said.

Police are questioning park personnel to find out when maintenance was last carried out on the roller coaster.

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18 Comments
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Give it up already. This chain link piece, weighing 1 kg, fell off into some netting, bounced out of it and then hit this fellow in the head.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Objects fall at 9.8 meters per second/per second, or about 22 mph each second. Let's approximate and say it was falling for about 1.2 seconds.

The velocity of the object when you start the stopwatch is 0 feet per second. What is unknown is when the chain broke, was it tossed UP into the air (resulting in an even higher fall distance) or was it launched downward already at some speed (resulting in a higher final velocity than a normal free fall would impart). Because of that, we really have no idea what the velocity was at impact.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Objects fall at 9.8 meters per second/per second, or about 22 mph each second.

That is only true in a vacuum, you have to factor in air resistance and once you do that you then need to factor in other things like density, aero dynamics, etc.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"Police are questioning park personnel to find out when maintenance was last carried out on the roller coaster."

There should be a clipboard that maintenance people sign off just as the ones for the bathroom cleaning. Not sure how established that theme park is though.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

In the end, after all those comments on velocity, mass and so on, which are of no concern for the man who has been hit by that object. I wish that man a fast recovery of the injury he sustained.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Oh people. Speed Depends of the shape of the object. Gravity is always the same.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I haven't thought for myself since Internet Explorer was invented.

That's cheered me up for the rest of the day.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@Laguna

Lucky you. The worthwhile parts of my life would flash before my eyes in about 0.003 seconds. God only knows what I'd do during the remaining 1.003 seconds. Contemplate my own mortality, I guess...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Just using the calculator. I haven't thought for myself since Internet Explorer was invented. Still, time is relative: if I fell out of a fifth-story window, the life flashing before my eyes (well, at least the important parts) would last a good 30 seconds - and with my luck, I'd land non-fatally in the shrubbery with all of that embarrassment fresh in my mind.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@ Laguna - 14 meters is about 46 feet. 46 feet (or about 4.5 stories of a mansion) in 3.4 seconds? So if somebody falls from their 5th floor balcony, it would take 3 1/2 seconds to hit? Seems pretty slow.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

According to this handy calculator

That doesn't take account of wind speed or the exposed surface area of the falling object. It also assumes the object was in free fall from a stationary start, whereas it may have become detached while moving. Don't you just hate lazy journalism like this. :-)

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Well. Time to sue. Hehehe free money

-8 ( +0 / -8 )

Police said the object that fell on him was part of a chain about 20 cms long and 5 cms wide. It fell about 14 meters before hitting the man.

Ouch! Hope he'll make a quick recovery from his injuries.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

what ever the speed was, he still had 3 stitches in his head, not what you expect on a day out! will he get some sort of compensation from the amusement park?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

According to this handy calculator, assuming the metal weighed 500 grams and air density was sea level, the piece would have fallen for 3.4 seconds and reached a velocity of 4.5 m/s, or 16.3kph. Ouch.

http://keisan.casio.com/exec/system/1231475371

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Actually, I should have said that falling objects accelerate at those speeds, do you need me to spell that out for you too?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Objects fall at 9.8 meters per second/per second, or about 22 mph each second. Let's approximate and say it was falling for about 1.2 seconds. So that hunk of chain was going about 25 mph when it hit his head. I wonder if it was a glancing blow or a direct hit.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Police said the object that fell on him was part of a chain about 20 cms long and 5 cms wide. It fell about 14 meters before hitting the man.

weight and velocity of falling object please.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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