Question

Have you ever ridden a free-fall ride at an amusement park, where the riders are suspended at a terrifying height and then plummet towards the ground in free fall? These rides use a Lenz’s law mechanism to slow the drop. In your initial post to the discussion, explain how Lenz’s law applies to this situation and why this mechanism is ideal for such an application.

Answer 1

Lenz’s Law states that when we have a magnetic field induced by another magnetic field, the former will oppose the latter. And if the latter is motion, the former creates a force that slows down and stops the motion of the latter body.

The opposing forces are generated due to a special type of current called eddy currents that produced in a changing magnetic flux environment.

Now coming back to the free fall ride at the amusement park, when the bogey comes down the eddy current generated in the rails and the bogey opposes each other causing a drag which then slows down the drop.

This mechanism is ideal for such application because it doesn't create any frictional losses and the drag resistance due to the eddy currents can be changed by changing the current flow value.