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roller coasters


Zen Magnets

by Michael Wade Moss

We have all played with magnets as a kid. I know I used to have quite the collection of them as a kid. However, the one type of magnet that I never had as a kid are the variety known as rare earth magnets. Now, rare earth magnets are used in a variety of things. For one, they are even used to propel things such as launched roller coasters. The magnets absorb the energy created by the stators on the coaster track to help propel these vehicles at times in excess of 100 m.p.h. One of the first ones to do this was the Superman Escape From Krypton Roller Coaster At Six Flags Magic Mountain near L.A.:

These type of magnets are used in what are known as Zen Magnets. With Zen Magnets, they are so strong that you can put them together with other Zen Magnets and do all kinds of interesting creations with them. This video below shows just how much this one person alone was able to do with them:

Very Very Cool!