Sun Wheel's Weight

Wednesday, 8 Dec 2004 | Disneyland, Trivia

The Sun Wheel ferris wheel at Disney's California Adventure is truly a grand structure and beautiful too. It is a giant moving wheel with the image of a smiling sun at its center. There are a total of 24 gondolas with a maximum capacity of six passengers per gondola. The wheel has a diameter of 168 feet and is 500 feet in circumference.

Q: How many pounds does the steel in the Sun Wheel weigh?

A: The weight of steel is 5.8 million pounds.

The number of pieces of structural steel is 32,000. The number of parts (including nuts and bolts) is 1.8 million. The number of Metal “rays” radiating from center is 32. The sunface diameter is 40 feet. The speed of wheel is 5 rpm.

Comments

Hieu said at 12:21 AM on Thursday, December 9, 2004

*wow* Michael, you realize that as an engineering student I'm so inCREDibly tempted to pull out the Shigley book and MathCad and start working stress/strain equations for different steel tubing they might have used to build this wheel and give you a decent answer.. but I shall refrain - until after finals :-P

Lori said at 3:19 PM on Thursday, December 9, 2004

5 million pounds? I got stuck on this ride once. I dont like ferris wheel type of rides! LOL Nice view though!!! :)

disneymike said at 3:41 PM on Thursday, December 9, 2004

That's a very good guess, Lori. I'm looking for an answer to the tenths of million pounds accuracy, e.g., 1.1 million pounds.

Lori said at 9:13 PM on Thursday, December 9, 2004

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..5.1? LOL

disneymike said at 9:21 PM on Thursday, December 9, 2004

A little higher.

Lori said at 8:43 AM on Friday, December 10, 2004

A little higher? How about 5.5 million?

disneymike said at 8:44 AM on Friday, December 10, 2004

No, not high enough still, but close enough to declare a winner. :O)

The answer is 5.8 million pounds of steel!

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