Negative-G - Schlitterbahn Kansas City

Click on any photo to see a larger version of it.

Schlitterbahn Waterpark, Kansas City, Kansas

The water is hauled on up into a holding container where it is all dumped into the trough of the Torrent River creating waves for you.

As a history geek and someone who appreciates proper engineering I love it that Schlitterbahn Kansas City uses an invention that has not changed since it was created and whose creator died some 2,229 years ago.

One has to wonder if Archimedes ever contemplated his invention being used for something like creating waved in order to get people soaked?

Archimedes Screw is one of those inventions that changed the world making it easier to irrigate crops but here we are more than 2,200 years later using it to make a really insanely fun time.

I'm pretty certain that while laying the groundwork for Calculus, calculating the approximation of Pi and becoming one of the greatest mathematicians and engineers of all time he didn't see people of today going..."hey lets use this practical invention that has been around since two hundred years before the birth of Christ and use it to make a really kick ass wave pool/lazy river hybrid". Then again as he was one of the most advanced thinkers the world has ever seen maybe he did have this in mind and it has just taken the rest of us this long to catch up to him.