In 2010, a Lithuanian architect and former theme park worker, Julijonas Urbonas created a thrilling and chilling roller coaster concept. The goal of this Roller Coaster, Urbonas states is to kill "with elegance and euphoria". The train ride lasts for only three minutes. The first two minutes are spent climbing up a steep lift and the last minute is a speedy downward sweep rushing through seven inversions. Thanks to the fusion of the advanced research in space medicine, mechanical engineering, material technologies and, of course, gravity, the fatal journey is made pleasant and elegant.

In the beginning part of the ride, the incredibly steep 510 meter lift followed by a 500 meter drop creates high speeds of 360 km per hour. The outline of the ride indicates that after the steep drop the train flattens out through seven inversions each decreasing in diameter. The riders go down the steep slope into the inversions with incredible force due to the kinetic energy gained during the drop. Each inversion is smaller than the former in diameter as the train loses speed (kottke.org). This helps keep the force to 10 g on the riders. The final turn of the coaster is a sharp right turn to the point where the riders would be unloaded (julijonasurbonas.lt).

The inversions help make the spinning motion that creates a centrifugal force, (kottke.org) which pushes away all the blood from the rider’s brain. This creates an inadequate amount of oxygen in the rider’s head. The Euthanasia roller coaster train ride would kill its riders through prolonged cerebral hypoxia, or insufficient supply of oxygen to the brain. The coaster's seven inversions would inflict 10 g on its passengers for 60 seconds – causing g-force related symptoms: gray-out, tunnel vision and black out (kottke.org). The cerebral hypoxia depends on the individual passenger's ability to withstand g forces. However, the ride through all of the seven inversions would kill anyone, even if some survive the first or second inversion. The Euthanasia roller coaster is literally a once in a lifetime ride because if you go through the ride you end up dead.

Bibliography
"Euthanasia Coaster - The Roller Coaster Designed to Thrill You and Kill You | Oddity Central – Collecting Oddities." Oddity Central Collecting Oddities. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Dec. 2012.
"Projects - Euthanasia-coaster - Julijonas Urbonas." Projects - Euthanasia-coaster – Julijonas Urbonas. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Dec. 2012. Image adapted from website: <http://www.julijonasurbonas.lt/p/euthanasia-coaster/>
"The Rollercoaster of Compassionate Death." Kottke.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Dec. 2012.