Carnival Madness

So "celebrating" my birthday at the carnival was loads of fun. OF course I ate too much, lost a slipper or two in the mud, went on some intense rides, but was overall, plenty of fun. The one ride that I really enjoyed though, was this one, the spinner if I recall. It basically was a large hydraulic arm the lifted and rotated a ring of riders on nearly every axis and direction: up, down, horizontal, vertical. While on the ride, I could barely discern the huge motor in the background through all the screaming. I got to thinking afterwards how much force it would require to perform all those actions. If on average, every person weighs about 100-150 pounds, and there were 20 riders, we were looking at around...2000 to 3000 pounds of people. Also the hydraulics would have to be strong enough to support not only the weight of the people, but also the steel structure itself. In order to toss that much weight around in circles on multiple axes and to run the lights and secure the safety systems, etc. I could tell that that one rig would require a bunch of energy to consume. However, the rig did manage to help itself out by continuing in the same motion. Because the rig only rotated in one direction, it could use its own momentum and force to continue throwing riders in rotations. Saves energy, work, and strain, though not necessarily people's stomachs.