日本夜色摩天轮 Odaiba Ferris wheel

摩天轮是一种大型转轮状的机械建筑设施，上面挂在轮边缘的是供乘客乘搭的座舱（Gondola）。乘客坐在摩天轮慢慢的往上转，可以从高俯瞰四周景色 。最常见到摩天轮存在的场合是游乐园（或主题公园），作为一种游乐场机动游戏，与云霄飞车、旋转木马合称是“游乐园三宝”。但摩天轮也经常单 独存在于其他的场合，通常被用来作为会活动的观景台使用。

根据运作机构的差异，摩天轮可分为重力式摩天轮（Ferris Wheel）和观景摩天轮（Observation Wheel）两种。Ferris Wheel的座舱是挂在轮上，以重 力维持水平；而观景摩天轮上的座舱则是悬在轮的外面，需要较复杂的连杆类机械结构，随著车厢绕转的位置来同步调整其保持水平。

A Ferris wheel is an amusement ride consisting of an upright wheel with passenger gondolas suspended from the rim. It is named after George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., who designed a 75-meter (250-foot) wheel for the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. It was designed as a rival to the Eiffel Tower, the centerpiece of the 1889 Paris exhibition. This first wheel weighed 2200 tons and could carry 2160 persons at a time; its axle was the largest piece of steel cast to date. At 26 stories it was four stories taller than the tallest skyscraper in the world—also in Chicago—but only a quarter of the Eiffel Tower's height. It was reused at the St. Louis World's Fair.