日本夜色摩天輪 Odaiba Ferris wheel

摩天輪是一種大型轉輪狀的機械建築設施，上面掛在輪邊緣的是供乘客乘搭的座艙（Gondola）。乘客坐在摩天輪慢慢的往上轉，可以從高俯瞰四周景色 。最常見到摩天輪存在的場合是遊樂園（或主題公園），作為一種遊樂場機動遊戲，與雲霄飛車、旋轉木馬合稱是「遊樂園三寶」。但摩天輪也經常單 獨存在於其他的場合，通常被用來作為會活動的觀景台使用。

根據運作機構的差異，摩天輪可分為重力式摩天輪（Ferris Wheel）和觀景摩天輪（Observation Wheel）兩種。Ferris Wheel的座艙是掛在輪上，以重 力維持水平；而觀景摩天輪上的座艙則是懸在輪的外面，需要較複雜的連桿類機械結構，隨著車廂繞轉的位置來同步調整其保持水平。

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.