Ferris Wheel Night Lighting

The Ferris Wheel is named after George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. who designed a massive, 264 foot diameter “Ferris Wheel” for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.  Mr. Ferris’ invention could carry 2,160 persons at one time.  The wheel was later moved to the St. Louis Exposition of 1904 after which it was dismantled. 

You are a visitor to the 1893 Columbian Exposition and you just took an exhilarating ride thanks to George Ferris.  You have an idea. Thirteen years earlier, Thomas Edison invented the first practical incandescent light bulb (1879).  Wow!  The Ferris Wheel would look fabulous at night if its outer edge had light bulbs, one every three feet.  How many of Mr. Edison’s bulbs would be needed to light one side the Ferris Wheel?

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