Roller Coaster Physics Lab Report

A roller coaster ride is a thrilling awesome experience which involves many energies in the roller coaster itself. The ride/roller coaster often begins as a chain and motor and once it's on the top gravity takes over. At the

ground, so it accelerates. If the track tilts up, gravity applies a downward force on the back of the

Some of the problems that our team is facing are the turns that we have to make. The marble is getting stuck because it is too tight. Another problem is the marble keeps falling off of the track. So we decided to build a paper tunnel so it will stay on the track.

There is no place more jam packed with real life, physics examples than an amusement park. Silverwood Theme Park is a prime example of how physics is present in one’s everyday life. Two rides at this particular theme park can be found in many variations all around the world: wooden roller coasters. The two wooden roller coasters found in Silverwood are named Timber Terror and Tremors. These two thrilling rides are one of the most basic roller coasters in the park, yet there is almost always at least a twenty minute wait for these rides. The question becomes, “Why are these rides so popular?” Well, the answer is in the physics behind the two coasters.

In 1959 the Disneyland theme park introduced a new design breakthrough with the Matterhorn Bobsleds. This was the first roller coaster to use a tubular steel track. Unlike conventional rails set on wooden railroad ties, tubular steel can be bent in any direction, which allows designers to incorporate loops, corkscrews, and many other maneuvers into their designs. Most modern roller coasters are made of steel, although wooden coasters are still being built. New designs and technologies are pushing the limits of what can be experienced on the newest coasters.

A roller coaster, a favorite of many thrill seekers, that uses the three laws of motion, friction, gravity and potential to kinetic energy to thrilling ends. Roller coasters with their twists, turns and loops seem to defy everything we know about how people and objects move. Roller coasters simply use Newton’s laws of motion, friction, gravity, and potential to kinetic energy to push people past their limits. On Inferno, riders will experience the thrill and fear of stomach dropping heights, tight corners and unbearable speeds of 70 miles per hour, it is one that is unforgettable!

A roller coaster’s popularity depends mainly on many different basic elements which are parts that are usually on roller coasters such as the headchopper, the launch track, and the lift hill. The headchopper is any place where the roller coaster overlaps itself or appears to come very close to the passenger’s heads. The launch track is a part of the coaster where the train is accelerated to its max speed within a few seconds and drastically increases the train’s kinetic energy. The lift hill is similar to the launch track by increasing the train’s potential energy by raising it to the roller coaster’s

and are designed out of different materials like wood and steel. Although roller coasters are fun and exciting, the questions, what allows them to twist and turn, go up and down hills at a fairly good speed? Why do they not fall off of the track when it goes through a loop? The answer to these questions and others about roller coasters lies in the application

When we first started learning about energy, I instantly loved it because was just so good at dealing with whatever equations and systems I could throw at it. As opposed to kinematics, for example, using energy to solve problems and equations works for almost anything because it can operate pretty well no matter the change in acceleration. All energy needs most of the time is mass, velocity, height, and gravity, and these things are exactly what the roller coasters such as the ones at Six Flags need as well. Roller coasters have no motors. They simply use gravity and height to gain speed to have the ability to traverse loops, twists, and whatever else may be on the track.

Friction is an opposing force. It acts in the opposite direction of the marble or the roller coaster cart. When designing a roller coaster you want to have as little friction as possible. This goes the same way with my model track, i want to make sure the track is designed to where friction will not be a worry factor but i want there to be enough of it to keep the marble from going to fast and running off the track. The force of gravity will help take some of the pressure off the importance of friction but with the marble being so light i am more than likely going to apply more friction only because the weight of the marble is so light. If the laws are correct i should have a successful marble

After that, the roller coaster will be projectile in the air in the first loop. Next comes the thrilling second loop, Which is the tallest fastest you will go through, you will have an excessive amount of centripetal force and centripetal acceleration while flipping through this loop. This ride will rapidly wrap around the second loop in 3.4 seconds. You will receive tons of momentum when you are about to finish the last loop. Then, as soon as you finish the two loops, you cut a sharp turn, where the gravity on the chart is pushing you down. After that, you will emerge in a large loop once again. This loop will circle around in 3.50 seconds, it will move in such a little amount of time, the coffee beans will proceed in a circle, this circle will take little time at all due to the speed of the ride. On the last loop you will feel jerked right just before the loop ends, it will rapidly turn right, then left, then right, you finally propel back up in the air for one last turn. Conversely, after the last loop the roller coaster cart will stop the start in a slow motion

Once you're underway, different types of wheels help keep the ride smooth. Running wheels guide the coaster on the track. Friction wheels control lateral motion (movement to either side of the track). A final set of wheels keeps the coaster on the track even if it's inverted. Compressed air brakes stop the car as the ride ends.

When the roller coaster is on the track, gravity force pulls the coaster straight down towards the earth this results in the track producing an equal and opposite reaction force to counter gravity. When the roller coaster goes through the loop, the velocity of the coaster wants to move forward with constant speed (Newton’s first law), however the track is in the way, so the coaster creates a force that pushes into the curving track, producing a reaction force, that is tangent to the track, towards the center of the loop, causing centripetal acceleration and force. This normal force provides the sufficient centripetal force that the ride needs to complete the loop. If the roller coaster moves with greater velocity, it will push harder into the loop, creating greater reaction force and therefore greater centripetal force, this means the reaction and centripetal forces depend on how fast the roller coaster is

When you start moving that's when the motor lets go then you have kinetic energy when it falls it builds up enough energy to propel the rest of the ride. Even though you don't notice or think about it gravity is the reason you stay on the track.

A rightward moving rider gradually becomes an upward moving rider, then a leftward moving rider, then a downward moving rider, before finally becoming a rightward-moving rider once again. There is a continuing change in the direction of the rider as he/she will moves through the clothoid loop. A change in direction is one thing of an accelerating object. The rider also changes speed. As the rider begins to climb upward the loop, he/she begins to slow down. What we talked about suggests that an increase in height results in a decrease in kinetic energy and speed and a decrease in height results in an increase in kinetic energy and speed. So the rider experiences the greatest speeds at the bottom of the loop. The change in speed as the rider moves through the loop is the second part of acceleration which the riders experiences. A rider who moves through a circular loop with a constant speed, the acceleration is centripetal and towards the center of the circle. In this case of a rider moving through a noncircular loop at non-constant speed, the acceleration of the rider has two components. There is a component which is directed towards the center of the circle (ac) and relates itself to the direction change and the other component is directed tangent (at) to the track and relates itself to the car's change in speed. This tangential component would be