The history of the roller coaster can be dated back as early as the 16th century. Reading about the origin of the roller coasters sparked my great interest in their construction. I came across interesting facts such as how roller coasters originated in Russia . They were once called the “Russian Mountains” and were composed of lumber with a sheet of thick ice covering the surface (“Roller Coaster History”). Their infrastructure captivated my attention and I found myself pondering on how they managed to construct their calculations and mathematically figure out the force needed for the roller coaster to continuously move. Therefore, I have constructed a roller coaster through the use of polynomial and trigonometric functions by taking into account …show more content…
Newton’s Second Law states that force times mass equals acceleration(fm=a). This law explains that when an unbalanced force is exerted on an object, the object will then accelerate in the direction of the force ("Newton's Second Law"). Therefore the greater force, the greater the acceleration. The pulley system that serves as a chain will be the unbalanced force since it is what changes the roller coasters motion and has the strength to pull it upwards. By conducting research on the total mass of roller coasters including their passengers, I came up with calculations that include the following:
Total Mass Calculations
Values (kg)
Mass of rider
100
Mass of empty coaster cart
550
Total Mass per Train
4500
The roller coaster will consist of a six cars per train. One car will be able to hold a total of 200 kg between two passengers totaling a maximum mass of 750 kg per car (1002+550=750). A fully loaded coaster train will have a maximum mass of 4500 kg. These calculations allow us to calculate and ensure the force that is needed for the motor in order to enable it to pull the train up its first hill.
The angle of the lift will be 45 degrees, therefore the train will be pushed up vertically for the distance of 44.063 meters, (49.063-5=44.063). The total incline length will equal:
44.063sin(45)= 62.3144921988058123
Calculations
Values
Lift Incline Angle
45
Lift Height (m)
49.063
Station Height (m)
5
Vertical Distance (m)
a passenger train, a roller coaster has no engine or power source of its own. For most of the ride,
After it had flawlessly passed the first loop, it had too much kinetic energy (the energy of a body or a system with respect to the motion of the body or of the particles in the system) in it so we had to make a cover so it would not fly out every time. We also increased the hight of the second hill so it would not fly out as much every time to the cover would be more effective at stoping the marble from exiting the tracks. After that, the roller coaster worked perfectly after the first hill and we were able to videotape the roller coaster working and submitted the video to the schoology (app we use in school to submit assignments and check what our homework is) assignment. All that was left was the measurements sheet that we needed to fill out about our
There were faster, taller, and safer, roller coasters then ever before before. The industry was so successful that from 1974 to 1980 more roller coasters were being built each year than all the previous years combined since 1920. After Allen retired there was room for a rising star to shine. This star was Ron Toomer. He got a degree in mechanical engineering. He then designed the heat shield on Apollo 11 the first spaceship to land on the moon .All over she was done with NASA and got a job Arrow Dynamic Inc. His first big roller coaster was The Runaway Mine Train in Six Flags Over Texas, today this roller coaster is a national landmark. About 9 years after Runaway Mine Train, Toomor design Corkscrew the first modern coaster to go upside down. About nine years after that you built the Big Bad Wolf second suspended coaster in the world. He also built Magnum XL-200 First roller coaster ever two break 200 feet tall, This is now known as a hyper coaster. Ron Toomor was the king of roller coasters. He was such an influence in roller coasters that he is made the list of Britannica's top 100 influential inventors, Along with Henry Ford, Benjamin Franklin, and Steve Jobs. All this you must be thinking wow this guy must love riding roller coasters, however this is not the case, “I’ve had a bad motion sickness problem since I was a little kid,” he said. “But I’ve ridden enough of them to know what happens and how it feels.” Now roller coasters is a big competition to build the tallest, fastest, longest. Here are the current records: The fastest roller coaster is Formula Rossa at 149.1 Miles per hour. Kingda Ka has two records for the Tallest at 456 ft and the biggest drop at 418 ft. Steel dragon 2000 is the longest with 8133.2
Neither Timber Terror nor Tremors has an engine or anything pushing the cars along the track. The only time the cars are aided by a machine is when the car is being carried to the top of the first hill and the compression brakes at the end, but from then on, the cars are in the hands of potential energy and kinetic energy (“Roller Coaster”). Mechanical energy is used to lift the train cars to the top of the hill. Once it reaches the top of the hill, the car has a very large amount of potential energy. After the car reaches the top and begins its descent, it loses potential energy with the loss of height and gains kinetic energy. Each time the coaster goes up a hill, it loses kinetic energy and gains potential energy (“Energy Transformation”). Although potential and kinetic energy play the largest roles in the physics behind a
3. Explain the basic ideas that govern the design and operation of a roller coaster.
My model replication of a roller coaster will resemble it in such ways as the factors of speed and the movement of coasters around the world. It will have the same aerodynamics and challenges a regular coaster will have. The only difference will be the size of the track compared to a regular track and the carts the people usually ride in will be replaced by a marble. All factors of inertia and the transfer of energy in a moving and stable object will all have an effect on the outcome on how successful the model is in the end.
For this reason, this is where your ride begins. In the station you will find lots of helpful workers and lots of buttons to get the ride going. All of this help comes from technology in the world. Accordingly, technology is the main key when dealing with roller coasters because without it, how would the car move? For example, it would be a pretty slow and weird ride if 20 workers were pushing the roller coaster the entire ride! Thanks to technology, we can have much more fun. Not only technology gets the ride moving, but a force can help greatly too. Throughout the ride, you may notice that the car and tracks are touching. When it starts to move, the car rubs against the tracks and this creates lots of amounts of friction. For example, when the car begins to take off out of the station, this causes friction to be made as the affect. The car also can be identified by measuring in mass because this is where people will be sitting. As you can tell, it will be a lot of weight. As the ride begins to move out of the station, it goes at an approximate speed of 10 miles per hour. Although it looks like you will be heading straight towards the erupting lava in the volcano, you will actually be going under
Physics plays a major role in helping the ride run smoothly. Roller coasters use work and energy in order to work properly (“Energy”). Whenever you reach the top of the steep hill you have just climbed up, gravity ensues and the rest of the ride uses energy transformation to run. At the very beginning when you reach the very top of the hill you posses a great amount of potential energy, or the result of gravity pulling downwards, but as soon as you go down the first drop most of the potential energy is gone a kinetic energy takes over (“Energy”). Basically whenever the ride gains height the coaster looses kinetic energy, or the energy of motion, and potential energy is gained back. Whenever the coaster looses height due to speed it looses the potential energy it had previously gained and kinetic energy is acquired once again (“Energy”). This shows that much more goes on behind the scenes of the running the rollercoaster than just pushing a start
Rollercoaster Report Task 1. Aim: To investigate energy changes in a rollercoaster, and to investigate to role of wasted energy. 2. Introduction: -Nowadays, in almost every theme park, there is a special ride called Roller coaster. ---The question here is, how does it work and why are people addicted to it.
While the roller coaster is in operation, it is mainly affected by these following force:
First, I would have to define the problem, which would be how would math be used to figure out a way to rate a roller coaster. After I knew what I was looking for, I would make assumptions about what people like to see in a roller coaster. I would assume that most people like loops, so if it had a loop it would get a higher
The experiment was conducted in order to investigate the gravitational potential energy (GPE) and kinetic energy changes, as a car progresses down a rollercoaster track. Throughout a rollercoaster ride, the laws of physics are always involved. These include simple inertial, centripetal and gravitational forces. In the initial ascent of a rollercoaster, gravitational potential energy is gathered and as the rollercoaster descends, this energy is converted into kinetic energy.
A roller coaster is basically made up of potential and kinetic energy. Once you start moving that's when you're pulled by a motor and that's the only time you have a motor . You're not being pulled by a hitch all the time. Once you're moving you're on your own.
Write a 5 paragraph essay on either how a roller coaster works; and explain utilizing Newton's 3 laws of motion, gravity, and friction. Be sure to include an introduction and conclusion.
As the ride begins, you will immediately start up a 90 meter (295 foot) hill. Considering the roller coaster is in a building, the 90-meter tall hill comes out of the top of the building. Suddenly, as riders plunge down the hill, they will enter back into the dark building. As the riders are going up the hill, Newton’s Second Law will be at work on them. The train will be going at a constant speed up the lift hill. When the riders reach the peak of the hill, they will have the highest potential energy in the whole ride. Nevertheless, the roller coaster cart will only sit at the top of the hill for a split second, then riders will feel the weightlessness as they zoom back down the hill. While the cart rolls down the hill, it will accelerate, leaving riders with the feeling of air resistance on their skin. As a result, this is where the ride will reach its