The Physics of Roller Coasters

Roller coasters are one of the most popular rides when you go to an amusement park with everybody in your family. Why are they so scary for some people while for others it is just another adrenaline rush? Roller Coasters are one of the most complicated rides to build and to actually ride. There are some people who just have fun building something to have a quick adrenaline rush before going to work. Roller coasters have some of the most interesting design and history; they have become one of the world’s famous rides at every amusement park.

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

Roller coasters are driven almost entirely by inertial, gravitational and centripetal forces. Amusement parks keep building faster and more complex roller coasters, but the fundamental principles at work remain the same.

Acceleration is another form of energy. When the rollercoaster takes off, the acceleration is the Form of energy that makes the ride goes its certain speed.

Whoosh the air rushes past your neck, you start accelerating, falling straight down. If you haven’t ridden a roller coaster that is not how it feels. It gives you a feeling you can’t describe in words. Roller coasters have a rich history and are physics beacons of the world. Also the market of roller coasters is huge. Throughout my research I answered my questions. What is the history of roller coasters? What are the physics of roller coasters? How much do roller coasters and amusement parks cost? and Why are roller coasters such a big market?

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.

The cars on a typical roller coaster are not self-powered. A standard full circuit coaster is pulled up with a chain or cable along the lift hill to the first peak of the coaster track. The potential energy accumulated by the rise in height is transferred to kinetic energy as the cars race down the first downward slope. Kinetic energy is then converted back into potential energy as the train moves up again to the second peak. This hill is necessarily lower, as some mechanical energy is lost to friction. Not all rides feature a lift hill, however. The train may be set into motion by

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

“The history of roller coasters is as important as any other step because the architects learn from others mistakes and what they did right. The beginning of roller coasters started in Russia in the 1400’s when people would make hills with the snow and send there sleds down the hills. They would build would towers to get to the top of the hill. In the 1700’s they put wheels on the bottom of the sleds and would be able to go down artificial hills during the summer, they would also use different colored lanterns so they could ride at night. The first roller coaster opened in 1804 in France. The roller coasters didn’t last long Do to the increase of speed and there not being enough safety, accidents were very common. The roller coasters caught back on whenever Lamarcus Thompson built the Gravity Switchback Railway ride at Coney Island. Development was at its highest in the 1920’s there were over 1500 roller coasters in

While you are going up the first hill you will be traveling at a constant speed of 8 miles per hour. The machine in the roller coaster has to use a certain amount of work to get the mass of the people and cart up the first hill. Right before you start to spin down the first hill there will be gravity and acceleration pulling you down the spinning hill. Once you stop spinning while going down that first hill you will be at a spot right before the first hill where you will be experiencing terminal velocity. After you finish that loop you are gonna get pushed right up another hill and as you are falling down the hill you are gonna loop forward and be weightless while going through newton's 2nd law as you near the bottom of the hill. You will start going up another hill like the one on Track A and twist down in a corkscrew type way. During the twists you will experience very much centripetal force. You will go around another little turn like you did on Track A then instantaneous speed will be slowing you down right before you go back into the station.

This carries over with my marble, it will start at a high point and the marble will go through multiple hair-pin turns and sharp turns and the law of inertia will help to keep my marble steadily moving through the entire thing. Potential energy is the energy stored up in a object. At the start the marble will have nothing but potential energy because it will not be moving, but as soon as the marble is pushed off the start all that potential energy will be transferred into kinetic energy. The kinetic energy along with several other key factors will keep the marble rolling at a steady pace around the track.

For a thrilling experience in a rollercoaster ride, there is a wealth of physics involved. A part of the physics of a rollercoaster includes the physics of work and energy. The Redback is a pendulum type ride at Aussie World that includes many types of physics concepts. These concepts include the conversion of gravitational potential energy to kinetic energy, G-force, the conservation of energy and simple harmonic motion. The calculations of the ride of the Redback can be seen in Appendix B.

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.