Roller Coasters

There are many ideas to consider when designing a roller coasters. There are a variety of types of roller coasters. These include sitting and standing coasters. Standing coasters were designed for a different experience than the standard sitting coaster. Similar to the standing coasters are flying roller coasters. These have the rider turn face down to give a flying feeling while riding. The most common types are the sitting coasters. Within this category there many different arrangements of track and car. These include inverted coasters where the cars are below the track. Similar to the inverted coasters, suspension coasters have cars under the track to improve enjoyment and unpredictability. A pipeline roller coaster is where the …show more content…
These are usually vertical loops where the track does a backflip around a circular shape. These loops were not possible when the coasters were made of wood because they were not sturdy enough. The loop was originally circular shape but that took far too much speed to complete so the designers decided to make them teardrop shaped. This meant that they did not need as much speed going into the loop enabling the ride to be fast but not to where it was uncomfortable. There are two main forces in the loop. These are the force of gravity and the acceleration force. At the beginning of the loop the forces are all being applied downwards and you feel as you would sitting on the ground. As you scale the first wall gravity does not change but the acceleration force is still taking you forwards. This is also an example of your inertia wanting you to stay in the forward motion throughout the whole loop. This makes it feel as if you are being sucked into your seat. When the car reaches the top of the loop you feel very light because gravity is pulling you out of your seat but the acceleration force pushes you back into your seat. The acceleration force is greater so you do not fall out but just end up feeling lighter. As you come back down the other side It feels as if you are weightless. This is because the coaster falls when you would be falling. You then come back to the normal position at the bottom of …show more content…
Most coasters are pulled up the track at the beginning by a cable or chain. After the coaster rises up to it’s first initial height there is no more need for any applied forces. At the top of the first hill after being pulled up the coaster has its maximum potential energy. This means that the top point is where there the roller coaster will have the most energy and after that it will never be able to regain it back. After the first drop the coaster is usually where there is the most amount of kinetic energy. This is the energy that is being used. For instance when the car is in motion at its maximum velocity there is the most kinetic energy. After the first drop the coaster will never be able to reach the maximum point of kinetic energy again. Over the course of the ride the energy gained by being pulled up the hill is lost due to an unbalanced force called friction. This is mainly the wheels of the car on the track but also includes air resistance and some other forces. There are other types of coasters that are able to be self propelled with motors in the cars like the Formula Rossa in Ferrari land United Arab