Physics of A Coaster
Individuals love to go to the amusement parks and try out the rides that are available. The most common and thrilling ride is the roller coaster. An amusement park is not an amusement park if it does not contain a roller coaster. What makes these roller coasters so "fun" that every amuse parks has one. A lot of people would say it is their extreme high speeds that makes it very exciting. That is a valid answer, but it is the wrong answer. The speed has nothing to do with the excitement. It is more than likely that most people travel faster on their ride along the highway on the way to the amusement park than they would in a roller coaster. Basically the thrill all comes from the acceleration and the feeling of weightlessness that they produce. Roller coasters thrill people because of their ability to accelerate them downward one moment and upwards the next; leftwards one moment and rightwards the next. How does this "thrill machine" work? There are two ways that this question will be answered. First, through the basic principles and then through a more advanced explanation. Roller coaster rides involve a great deal of physics. The ride often begins with a chain and motor which exerts a force on the train of cars to
Basically the force of gravity and the force of normal are playing a tug of war and force of normal must win by an amount equal to the net force. As the rider begins to climb upward the loop, he/she begins to slow down. At the top, this would be in the downward direction and at the bottom of the loop it would be in the upward direction. Energy is not gained or lost, only transformed from kinetic energy to potential energy and vice versa. A rider who moves through a circular loop with a constant speed, the acceleration is centripetal and towards the center of the circle. The radius at the bottom of a clothoid loop is much larger than the radius at the top of the clothoid loop. Inward acceleration of an object is caused by an inward net force. There is a continuing change in the direction of the rider as he/she will moves through the clothoid loop. Neglecting friction and air resistance, a roller coaster car will experience two forces which I have mentioned earlier. Air resistance if a force capable of doing work on the cars and taking away a bit of energy from the total mechanical energy which the cars possess. While the cars might slow down when they approach a new hill, it is inertia which moves it forward. Once more the normal force must provide sufficient force to produce the required inward or centripetal net force. However, at the top of the loop the normal force is directed downwards because the track is above the car, it pushes downwards upon the car. At the top of the loop, both forces are directed inwards.
Common topics in this essay:
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normal force,
roller coaster,
force gravity,
bottom loop,
kinetic energy,
net force,
potential energy,
moving rider,
train cars,
air resistance,
total mechanical energy,
towards center circle,
kinetic energy potential,
loop normal force,
top bottom loop,
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