Physics Of Roller Coasters Essay

Physics can often explain many of the everyday activities of life; from playing football to ice skating to visiting an amusement park. Most people step into an amusement park excited for the thrill of riding all of the roller coasters without ever giving any thought to the physics behind the ride. There are several components of physics which contribute to the thrill of roller coasters, including gravitational forces, the law of conservation of energy, friction, centripetal force, and normal force, just to name a few. Gravity, the law of conservation of energy, and friction all play major roles in the functionality of roller coasters. A roller coaster ride typically begins with an ascent, powered by a motor, to the top of a high hill. From this point on, the ride is powered simply by gravity. At the top of the first hill, the roller coaster car possesses a lot of stored, gravitational potential energy, which …show more content…
Engineers found that a circular loop caused riders to experience the greatest force at the bottom of the loop, when the cars were moving fastest. This resulted in riders experiencing whiplash and neck injuries. This caused loops in roller coasters to be abandoned in 1901, but they were brought back with the clothnoid loop shape in Revolution in 1976 at Six Flags Magic Mountain. A clothoid loop has a radius that is constantly changing, and can be observed in Figure 2 to better understand the following concepts. Clothoid loops allow two major things to occur, which result in the car making a successful loop. First, the smaller radius at the top of the loop allows cars that have lost some speed from traveling up the loop to maintain contact with the track. Second, the large radius at the bottom of the loop allows the car to enter the loop at a high enough speed to overcome the first hill without causing riders to experience excessive normal