G-FORCE

PHYSICS PROJECTRoller Coasters

Newtons 1st law of motion:

Objects (or in this case passengers and roller coaster seats) move at
constant velocity in the same direction unless acted upon by outside
forces.

Feeling of Weightlessness
When a coaster goes around a corner or reaches the bottom of its
track, the seats provide that outside force, pushing against each
passengers body; passengers will feel momentarily heavy (a 150 lb.
man will weigh 300 lbs. at the bottom).
As the passenger approaches the top of the coaster and the seat
prevents the passenger from flying out, there is less pressure between
the body and the seat. The brain interprets this as weightlessness (or
negative gs negative gravitational force). This reaction results in the
nauseating feeling some people experience because the body hasnt
had the chance to deal with the change.

Basics
Gravitational, inertial, and centripetal forces almost entirely drive roller
coasters.
Many roller coasters use a chain link method on an inclined plane to
propel the coaster upward OR they will use a launch method (resulting
from the use of energized magnets, the movement of hydraulic fluid,
or the escaping of compressed air).

History
Monumental ice slides (steep wooden slides, as high as 70 feet,
covered in ice and popular in Russia during the 16th and 17th centuries)
are the ancestors of roller coasters. Riders used wooden or ice block
sleds to slide down the slope and land in a sand pile. Eventually,
according to historians, these sleds evolved into rolling carts.
For example, a few innovative Frenchmen introduced the ice slides to
France. However, Frances climate usually melted the ice, so they
changed the sleds to carts and began constructing waxed slides
instead. In 1817, the Russes a Belleville (Russian Mountains of
Belleville) became the first roller coaster where the train was attached
to the track. The French continued to develop the coasters and made
them increasingly more complex. Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway,
originally built in the mountains of Pennsylvania in the mid 1800s to
send coal to a railway, was the first American roller coaster. In popular
amusement parks such as Kennywood Park in Pennsylvania and Coney
Island in New York, these rollercoasters were the main attraction. By
the 1920s, roller coasters were in full swing, with some 2,000 rides in
operation around the country.
With the Great Depression and World War II, roller-coaster production
declined, but a second roller-coaster boom in the 1970s and early
1980s revitalized the amusement-park industry. This era introduced a
slew of innovative tubular steel coasters. Some of the most popular
ride variations -- such as the curving corkscrew track -- saw their
heyday around this time.

Biblical Principle
Although life may be like a rollercoaster ride, 1 Peter 1:6 states, In
all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have
had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

Conservation of Energy

Energy may neither

be created nor
destroyed; therefore,
the sum of all the
energies in the
system is a constant.
1
mgh= m v 2
2

In a rollercoaster

Potential Energy- stored energy of position possessed by an object

PE=mgh
 1 2
Kinetic Energy- energy of motion KE= m v
2

Tallest Roller Coasters:

Pictures:
Russian slides

Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway

Russes a Belleville..
Kingda Ka
Sources:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/structural/roller-
coaster1.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/2745/data/lawce1.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/structural/roller-
coaster3.htm
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/energy/u5l1b.cfm
google images