Let's take a ride on a ROLLERCOASTER



Canadian Mind Buster

 Okay, I'm going to admit that I'm not too crazy about rollercoasters. I dread waiting in line for them but right after I just  can't wait to get back on them. But still, I hate that stomachy feeling you get when you're falling down and it feels like you're going to die. I really don't have a favourite rollercoaster but the one that I've rode on a lot would have to be the wooden Canadian Mindbuster at Canada's Wonderland. Yeah, it's old, wooden and doesn't look like a lot of fun, but I like it. It's tame and controllable and I love the riggity sounds it makes.


Let's first take a look at energy:

Potential Energy

Potential energy is the same as stored energy. When you lift a heavy object you exert energy which later will become kinetic energy when the object is dropped. A lift motor from a roller coaster exerts potential energy when lifting the train to the top of the hill. The higher the train is lifted by the motor the more potential energy is produced; thus, forming a greater amount if kinetic energy when the train is dropped. At the top of the hills the train has a huge amount of potential energy, but it has very little kinetic energy.

Kinetic Energy

"Kinetic energy" is the energy of motion - it's ability to do work. The faster the body moves the more kinetic energy is produced. As the train accelerates down the hill the potential energy is converted into kinetic energy. There is very little potential energy at the bottom of the hill, but there is a great amount of kinetic energy.


How roller coasters work:

A motorized chain pulls the roller coaster to the top of the first hill (that's why you hear that click, click, click sound). The first hill is always the tallest one unless the coaster has more motorized chains later on (more clicking), which means that the first hill has the largest large amount of gravitational potential energy. We know from our previous unit, that this is the amount of work an object will be able to do with the energy it builds up from falling. The energy the roller coaster builds up from falling down that first hill will be enough to take you all the way to the end of the ride.


This diagram demonstrates the force of gravity
on the rider's weight while on a roller coaster

  

The physics of roller coasters:

Now that the roller coaster has made it to the top of the first hill, gravity takes over. When the roller coaster goes down the hill, it speeds up. As it accelerates down the hill, the potential energy gets converted to kinetic energy.The weight of the roller coaster is pulled down by gravity (which means it's falling).

Newton's Law of Roller Coasters:

Sir Isaac Newton (the dude who explained gravity) figured out the concept of inertia.
It's the law of physics that says that any object in motion will stay in motion until acted on by an equal but opposite force. When the roller coaster is at the bottom of the first hill, the kinetic energy is at it's biggest. Now that the coaster is whipping around loops and other hills, its energy is being lost to other forces like friction (energy created by two things being rubbed together) and air resistance. By the time the roller coaster gets to the end of the ride it has lost enough energy to come to a stop (usually with a little help from the brakes).