What are the physics of roller coaster design?

Introduction. A roller coaster is a machine that uses gravity and inertia to send a train of cars along a winding track. The combination of gravity and inertia, along with g-forces and centripetal acceleration give the body certain sensations as the coaster moves up, down, and around the track.



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Most roller coasters run by the Law of Inertia. Since an object at rest stays at rest, all roller coasters have to be pushed or pulled to get started. The student's roller coaster started at the top of a big hill.

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Roller coaster engineering falls under the domain of the mechanical engineer. Mechanical engineers apply the principles of engineering, physics, and material science for the design, analysis, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems.

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The two most important forms for amusement park rides are kinetic energy and potential energy. In the absence of external forces such as air resistance and friction (two of many), the total amount of an object's energy remains constant.

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When the coaster moves down a hill and starts its way up a new hill, the kinetic energy changes back to potential energy until it is released again when the coaster travels down the hill it just climbed. Gravity and inertia are big players when it comes to how you experience the ride.

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A roller coaster is a machine that uses gravity and inertia to send a train of cars along a winding track. The combination of gravity and inertia, along with g-forces and centripetal acceleration give the body certain sensations as the coaster moves up, down, and around the track.

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In roller coasters, the two forms of energy that are most important are gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy.

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Calculus methods allow us to determine the maximum height attainable by a roller coaster before the track is even built.

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Roller coasters are driven almost entirely by basic inertial, gravitational and centripetal forces, all manipulated in the service of a great ride. Amusement parks keep upping the ante, building faster and more complex roller coasters, but the fundamental principles at work remain the same.

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This force comes into play thanks to the movement you undergo on the ride– you experience a “positive” G-force when the train is at the bottom of a hill, and a corresponding “negative” force when it crests the top of a hill. When your downward acceleration is close to g, you feel weightless.

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According to Kevin Hickerson, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology, “All the energy a roller coaster gets comes from the initial point it's cranked up to, and from there it just gains more and more kinetic energy.” The height of this first drop also determines the speed of the coaster cars.

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When you go around a turn, you feel pushed against the outside of the car. This force is centripetal force and helps keep you in your seat. In the loop-the-loop upside down design, it's inertia that keeps you in your seat. Inertia is the force that presses your body to the outside of the loop as the train spins around.

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Roller coasters are about acceleration; that's what makes them thrilling. And in this part of Lesson 2, we will focus on the centripetal acceleration experienced by riders within the circular-shaped sections of a roller coaster track.

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