What controls a roller coaster?

Programmable logic controllers, usually three of them, monitor every aspect of a coaster's operations. They regulate the ride's speed, ensure that trains never come too close to one another, and alert human operators to technical glitches or track obstructions.



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For a roller coaster, gravity pulls down on the cars and its riders with a constant force, whether they move uphill, downhill, or through a loop. The rigid steel tracks, together with gravity, provide the centripetal force needed to keep the cars on the arching path as they move through the loop.

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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 driven almost entirely by basic inertial, gravitational and centripetal forces, all manipulated in the service of a great ride.

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Contact The Author One person was killed and several others were injured when they plunged from a roller coaster Sunday — after it partially careened off its tracks in a terrifying accident inside Sweden's oldest amusement park.

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Different types of brakes are used to stop the train at the end of a ride. These brakes use friction to slow down and stop a roller coaster's momentum by converting the train's kinetic energy into heat energy. For example, roller coasters are kind of like riding your bike down a hill.

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It suggests that the chances of being killed on a rollercoaster are just one in 170 million, while the injury odds are approximately one in 15.5 million.

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Jetline Roller Coaster in Stockholm, Sweden One of the trains on the Jetline roller coaster derailed, partially coming off the tracks while carrying 14 people. Some passengers were thrown off the ride, with witnesses claiming one man had to hang onto the rail before being rescued.

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06 September 22 - 5 Interesting Facts About Roller Coasters
  • The First Roller Coaster was Built in 1817. ...
  • Britain's Oldest Surviving Roller Coaster was Built in 1920. ...
  • There are More Than 2,400 Roller Coasters in the World Today. ...
  • Roller Coaster are Among the Safest Rides. ...
  • Roller Coaster Loops are Never Perfectly Circular.


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A roller coaster ride comes to an end. Magnets on the train induce eddy currents in the braking fins, giving a smooth rise in braking force as the remaining kinetic energy is absorbed by the brakes and converted to thermal energy.

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The coaster tracks serve to channel this force — they control the way the coaster cars fall. If the tracks slope down, gravity pulls the front of the car toward the ground, so it accelerates. If the tracks tilt up, gravity applies a downward force on the back of the coaster, so it decelerates.

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Roller Coaster Components But unlike a passenger train, a roller coaster has no engine or power source of its own. For most of the ride, the train is moved by gravity and momentum. To build up this momentum, you need to get the train to the top of the first hill (the lift hill) or give it a powerful launch.

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The safety system that makes sure trains do not collide with each other on the track is something called a block brake system., These are controlled by sensors around the track, which give the coaster computer, called the programmable logic controller (PLC), information on where the train is around the track at all ...

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Basic mathematical subjects such as calculus help determine the height needed to allow the car to get up the next hill, the maximum speed, and the angles of ascent and descent. These calculations also help make sure that the roller coaster is safe. No doubt about it--math keeps you on track.

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The greatest number of different roller coasters ridden in a 24 hour period is 74, by Philip A Guarno, Adam Spivak, John R Kirkwood and Aaron Monroe Rye (all USA) on 9 August 2001.

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On a roller coaster, energy changes from potential to kinetic energy and back again many times over the course of a ride. Kinetic energy is energy that an object has as a result of its motion.

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It is impossible for the back of the train to exceed the speed of the front, because all of the cars are connected. However, the back may feel faster than the front at some points, due to the front pulling it. If the front is already going down a drop, than it is going to whip the back over the crest faster.

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The biggest roller coaster in the UK is The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach which is 213ft (65m) tall.

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