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What keeps you in your seat on a roller coaster?

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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In a typical coaster design, the riders in the front car get an unobstructed view of all these obstacles whipping past them. In a coaster that has seats facing backward, the rear car offers the best of both worlds -- you get a great view and the most intense ride.

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The middle seats have the weakest ride in terms of view and speed but they'll give you everything the seats in the front and the back do at just a little less intensity. A ride in the middle makes you feel less isolated. Try it if you're unsure about the very front or the very back.

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In a typical coaster design, the riders in the front car get an unobstructed view of all these obstacles whipping past them. In a coaster that has seats facing backward, the rear car offers the best of both worlds -- you get a great view and the most intense ride.

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That is, the movement is not controlled. Because of that, when a restraint fails mid-ride, there is no way to stop the train from continuing. That being said, sometimes a roller coaster has what is called a mid-course brake run, which is a set of brakes designed to stop the train if something goes wrong.

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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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Different styles of brake are used depending on what the situation demands. Broadly speaking, roller coaster brakes fall into two categories – Trim and Block. Trim brakes slow trains down but do not stop them – they “trim” speed from the train.

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The last car is pulled faster over the curve, and so experiences greater acceleration tangential to the track, even though its linear acceleration along the direction of the track is the same as the first car.

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Cars in roller coasters always move the fastest at the bottoms of hills. This is related to the first concept in that at the bottom of hills all of the potential energy has been converted to kinetic energy, which means more speed.

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Roller coasters tend to be tall, with long drops, making them challenging for those with a fear of heights. Claustrophobia: By design, roller coaster seats are small and tight, and the restraints fit extremely snugly. This is necessary for safety but can trigger claustrophobia.

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At the bottom of the loop, gravity and the change in direction of the passenger's inertia from a downward vertical direction to one that is horizontal push the passenger into the seat, causing the passenger to once again feel very heavy.

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Two of the most significant are friction and air resistance. As you ride a roller coaster, its wheels rub along the rails, creating heat as a result of friction. This friction slows the roller coaster gradually, as does the air that you fly through as you ride the ride.

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