Amusement Park Physics
explanatory Essay
1043 words
Missing formulas
A new era in theme parks and roller coaster design began in 1955 when Disneyland ushered in the new era of amusement park design. Disneyland broke the mold in roller coaster design by straying from the typical norm of wooden roller coasters; thus, the steel tubular roller coaster was born. Disneyland’s Matterhorn was a steel tubular roller coaster with loops and corkscrews, which had never been seen before with the wooden coasters. In addition to the new steel tube roller coaster, the new coaster design also proved to be the most stable, allowing for wilder designs. The first successful inverted roller coaster opened up in 1992, and now it is not uncommon to find passengers of various roller coasters with their feet dangling above or below them as they circumnavigate the track. In 1997 Six Flags Magic Mountain opened a roller coaster, that just a few year previous would have been considered impossible. The Scream Machine is 415 feet tall and takes willing riders on an adrenaline rush using speeds of 100 miles per hour. Technology working with the laws of physics continues to push the limits of imagination and design.
Many people do not realize exactly how a roller coaster works. What you may not realize when you are cruising down the track at over 60 miles per hour, is that the roller coaster does not have a motor or engine. At the beginning of the ride the car is pulled to the top of the first hill where it comes to a momentary halt. At this point its potential energy is at a maximum and the kinetic energy is at a minimum. As the car falls down the hill it is losing potential energy and is gaining kinetic energy. It is this kinetic energy that keeps the car going throughout the remainder of the ride. The conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy is what drives the roller coaster, and all of the kinetic energy you need for the ride is present once the coaster descends the first hill. Once the car is in motion, different types of wheels keep the ride running smooth. Various running wheels help guide the coaster around the track. Friction wheels control lateral motion. A final set of wheels keeps the coaster on the track even if the coaster is inverted. Compressed air brakes are used to stop the coaster as it comes to an end.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that disneyland broke the mold in roller coaster design by straying from the typical norm of wooden coasters.
- Explains that roller coasters have no motor or engine, and the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy is what drives them.
- Explains that at this point the curve y(x) for the roller coaster track must be specified, and its derivative can be substituted into this formula. this is seen to be a differential equation whose solution is some function x(t).
- Explains that potential energy is the energy that an object possesses by virtue of its location.
- Explains that m is the mass of the object, g is acceleration due to gravity (the gravitational constant), namely 9.81m/s2, and h is its height.
- Explains how a roller coaster ride can be analyzed by using the fact that as the train drops in elevation its potential energy is converted into kinetic energy.
- Explains how the notation y(x) and v (v) has been written to emphasize the fact that the elevation drop and hence the velocity both depend on the horizontal coordinate x
- Explains that potential energy can be converted into other forms of energy, such as kinetic energy. kinetic energy is the energy that an object has by virtue of its motion.
- Explains that if the velocity of an object is doubled, its kinetic energy is quadrupled. kinetic energy can also be converted into other forms of energy.
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- Physics Of A Roller Coaster Essayexplanatory essayPeople can be very wild when it comes to amusement park and their widespread excitement. Although if you think about it
In this essay, the author
- Explains that roller coasters and amusement parks are one of many examples of how physics is used to bring out the best out of each of their rides.
- Explains how the relationship between potential and kinetic energy in roller coasters can be a good example of the "energy theory."
535 wordsRead More - Pushing the Sensory Human Experience: The Physics of Roller Coastersexplanatory essayThe anticipation renders you to become eager. After waiting in line, the rollercoaster cannot seem to get to the peak quick enough. The train clicks and clack's as it slowly ascends to the summit. The sun makes your hands sweaty from tightly holding on to the single lap bar that keeps you in your seat... and on that thought the adrenaline pumps through your blood. Suddenly your body flings forward as you plummet down the first drop, and then you're being forced down on the cart’s seat as you arch the bottom of the transition to going up the second hill. Wind whips in your face and, the pressure of your lap bar surprises you when you realize your body has left the seat, quickly being pulled back down into place as the earth approaches you. The hills get smaller but the experience gets more vivid. Some hills give the feeling that you have left your body behind and you’re flying forward, but then your body catches up just in time for the banked turns. The first turn, wasn’t so bad but the smaller turn causes you to black out completely. As your vision returns to you; the station is straight ahead and you sigh in relief as you have survived Nitro.
In this essay, the author
- Narrates how the adrenaline pumps through the body as it plummets down the first drop, and then the pressure of the lap bar surprises you when you realize your body has left the seat.
- Explains newton's first law of motion: an object stays in motion unless acted on by an outside force. airtime hills are specially designed to give the sensation of flying out of the cart.
- Explains that the basic loop caused many problems for scientists when trying to apply them in rollercoaster design.
- Explains broad, william j., "upside down at 70 m.p.h.: the new physics of thrills."
- Quotes otero, l. m., "mother dies after falling from six flags texas giant roller coaster."
- Explains the scientific and technical information office, national aeronautics and space administration.
- Explains that physics allows rollercoasters to give the human an adrenaline rush.
- Explains that g-forces on rollercoasters enhance the rider experience and allow coasters to have more complex styled layouts.
- Explains that loops were just the beginning for roller coasters, while most modern designs focus on speed and height. rollercoaster types allowed for thrills to be taken to the extreme.
- Describes the most interesting photos from beckmann, san antonio, tx, united states.
1456 wordsRead More - Physics of Rollercoastersexplanatory essayThere is a click, and the car you are sitting in is jerked. The chains that are cranking the car forward continue to make click click sounds and you find yourself counting them as seconds. Your heart begins to beat hard, and you hold your breath in anticipation as the car finally begins to transcend the first hill.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that a rider is experiencing centripetal force, which pulls the individual towards the center of the loop.
- Explains how the mauch chunk railway was developed in russia during the 15th century, and how physics made it more dangerous than biking down the street.
- Explains that several formulas are used to determine speed, how safe it would be to enter a corkscrew without the cart falling off the rails, and how high that loop-de-loop could be.
- Explains that the height of the hill and/or the presence of friction could have a factor.
- Explains that roller coasters demonstrate sir isacc newton's first and second laws quite well. the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the force acting on it.
717 wordsRead More - The Physics of Roller Coastersexplanatory essayA roller coaster is a thrill ride found in amusement and theme parks. Their history dates back to the 16th century. It all started in Russia, with long, steep wooden slides covered in ice. The idea then traveled to France. Since the warmer climate melted the ice, waxed slides were created instead, eventually adding wheels to the system. The first roller coaster in which the train was attached to the track was in France in 1817, the Russess a Belleville. The first attempt at a loop-the loop was also made in France in the 1850s. It was called the Centrifuge Railway. However, government officials quickly diminished the idea when the first accident occurred. Inventors since then have continued to capitalize on people’s love of a great thrill, always trying to make them bigger, faster and scarier!
In this essay, the author
- Describes the history of a roller coaster in amusement and theme parks. it started in russia, with long, steep wooden slides covered in ice, then traveled to france.
- Explains that roller coasters are a safe way to get scared, feel that sinking feeling in your stomach, and come out wanting to do it all over again.
- Explains that gravity is the weakest of the four physical forces, but when it comes to roller coasters, it's the dominant one.
- Explains that roller coasters work due to this constant conversion of energies. the energy doesn't decrease or increase; it just continuously changes from one form to the other.
- Explains that friction and other dissipative forces cause a change in total mechanical energy. this is the reason why the train slows down and creates heat and sound.
- Explains that roller coasters have always been something that caught their interest since they were a young girl. after learning about them, they can't wait to ride another one.
866 wordsRead More - History Of Roller Coasterscomparative essayRoller coasters have long been identified as a staple of the American amusement industry, due to the wild success of Six Flags Great America. But roller coasters actually originated in Russia in the 17th century. These original roller coasters were originally known as ice slides that were concentrated in St. Petersburg. They were built out of lumber with a sheet of ice multiple inches thick covering the surface. People that rid these slides climbed the stairs on the back of the slide then sped down the 50 degree drop. These ice slides were built between 70 and 80 feet high that stretched for hundreds of feet and accommodated many large sleds at a time. The French are later given credit for adding wheel to the ice sleds and featured cars that locked to the track. With this new design French roller coasters were even capable of long twists and turns and even loops (The first looped roller coaster was made in France). It wasn’t until the French gradually lost interest in roller coasters, that a man named Marcus Thompson would create the first roller coaster in America. In his original designs Thompson used a lot of the design layouts that the Russians used with their ice slides.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that roller coasters originated in russia in the 17th century. they were built from lumber with a sheet of ice multiple inches thick covering the surface.
- Explains that roller coaster accidents occurred at coney island in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
- Explains that roller coasters run on the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy. running wheels guide the coaster while friction wheels control movement from side to side of the track.
- Compares the advantages and disadvantages of wooden and steel roller coasters.
- Explains that gravity and the normal force can be explained by newton's laws of motion and circular motion. roller coaster producers must make sure there is a net inward force acting upon the rider.
- Explains how roller coasters use force, friction, potential energy, gravity, velocity, acceleration, and kinetic energy.
660 wordsRead More - Rollercoaster Physics Essayanalytical essayThe beginning of rollercoasters dates back to the 15th century in Russia, where the first coaster ride was simply created in the form of an ice slide. During the 1400’s, long and steep wooden structures were built to heights of 70 to 80 feet tall with ice frozen over the long and sloping ramp, see Figure 1 (Learner.org, 2016). Sledders would be mounted on an ice or wooden sled down a 50o drop platform with little support at tremendous speed. Ice slides were built parallel to each other, however facing opposite direction, allowing riders to travel back and forth (Learner.org, 2016). In 1817, wheeled cars which securely lock onto the track were introduced to the early development of rollercoasters and the first
In this essay, the author
- Explains that a rollercoaster train must begin at the top of the first hill to gain enough potential energy to complete its journey throughout the winding track. the higher the hill, the more gpe is stored.
- Calculates the required minimum centripetal force to the coaster train at the top of the loop. gravity reduces veocity and as a result, ke is converted into gpe.
- Explains that rollercoasters originated in russia in the 15th century, with ice slides, sledders, wheeled cars, and the formula rossa in abu dhabi.
- Explains that energy conservation between potential and kinetic energy is key when it comes to the thrill of a rollercoaster ride.
1007 wordsRead More - The Twilight Zone: Tower Of Terrorexplanatory essay“You are about to discover what lies beyond the fifth dimension, beyond the deepest, darkest corner of the imagination, in the Tower of Terror.” The twilight zone’s: tower of terror was finished building July 22, 1994, and the queue lines have been booming ever since. With a ride this popular and constantly being run, there is bound to be malfunctions in the safety systems. Disney prevents such malfunctions from happening, fortunately. Even though there are low counts of injuries on this iconic ride, there can still be improvements to the safety protocols, because the history of the ride shows that change is possible, there are different safety features on other drop rides, and the safety protocols, at
In this essay, the author
- Explains that disney could add sensors to the belt during the ride, grate-like material to carts, and magnetic brakes to allow for a softer final descent.
- Opines that disney takes rider safety very seriously and adds magnetic brakes, grate like flooring, and electrical monitoring to its drop rides.
- Explains that the twilight zone's tower of terror was finished building july 22, 1994, and the queue lines have been booming ever since.
- Explains memory loss and irregular heart beat upon exiting the ride. in 2008, a thirty-three year old man reported neck and back pains while on the ride.
- Explains that disney is adopting a blanket ban on the popular extendable rods that attach to cellphones or cameras and allows users to take photos.
- Opines that there are numerous things disney can add that other drop rides have. if you’ve ever been to a carnival or small amusement park, you have probably seen the ride.
- Explains that the safety features are different from tot, such as the overhead harness and the brakes.
- Explains that there are other safety features on roller coasters, not just free-fall rides, that aren't on tot.
1196 wordsRead More - The Art of Ride Designexplanatory essayWith the opening of America’s first roller coaster in 1873, a new innovative market was introduced into the American industrial market. With it came a new set of challenges that pushed the limits of the engineering methods used at the time. Oddly enough though, America’s safest roller coaster ever built was also the simplest; the Mauch Chunk Railway was originally used to bring coal down the mountainside of a Pennsylvania mine. The now unused 2,322 feet of track was re-opened a few months later for the purpose of carrying passengers down the side of the mountain. The rail cars used did not have brakes or an engine; they simply used the force of gravity to take the train and its passengers, sometimes at speeds upwards of 60 miles per hour, down the side of the mountain until it came to a rest at the bottom. “The railway offered spectacular views of the Lehigh River and the Blue Ridge Mountains for the region's visitors to see. The area became a large Nineteenth Century tourist attraction and people came from all over to be thrilled by the M.C.R.” (Sandy). Throughout the ride’s 56-year span of passenger operation, not a single injury was reported. Since the ever-simplistic entertainment methods of the 1920’s, our industrial capabilities have grown in geometric proportions; however the one problem is they have been severely lagged by the safety and control systems that govern them. Recently, however, advancements in computer technology have yielded a drastic improvement in these control systems that have allowed ride designers to design increasingly safer and more reliable ride systems.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the mauch chunk railway, america's safest roller coaster ever built, was also the simplest. the rail cars used did not have brakes or an engine; they simply used the force of gravity to take the train and its passengers down the mountain.
- Explains that ride development has been limited by two basic elements: the design tools the engineers use, and the degree of safety that they can reliably guarantee.
- Explains that the evolution of the amusement ride has brought, among other things, a demand for higher-speed rides with smoother feel.
- Describes magnetar technologies corp.'s magnetic-based braking system, which uses no electricity, consumes no energy, has no moving parts, and requires virtually no maintenance.
- Opines that the future of roller coasters lies in the ability of designers to produce monitoring systems that guarantee near 100% safety and reliability of both the riders and of the ride itself.
- Explains that the reliability of microprocessors is undergoing its own evolution with the increase in processing capability of the newer generation plcs.
1667 wordsRead More - Factors that Affect the Speeds of Rollercoastersexplanatory essayFactors that Affect the Speeds of Rollercoasters AIM = == The aim of this investigation is to find out how one chosen factor affects the speed of a roller coaster car at the bottom of a slope. In the investigation, a marble is used to represent a car.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how speed affects a roller coaster car at the bottom of the slope.
- Explains that the length of the slope can be used to calculate the car's speed.
- Explains that the car (marble) has gpe at the top of the slope, and it has ke.
- Explains that the equation is 12 v2 = gh.
- Explains that the equation shows that mass will not affect the speed of an object. the gravitational pull, g, will also not change unless the experiment is carried out on a different planet.
- Explains how the apparatus will be set up as shown in the diagram. the height of the top of a v-track is measured and recorded.
- Explains that it is important to complete the experiment with safety in mind, and recommends wearing goggles during the investigation. children should not be around, as small marbles are hazardous to their health if swallowed.
- Explains that as the track height increases, so does the velocity of the marble. their graphs both show positive correlation.
- Explains that the only variable in their experiment is the vertical height, so to keep other factors fair, they must use the same equipment.
- Aims to obtain results for six separate heights, giving them the speed at which the marble travels at, due to the change of height.
- Explains how their prediction and results proved that their experiment was successful, and there were not many anomalies.
- Explains that they would repeat the experiment more to obtain an accurate range of average speeds of the marble.
1599 wordsRead More - The Increasing Popularity of Motion Simulation Ridescomparative essayFor centuries, people have been seeking thrills. As science and technology have increased, so has the state-of-the-art of thrill seeking. Rollercoasters debuted around the mid 1750's when a Russian showman constructed wood-framed ice slides for sledding in St. Petersburg. This primitive ride, later became the inspiration for the creation and the construction of the rollercoaster (Thrill Ride -- The Science Of Fun). In 1804, a Frenchman who was inspired by the wooden ice-slides decided to take them to the next level. He decided to build a large wooden hill with tracks and designed a vehicle with wheels to roll down the incline. He named it "The Russian Mountain." In fact, across Europe, rollercoasters are known as Russian Mountains to this day. In 1884, LaMarcus A. Thompson built the first rollercoaster in the United States at Coney Island. Since then, rollercoasters have been popping up all over the U.S.. And they have transformed from simple mild rides with simple tracks to high -- tech thrill machines.
In this essay, the author
- Compares the popularity of motion simulation rides with rollercoasters, stating that they provide a safer environment and are more thrilling.
- Explains that rollercoasters began in the 1750s when a russian showman constructed wooden ice slides for sledding in st. petersburg.
- Explains that motion simulators were introduced to the public differently from rollercoasters. they started out as instruments for nasa training astronauts for space travel.
- Compares the "star tours" ride from "disneyland" and "back to the future" rides, which take you on a journey through time from the past and back to the present.
- Explains that ride simulators and rollercoasters have come a long way from nasa's training tools to major theme park attractions.
776 wordsRead More