Roller Coaster Physics Mdriscollpbworkscom Form

A.2.A.Your equation is simply...where "v" is the speed at the point of interest and "r" is the radius of curvature of that portion of the track.You don't need to know any of the details about normal force, gravity, friction, and whatnot, as they will all conspire to give you the centripetal or centrifugal acceleration. [1]Specifically, g-forces are the multiples of gravitational acceleration, so if you wish to be technical then your equation reads:If you want to know the resultant force acting on the car or whatever is on the track, then measure its mass and multiply by "g" (not g-force).Your biggest challenge is not solving or knowing the equation, but getting accurate measures of the speed and radius of the track.[1] If you're on the outside of the track then the appropriate term is the centripetal acceleration, and is the general term used in most cases. If your inside the car and your reference frame is going around the loop, then centrifugal force is just fine.

The “roller” aspect of a roller coaster is a dynamic phenomenon, and the response of the structure strongly impacts the “feel” of the ride. Generally, metal has little natural damping, whereas wood has quite a bit. For a given member dimension, steel will typically be more stiff than wood, with different natural frequencies and amplitudes of oscillation. In the old days, when designs were largely by experience and general construction practices, the differences could be quite substantial. Now, with detailed computer modeling, both wood and steel coaster characteristics can be pretty well controlled, so differences may be as much intentional as due to material.

Price ranges vary when it comes to how big or small a roller coaster is. For example, roller coasters like the ones that you see in small theme parks or malls cost about $1-2 million. But roller coasters like Kingda Ka, in New Jersey, cost about $25 million dollars! That is a lot of money isn’t it? But that’s not even the craziest it gets! Expedition Everest in Disney World’s Animal Kingdom takes the top spot for the most expensive roller coaster: “Walt Disney World in Florida made the 2011 Guinness World Records for most expensive roller coaster, a title which hasn’t yet been broken” (Morrow). The price of this very advanced ride: $100 million dollars! And the thing is, it’s a pretty average coaster. What made it so expensive was its track system. The ride goes both forwards and backwards, and has a set design like no other. The bigger and more advanced a roller coaster is, the more money it costs to build. Roller coasters have gotten super expensive to build. Back in 1927, Switchback Railway in Coney Island was built “with $175,000 ($2.3 million in 2014 dollars), the coaster was 25 cents to ride and saw nearly 1,400 riders an hour at its peak operation” (Crockett). Those were super advanced in their day, and people thought it couldn’t get any better than that. If you want to build a fast roller coaster, be expected to pay more for how fast you want it to go. Steve Boney, a German thrill ride manufacturer, said that “‘There is a law of diminishing returns. As the magnets get bigger, they get heavier and much more expensive, and this pushes up the construction costs. Achieving an extra 50km/h [31mph] costs an extra three to four million euros [£2.5m-£3.5m]'” (Wall). The same can be said for Steel Dragon, the worlds longest steel roller coaster, located in Japan. This giant ride is more than 8,000 feet long! Since it was built in Japan “it required far more steel than other roller coasters because of the necessary earthquake protection, putting its cost at more than $50 million”

I think that an education in physics and engineering would be beneficial. But, there is software that you would build the coaster with after your initial design. I have played with coaster software. Not the commercial ones, but the stuff you can download.I’m not sure how you can go about finding a job in the field. I would think that these companies would check the integrity of the design before moving forward.

Not sure what you are considering, “passing out.” If you are legitimately fainting, going out cold, on a roller coaster, then you should definitely not be riding and should probably see a doctor.If you are referring to the occurrence known as “blacking out” or “graying out,” which is when your vision goes gray for a moment during high-intensity and high G-Force coasters, you have nothing to be alarmed about. This is akin to when you stand up too fast and the same phenomena happens. Your vision goes gray for a moment as oxygen is temporarily unable to rush to your brain fast enough, but it only lasts a few moments before you recover.On high-intensity rides, this can happen when the G-Forces are temporarily too strong for you to pump enough oxygen and blood to your brain. It sounds horrible, but it’s really not a huge deal if it happens to you. It happens to even the most seasoned coaster enthusiasts. There are a few things you can do:Hydrate hydrate hydrate! Drink lots of fluids, as dehydration can cause this more often.Take fast and deep breaths in sections of coaster you know you are most susceptible to blacking or graying out.There might not be much you can do at all. Everyone’s bodies are different and there are a ton of other factors that go into how your body reacts. Some coasters are well-known for causing people to black or gray out, such as Intimidator 305 at Kings Dominion, so if you don’t want to gray out, avoid these coasters.

Until I was 19, the only roller coaster I would ride was a small mine train that stayed close to the ground.  Most of the amusement parks I visited didn't have any roller coasters like this.  I would go to parks mostly for water rides and flat rides.When I was 19, I was at one of my regional amusement parks with a friend who convinced me - during most of the 2+-hour trip there - that I would ride a full-sized roller coaster.  I rode one that was middle-of-the-pack for that park in terms of speed, height, and inversions.  During the ride, I was extremely tense.  I hadn't learned how to ride defensively, so the ride felt much more intense and much less enjoyable than it should have.  My friend was not able to convince me to try any bigger roller coasters that day.Two years later, I was at a different park on vacation.  They had a roller coaster that was almost a copy of the one that I rode at age 19.  In between times, I had been watching point-of-view videos of roller coasters around the world (mostly from sites like Theme Park Review; don't take or watch POVs taken without a park's permission) and reading a ton about amusement parks.  I was able to convince myself that the rides were safe due to the high amount of testing that parks must do before these rides can open to the public.On that trip, I did ride the coaster in question.  I determined before I got on the ride that I would enjoy it, and I did.  I didn't tense up.  I also rode a couple other mid-sized coasters at the same park.The following year, when I was 22, I was looking for something interesting to do during the summer and knew that I loved amusement parks.  So another friend and I decided to get season passes at the same park that I had visited when I was 19.  By the end of our next visit, I had worked my way up to the biggest coasters in the park.  Within 2 years, I did a family vacation to Cedar Point and rode all of the roller coasters there.  I've had a season pass for at least one park every year since 2008, including 2015.  Most of my visits are heavily focused on roller coasters, though I still make sure to ride my favorite flat rides and water rides.  In 2012, I started a design business and, by the end of the year, pivoted it to focus on the amusement industry.  Last month, I went to the industry's largest trade show and met a designer from the company that made one of my favorite roller coasters - which I wouldn't have ridden 10 years ago.TL;DR: I did a lot of reading to convince myself that roller coasters are safe.I watched a lot of videos of roller coasters to know what to expect.I worked my way up from the smaller roller coasters to the biggest ones.

That would depend on whether you want to design roller coasters, or build them. Either way, it would be helpful to have a solid understanding of mechanics & dynamics, some electricity & magnetism, possibly fluids, and lots of math.Some designers of things that eventually have to be engineered (buildings, automobile exteriors, etc.) come from more artistic backgrounds and have only a basic understanding of engineering/physics. After they sketch out a rough design, they collaborate with engineers to figure out how to actually build it in real life. Often times, the engineering process introduces changes to the initial design, and vice versa. For roller coasters though, I’d imagine it'd be helpful to have a good understanding of mechanics and dynamics because that directly impacts the design itself, more than just aesthetics.The difference between physics & engineering is that physics majors learn mechanics, E&M, and fluids in 1st-2nd year; after that they get more into quantum mechanics, particle physics, cosmology, etc. All interesting topics, but probably only marginally useful in designing roller coasters.Engineers cover the same basic topics, but also study more how to apply them in building real-life machines, etc. A lot of difficult problems arise when you try to implement the big ideas of mechanics in real life. Sometimes physicists do a little of this, but usually not as much as engineers.So the real answer is: if you are really good at mechanics, dynamics, and math, it’s feasible to do it with either degree. But if you specifically want to build roller coasters, engineering might be a more practical option.