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The Physics Club: Roller-Coaster Designs & More...
- Thread starter spacemt354
- Start date
21stamps
Well-Known Member
It is!!!That looks great
21stamps
Well-Known Member
This one, The Beast, specifically at night, is probably my all time favorite...mostly because it's a classic. Built in 1979. Still holds record for the Longest Wooden Roller Coaster in the World, and the Longest Roller Coaster in the US.
No inversions, just good airtime and speeding along the ground dark fun
No inversions, just good airtime and speeding along the ground dark fun
This one, The Beast, specifically at night, is probably my all time favorite...mostly because it's a classic. Built in 1979. Still holds record for the Longest Wooden Roller Coaster in the World, and the Longest Roller Coaster in the US.
No inversions, just good airtime and speeding along the ground dark fun
Wooden Coasters
21stamps
Well-Known Member
Our local park is getting a new GCI wooden coaster opening in 2017...The announcement video left a cliffhanger ending, leaving us with the question "#What'sInTheShed"... no one knows yet. Rumor is drop track. I'm hoping the rumor is true!Wooden Coasters
21stamps
Well-Known Member
This is why I kind of chuckle when I hear people complain that Space Mountain is too rough... I adore wooden coasters, but they beat me up for sure!
I also like Rocky Mountain coaster designs.
Rough?
Space Mountain is a ride on smooth ice compared to some old wooden coasters...or even some old steel coasters, like the Matterhorn or The Manhattan Express..
21stamps
Well-Known Member
Rough?
Space Mountain is a ride on smooth ice compared to some old wooden coasters...or even some old steel coasters, like the Matterhorn or The Manhattan Express..
Right?! Here is my son's favorite coaster. Our record is 6 consecutive times. I was sore for 2 days after.lol. It's steel..but it's rough!
That looks rough alright haha
21stamps
Well-Known Member
They should hand out Advil when you exit. I know that I carry it with me!
Pi on my Cake
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
While Disney does have some really intense thrill rides like Mission: SPACE or Rock n' Roller Coaster...there are hundreds of attractions all around the world that are head and shoulders above Disney in terms of height, speed, G-Force, etc.
What are some of your favorites? Also it might be fun to talk about how some of these roller coasters are designed. The physics behind the coasters themselves. That's something that has always interested me.
....
Ah...much simpler.
To kick it off -- maybe even @Voxel has been on this...one coaster I've wanted to try is Intimidator 305
This thing looks amazing...comment below with some of your favorite coasters!
Alright, now can be my time for my minor in physics and 4/5ths of a degree in Mechanical Engineering to shine lol. If people are intersted, I can go all Bill Nye and get into the science here. Or we can just talk about cool coasters. I'm game for that too haha
Pi on my Cake
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
Here's a fun coaster that I would like to ride. ETA: It's called Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens.
And, here's some physics, too. LOL.
Cheetah Hunt is just pure fun haha. It really isn't that intense, but It is possibly the most fun feeling coaster Ive ever ridden.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
Both?
I would love to hear about it! Here is one of my favorite examples of centripetal force. I can't even imagine coming up with the concept.
I enjoy rides, I do not have the knowledge of what would work and what would not... the thought process behind it all is fascinating to me.
Pi on my Cake
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
Alright, so I'll start just with energy as that is probably the most important thing and the simplest thing to look at with roller coasters. I'll try to do posts on Banked turns, wether effects, and maybe even friction throughout the day. So, the equations @spacemt354 'a original post were not wrong, but they included ptential spring energy and really don't apply to roller coasters usually. Which is good! Our equation is much simpler!
Energy in equals energy out. The total amount of energy in a system in a vacuum is constant. The energy is divided in potential energy (due to gravity) and kinetic energy (due to motion). So, the equations for Ein and Eout are below.
Potential energy is at its max when velocity is zero and height is at its highest. Usually, the peak point in a roller coaster can be thought of that way. Kinetic Energy is at its highest when velocity is at its highest at the lowest height of the coaster. Below is a sketch of a roller coaster starting at max height, going to max velocity, and returning to max height.
Now, something is wrong with this picture. A real life coaster can't return to its max height like that. It loses speed. Why does it lose speed? Because it loses energy due to friction and wind resistence! So, when we aren't in a vacuum, our equations for Ein and Eout must be modified.
Now, solving E_lost mathematically is very complicated and can involve a lot of Newtonian physics and complicated sfiance stuffs I won't go into here.
BUT now that we have our full equations for Ein and Eout, we can plug in for KE and PE to get our final equations.
Which can be used to find the velocity or height of the coaster at any point if we know energy lost. Say you want your coast to be a certain height to go over a tree, you can figure out how fast you need to be going to make it too that height AND how high the coaster needs to start to get that speed!
Bottom line, roller coasters are cool! And, to colossal geeks like me, physics is cool too!
Potential energy is at its max when velocity is zero and height is at its highest. Usually, the peak point in a roller coaster can be thought of that way. Kinetic Energy is at its highest when velocity is at its highest at the lowest height of the coaster. Below is a sketch of a roller coaster starting at max height, going to max velocity, and returning to max height.
Now, something is wrong with this picture. A real life coaster can't return to its max height like that. It loses speed. Why does it lose speed? Because it loses energy due to friction and wind resistence! So, when we aren't in a vacuum, our equations for Ein and Eout must be modified.
Now, solving E_lost mathematically is very complicated and can involve a lot of Newtonian physics and complicated sfiance stuffs I won't go into here.
BUT now that we have our full equations for Ein and Eout, we can plug in for KE and PE to get our final equations.
Which can be used to find the velocity or height of the coaster at any point if we know energy lost. Say you want your coast to be a certain height to go over a tree, you can figure out how fast you need to be going to make it too that height AND how high the coaster needs to start to get that speed!
Bottom line, roller coasters are cool! And, to colossal geeks like me, physics is cool too!
What happened?