There is a lot of Physics in a roller coaster. It contains a lot of potential and kinetic energy, and also centripetal force. All of these factors will define how the roller coaster really works.
As we all know, or some of us know, roller coasters doesn’t use engine to operate the ride. It depends on converting potential energy into kinetic energy. Cars will need a certain amount of pull or push to reach a certain peek of the track. Upon reaching the peak, the energy used to pull up the cars will be converted as kinetic energy to push the train enough not only to slide down, but to also to go fast enough follow through and finish the track. A roller coaster must have the kinetic energy after descending the first hill or peak or else it will result into a “roll back” where in the train goes back into its launching place for re-launch.
Physics in Roller Coasters is centripetal force. It is applied in the roller coasters whenever it enters a loop stage. During a loop stage, you will never have this feeling of falling down or moving away from the chair and the reason to that can be explained by centripetal force.
During the loop, the cart is forced inwards the circle or towards what’s called the centre of the rotation. The train follows the curved path and because of the centripetal force, it prevents moving objects from exiting the curve and pushes them towards the centre of the rotation.
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