Rollercoaster Vs Roller Coaster Research Paper

Steel Rollercoasters V.S Wooden Rollercoasters

Steel Rollercoasters are better than Wooden Rollercoasters There are two types of rollercoasters that steal the stage in the adrenaline-rush world. There are the steel roller coasters and the wooden roller coasters, each with their advantages and disadvantages. However, what makes a rollercoaster exciting? Maybe it is the flips and twists of the steel rollercoaster, or the depth defying drops and rattling turns of the wooden rollercoaster. There are three criteria that stand out when choosing either ride: the suspense and drop, the twists, turns, and flips, and the many different cars in which the riders can be seated as. I feel that the steel rollercoaster best fits all of these necessary parts of a good roller coaster ride. Suspense can be the point in which you are scared to death to keep riding, or the point in which you just want to get on with the excitement of the drop and flips. A roller coaster will either slowly pull the car up the tracks, making a clicking noise that
seems to never end, or it can keep the car waiting as the hydraulics prepare to shoot you out at very high speeds. Steel rollercoasters have the advantage with the suspenseful climb. Because they are stronger than wood, they can be built at heights that exceeds a wooden roller coasters limits. This, in turn, causes a longer build up to the drop and a better view of the theme park. Personally, heights scare me terribly. I close my eyes until the car reaches the peak of the coaster and quickly look at how high I really am at the very moment before the drop. However, the longer the car gets pulled up the tracks, the more I get excited to ride them down. Wooden rollercoasters cannot be built to heights that match those of steel rollercoasters and therefore seems to be a smooth ride. In fact, the tallest rollercoaster in the world is a four hundred and fifty six foot steel coaster named Kingda Ka, located at Six Flags Great Adventure. (Callen, 2005) The drop is just as important as the suspenseful ride up.
It creates the butterfly-in-your-stomach feeling that most people love. A steel coaster brings out the best in the drop because of how many different ways it can be done. The steel can be sloped at a very steep slant so that the car can gain speed, or it can even glide into a corkscrew or complete flip. A wooden coaster can only allow for a shaky drop at speeds slower than the avid rider will crave. Seldom does a wooden rollercoaster ride into a flip, but when it does it is very short and small compared to the larger ones of steel coasters. However, the drop on a steel coaster can create a very powerful G-force that can be uncomfortable for some riders (Meaney, Smith, 2002). I have ridden some that had made me black out because of how strong the forces were. In my opinion, this can be a deterring factor from the steel coaster
experience. The actual ride of the coaster follows the drop and it defines a terrifyingly exciting coaster from one of mere fun moments. A coaster is nothing without its twists and turns. The beginning stages should build up to the moment of how the coaster would send people into a terrorizing act of pure enjoyment. The feeling of the unknown is what many coaster enthusiasts love, and what steel rollercoasters can master best. The ride is faster, smoother, and more interesting to the rider as they zoom through the many corkscrews, swift drops, and turns that rotate them on their side, these features add value to the coaster. Also, steel rollercoasters have the smoothest flips. One of the best parts of riding roller coasters is being able to be turned completely upside down. Watching the world’s horizon disappear and reappear in reverse is simply awesome. Wooden coasters can only allow for narrow turns, slower drops, and small rotations that do not completely turn the car on its side. Along with all of these limitations, the ride is usually very shaky and bumpy because of how wood cannot bend as well as steel can. The final factor that makes a steel roller coaster better than a wooden roller coaster is the many different cars that the riders can sit in vary the riding experience a great deal. Both wooden and steel coasters have the traditional sit-down car that has a metal bar lying over the rider’s lap to keep them secure. This is a huge limitation for wooden coasters because the variety stops here. Steel coasters can have cars that leave the rider’s feet hanging freely, with a bar securing them over their chest. There are also cars that sit the rider upright, but have no doors on either side and have only a metal bar covering their lap. Finally, there are cars that lay the rider horizontally to pull them through like a super hero. The many different kinds of cars give different experiences to the riders. The future holds many improvements for steel rollercoasters, as they are building better technology to make the experience more intense. Many are breaking world records in heights and speeds. Electromagnets, replacing regular cables, are being used to launch cars by a magnetic wave so that a greater speed can be reached over all. (Hall, 2006) Launch coasters can propel passengers from zero to one hundred and twenty miles an hour in about four seconds. This is only the beginning to a brighter and more thrilled future of the steel roller coaster world. Many people like rollercoasters because of what they offer to the rider. It forces a person to express as many emotions as possible in a one to two minute timeframe that is almost cruel because of how none can exit once it begins. However, the experience is wonderful in that it allows riders to be pulled through the atmosphere at speeds they never get to physically feel on their own, in directions that would be too dangerous without the safety of a ride. Most likely, the chances a person can get to spend the money on admission tickets to theme parks and spend the time waiting in line, not to mention weather delays, are very seldom. If they are going to be this committed to having fun, they might as well pick the coaster that best meets that requirement. Steel rollercoasters match all of the criteria that I have listed before and are, therefore, the better pick when riding coasters.

Works Cited
Callen, D. (2005, May 21). Record Holders. Retrieved from http://rcdb.com/hrh.htm?m=1 Hall, Y. (2006, May 24). New coasters push thrills, and the body, to the limit. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/060524-coasters_2.html

Meaney D, Smith D. (2002, October 19). Roller coasters, G forces, and the brain trauma: on the wrong track?. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12427321