PHYS 115 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Wooden Roller Coaster, Euler Spiral, Acceleration
Physics of Roller Coaster
A roller coaster is usually a small train that travels on a railroad track with many tight
turns and steep slopes, on which people ride in small fast open cars.
History of the Roller coaster
The oldest known roller coaster first appears in seventeenth century, in St. Petersburg,
Russia. It was constructed from a large ice slid built on top of a wooden structure. Over
the centuries roller coaster become more advanced in design and structure. In 1812
the 1st featured car was built which can lock into
the railroad tracks. With the lift hill structure,
the major innovation of roller coaster occurs in
1885. Then in 1959 first steel- tracks roller
coaster appears until than all the tracks were
made up of wooden- tracks. But the main problem with the wooden roller coaster was,
it doesn’t have inversions, steep drops, or extremely banked turns; mostly it was flat.
Since the modern steel roller coaster was flexible; it comes up with better designs and
shape such as loops and corkscrews.
Roller Coaster Designs:
The steel- railroad tracks can
be various in shape. It has 2
different looping designs.
1. Circular loop Design
2. The Clothoid Design
Comparing two Designs:
Circular loop Design: It was first constructed in early twentieth century. It has a
circular loop. To complete the circular looping round without
falling the roller coaster must speed up. When the circular
roller coaster moves at a constant speed, the centripetal
acceleration at the top and bottom of the roller coaster is
directed towards the center of the circle. Since the circular motion acts on force of
gravity and normal force; the normal force directed perpendicular to the tracks and the
gravitational force directed downwards. And the bottom of the circular loops pushed
upwards with a normal force but top of it pushes downwards therefore the riders is not
weightless and get injured while they attracted by the force. Therefor is consider
danger for riders.
The Clothoid Design: All he modern roller coaster constructed with this looping
design. it has a curved design with a radius which is longer at the bottom and shorter at
the top of the loop. It is a spiral shape in which the radius is constantly changing. The
changing radius of the loop made the roller coaster safer because when the car move at
the top of the Clothoid with a certain speed the rider feel weightless for instant. It
Document Summary
A roller coaster is usually a small train that travels on a railroad track with many tight turns and steep slopes, on which people ride in small fast open cars. The oldest known roller coaster first appears in seventeenth century, in st. petersburg, It was constructed from a large ice slid built on top of a wooden structure. Over the centuries roller coaster become more advanced in design and structure. In 1812 the 1st featured car was built which can lock into the railroad tracks. With the lift hill structure, the major innovation of roller coaster occurs in: then in 1959 first steel- tracks roller coaster appears until than all the tracks were made up of wooden- tracks. But the main problem with the wooden roller coaster was, it doesn"t have inversions, steep drops, or extremely banked turns; mostly it was flat.
