My Scientific Summer

My Summer
By Tyler Monestel

Over this past summer I went to a few amusement parks in Orlando, Florida. While I was in the amusement parks I went on several roller coasters and many thrill rides. Some of my favorites were Test Track, Manta Ray, and Mission: Space. Manta Ray is a unique roller coaster in which you are lying down facing the ground. Manta Ray has a top speed of 56 mph (90 kph) and a height of 140 feet (43 meters). Mission: Space is a centrifugal motion simulator in Disney Epcot, which exposes riders of forces up to 2.5 G-Forces. Test Track is an automobile evaluation simulator that reaches a top speed of 65mph (105 kph).

Roller Coaster Science

Roller Coaster science is mostly based on physics. Roller Coaster science is the study of how roller coasters work and function. There are a few physics of motion that affect roller coasters. The first is Kinetic and Potential Energy. Kinetic Energy is the energy the car has when moving. The faster the car is moving the more kinetic energy it has. Potential energy is how much energy the car has stored as it is moving up the chain lift hill. Acceleration is how great the train changes in speed. Deceleration is how great the train decreases in speed. I experienced this on Test Track because the car made a lot of quick starts and stops. G-Force is the force of earths gravitational pull exerted in one person. One G-Force is the normal amount of G-Forces exerted on a person. When you are riding Mission: Space 2.5 G-Forces is exerted on you. It makes you feel like you are being thrust up into the air, even though you are only spinning around in circles. The fastest of all of the roller coasters I rode was Test Track, so it has the most kinetic energy.

Lesson

Kinetic and Potential Energy

When going up hill it has potential energy. When going down it has kinetic.

Potential                         Kinetic

At the top of a hill it has a lot of potential energy and little, kinetic vice versa on a bottom of a hill

                              Little Kinetic
                              A lot of Potential

                                                                                                    Little Potential

                                                                                                    A lot of Kinetic

Acceleration

Acceleration is how great the train changes in speed. Zero acceleration occurs at the top of a hill. Centripetal acceleration is a result of resistance to change in direction.

G-Forces
The force of earth’s gravitational pull exerted on a person.