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Roller Coaster Physics - mdriscollpbworkscom 2025

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The document is an educational guide for a student exploration activity focused on roller coaster physics. It covers key concepts such as friction, gravitational potential energy, kinetic energy, momentum, and velocity. The activity involves using a simulation (Gizmo) to experiment with different roller coaster configurations, observing how changes in height and mass affect the speed and energy of a toy car. Students are prompted to analyze data, draw conclusions about the relationships between potential and kinetic energy, and determine factors that influence whether a toy car can break an egg based on its velocity and momentum.

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Click ‘Get Form’ to open the Roller Coaster Physics document in the editor.
Begin by entering your name and date at the top of the form. This personalizes your submission.
Address the Prior Knowledge Questions by reflecting on roller coaster experiences. Write your answers in the provided spaces.
For the Gizmo Warm-up, follow the instructions to set up experiments. Adjust Hill heights and car weights as specified, then click Play to observe outcomes.
In Activity A, prepare for data collection by resetting settings. Record final speeds for each trial in the designated table.
Continue through Activities B and C, filling in observations and calculations as you progress through each experiment. Use graphs where indicated to visualize energy changes.

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What physics principles apply to rides?

The rides use physics concepts such as circular motion, rotational motion, kinematic motion, parabolic motion, action-reaction, centrifugal force, centripetal force, potential energy, kinetic energy, and discharge.

What does physics have to do with roller coasters?

The underlying principle of all roller coasters is the law of conservation of energy, which describes how energy can neither be lost nor created; energy is only transferred from one form to another.

What are the physics concepts in amusement park rides?

When the coaster moves down a hill and starts its way up a new hill, the kinetic energy changes back to potential energy until it is released again when the coaster travels down the hill it just climbed. Gravity and inertia are big players when it comes to how you experience the ride.

What are the forces acting on a roller coaster physics?

Neglecting friction and air resistance, a roller coaster car will experience two forces: the force of gravity (Fgrav) and the normal force (Fnorm). The normal force is directed in a direction perpendicular to the track and the gravitational force is always directed downwards.

What is the physics equation for roller coasters?

The speed is then obtained directly from the conservation of energy, i.e. mv2/2=mg h. At any given part of the frictionless roller coaster, the centripetal acceleration is thus given by ac= v2/r = 2gh/r where h is the distance from the highest point of the roller coasters and r is the local radius of curvature.