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Tallest Steek Roller Coaster: Kingda Ka - 139 Meters Tall; Built in Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey, USA in 2005 by Intamin

Longest Steel Roller Coaster Drop: Kingda Ka - 127 Meter Drop; Built in Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey, USA in 2005 by Intamin

Tallest Wooden Roller Coaster: Colossos - 60 Meters Tall; Built in Heide Park, Soltau, Germany in 2009 by Intamin

Longest Wooden Roller Coaster Drop: El Toro - 54 Meter Drop; Built in Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey, USA in 2009 by Intamin

Fastest Steel Roller Coaster: Formula Rossa - 230 Kilometers Per Hour; Built in Ferrari World, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in 2010 by Intamin

Fastest Wooden Roller Coaster: El Toro - 110 Kilometers Per Hour; Built in Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey, USA in 2009 by Intamin

Longest Steel Roller Coaster: Steel Dragon 2000 - 2,479 Meters Long; Built in Nagashima Spa Land, Kuwana, Japan in 2000 by D.H. Morgan Manu.

Longest Wooden Roller Coaster: The Beast - 2,243 Meters Long; Built in Kings Island, Ohio, USA in 1979 by Charles Dinn and Al Collins

Steepest Steel Roller Coaster: Takabisha - 121° Vertical Angle; Built in Fuji-Q Highland, Yamanashi, Japan in 2011 by Gerstiauer

Steepest Wooden Roller Coaster: Outlaw Run - 81° Vertical Angle; Built in Silver Dollar City, Missouri, USA in 2013 by Rocky Mountain Construction

Tallest Roller Coaster Inversion: Gatekeeper - 52 Meters Tall; Built in Cedar Point, Ohio, USA in 2013 by Bolliger & Mabillard

Tallest Vertical Loop: Full Throttle - 49 Meters Tall; Built in Six Flags Magic Mountain, California, USA in 2013 by Premier Rides

Most Inversions on a Steel Roller Coaster: The Smiler - 14 Inversions; Built in Alton Towers, England, UK in 2013 by Genstiauer

Most Inversions on Wooden Roller Coaster: Outlaw Run - 3 Inversions; Built in Silver Dollar City, Missouri, USA in 2013 by Rocky Mountain Constr.

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Roller coasters are an extraordinary example of how physics interacts with the world. Studying roller coasters and how they work is, in my opinion, a great way to learn about many aspects of physics such as gravity, friction, and other forces that affect motion.

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Equations For Potential and Kinetic Energy

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Equations For Potential and Kinetic Energy

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Weightlessness is "the absence of stress and strain resulting from external forces." Weightlessness can also be measured and described as "Zero G." An object experiences weightlessness when all forces act uniformly upon it. Weightlessness can be explained with the effect of "free-fall." Free-fall is the state of moving (down) only by the force of gravity, with no normal force to counteract it. When an object is in free-fall, it is considered "weightless."

Pretend that you are in a giant box that is moving downwards in free-fall. If you retract all of your appendages, you are given the effect of "floating." This is because gravity is acting on you AND the box, meaning that both you and the box are accelerating downwards at the same rate. While you are moving downward in the box, you have no normal force to counteract your "weight," so you are granted the effect of "weightlessness."

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G-force (measured in Gs) is either force of gravity on an object or the object's acceleration relative to free-fall. One G is equal to the force of the Earth's gravity, or about 9.80665 meters per second per second (9.80665m/s²). An object with a large mass produces a larger and stronger gravitational field, resulting in greater G-forces. Any moving object that hits another object will have its force transferred to the object experiencing the hit. For example, if an object moving with a constant force of 10 Gs hits a wall, the wall will experience 10 Gs of force.

Humans have survived car crashes applying over 200 Gs of force for only an instant. However, if humans experience forces of over about 7 Gs for a long period of time, their bodies will be severely damaged. Race car drivers usually experience an average of four Gs during a competition. Many drivers experienced feelings of dizziness and nausea after a race.

Most roller coasters travel with an average force of about 3 Gs, for periods of time not long enough to cause damage to most humans. The reason why many people become nauseated after experiencing a roller coaster ride is not only because of the rapidly changing movements during a ride, but also because of the pressure that the roller coaster's G-force exerts on the passengers.

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Tallest Steek Roller Coaster: Kingda Ka - 139 Meters Tall; Built in Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey, USA in 2005 by Intamin

Longest Steel Roller Coaster Drop: Kingda Ka - 127 Meter Drop; Built in Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey, USA in 2005 by Intamin

Tallest Wooden Roller Coaster: Colossos - 60 Meters Tall; Built in Heide Park, Soltau, Germany in 2009 by Intamin

Longest Wooden Roller Coaster Drop: El Toro - 54 Meter Drop; Built in Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey, USA in 2009 by Intamin

Fastest Steel Roller Coaster: Formula Rossa - 230 Kilometers Per Hour; Built in Ferrari World, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in 2010 by Intamin

Fastest Wooden Roller Coaster: El Toro - 110 Kilometers Per Hour; Built in Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey, USA in 2009 by Intamin

Longest Steel Roller Coaster: Steel Dragon 2000 - 2,479 Meters Long; Built in Nagashima Spa Land, Kuwana, Japan in 2000 by D.H. Morgan Manu.

Longest Wooden Roller Coaster: The Beast - 2,243 Meters Long; Built in Kings Island, Ohio, USA in 1979 by Charles Dinn and Al Collins

Steepest Steel Roller Coaster: Takabisha - 121° Vertical Angle; Built in Fuji-Q Highland, Yamanashi, Japan in 2011 by Gerstiauer

Steepest Wooden Roller Coaster: Outlaw Run - 81° Vertical Angle; Built in Silver Dollar City, Missouri, USA in 2013 by Rocky Mountain Construction

Tallest Roller Coaster Inversion: Gatekeeper - 52 Meters Tall; Built in Cedar Point, Ohio, USA in 2013 by Bolliger & Mabillard

Tallest Vertical Loop: Full Throttle - 49 Meters Tall; Built in Six Flags Magic Mountain, California, USA in 2013 by Premier Rides

Most Inversions on a Steel Roller Coaster: The Smiler - 14 Inversions; Built in Alton Towers, England, UK in 2013 by Genstiauer

Most Inversions on Wooden Roller Coaster: Outlaw Run - 3 Inversions; Built in Silver Dollar City, Missouri, USA in 2013 by Rocky Mountain Constr.

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Our marble coaster started with a very steep drop from the midpoint of a tree. This allowed the marble to accelerate and gather momentum. While the marble was travelling down the slope, any potential energy it had stored was being converted into kinetic energy. This kinetic energy would take the marble around the wind around the tree. Even though the winding track was tilted at a 90° angle, centripetal force and the marble's accumulated momentum allowed the marble to stay on course without falling to the ground. After the marble traveled across the twist, its remaining kinetic energy took it across the "track" and into the cup, (which fell out of the track because of the remaining kinetic energy in the ball.)

The track of our "coaster" was about 3 meters long (including the 0.7 meter 'wind' around the tree,) and the marble reached its final destination from the start of the "ride" in about 3.5 seconds. This means that the marble was travelling at an average speed of 0.857143 meters per second. The "coaster" was about two meters above the ground. Assuming that the mass of the marble is 5.4 grams...

Potential Energy at the Start of the Track: ≈ 0.10591182 Joules

Kinetic energy: ≈ 0.001983673 Joules

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The Loch Ness Monster's Interlocking Loops

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The Loch Ness Monster's Interlocking Loops

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When a roller coaster begins to fall down a slope, it has very little initial speed. As it continues to run down the slope, it gains more and more speed because of the potential energy being converted into kinetic energy. this process is called acceleration.

The faster an object is moving and the more mass it has, the more momentum it will gain when moving. Because of a roller coaster's large mass, a lot of force is required to make it accelerate, but once the process of acceleration begins, it accumulates a lot of momentum very quickly, drastically increasing its speed even over the shortest periods of time, making it very hard to stop. Thus, roller coaster engineers design hills and loops to dissipate a roller coaster's momentum before it reaches its destination.

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Centripetal force means "fleeing the center." When a roller coaster enters a loop, any kinetic energy pushing it forward will be used to push against the loop, and away from the center. Because a loop is essentially a patchwork of angled lines and points, the forward motion from the roller coaster's kinetic energy will also take the roller coaster along the track.

Both actions are results of centripetal force, and together, they keep the roller coaster from falling down from the top of the loop while maintaining a considerable amount of speed.

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Materials Used to Build Roller Coasters and Railings

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Materials Used to Build Roller Coasters and Railings

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The first roller coaster tracks were built with iron or steel mounted onto laminated wood. These tracks were held up by wooden supports, which had to be fixed very often, as they were easy to break under the weight of the railing or the roller coaster.

The first entirely steel-railed roller coaster was the "Matterhorn Bobsleds," built by Disneyland in 1859. Unlike the previously used railings, the tracks of the Matterhorn Bobsleds were made of tubular steel, which could be bent into loops and curves relatively easily. Tubular steel railings made inversions, corkscrews, and butterfly-inversions possible in future roller coaster designs.

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The oldest "roller coasters" were "Russian Mountains," which were specially designed hills of ice built in the 17th Century and located at around Saint Petersburg, Russia. These "roller coasters" were built to a height of about seventy to eighty feet and were reinforced by wooden supports.

The first roller coasters built on tracks were built in Saint Petersburg during 1784, and in Paris during 1817. Both roller coasters were wheeled vehicles securely locked onto wooden and stone guide rails to keep them on course.

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When you throw a ball, it slows down because of wind resistance. Wind resistance is essentially "air friction." The particles of air collide with the moving object and slow it down. Though wind resistance has very little effect on a roller coaster, it will always be present.

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A Design for the World's Steepest Roller Coaster, With Corkscrews and a "Top Hat"

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A Design for the World's Steepest Roller Coaster, With Corkscrews and a "Top Hat"

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Potential energy is energy that is stored in an object. As a chain lift carries a roller coaster uphill, potential energy is produced. The higher the roller coaster goes up the hill, the more potential energy will be stored. As a roller coaster runs down a slope, its potential energy is converted into kinetic energy. When a roller coaster reaches the bottom of a hill, there will be little potential energy, but a lot of kinetic energy. The more energy an object has stored, the more kinetic energy it exerts.

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The Equations for Potential and Kinetic Energy

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The Equations for Potential and Kinetic Energy

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As a roller coaster travels upwards on a ramp, the force of gravity will begin to pull it down. In order for a the coaster to move upwards, it must move with a greater force than that of gravity.

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When two or more particles rub or slide against each other, the resistance they give is called friction. Friction is the reason why people slow down when ice skating. The blades slide against the ice, creating friction. When a roller coaster is moving on a hill, backward friction will counteract its forward acceleration, essentially slowing the coaster down.

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Kinetic energy is "energy of motion." The faster an object moves, the more energy is produced. A quickly-moving heavy object like a roller coaster is able to produce enormous quantities of kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is what takes a roller coaster up a second hill after it has used its potential energy to fall to the bottom of the first hill. As the roller coaster travels up a hill, the kinetic energy from the previous fall is converted into potential energy.

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As a roller coaster begins moving on a downward ramp, it will begin to fall faster and faster. This process is called acceleration. The mass of the roller coaster will greatly affect the rate of acceleration.