Roller Coaster

1. Introduction:
Roller coaster is a ride that works on the basic principle of energy
conservation which includes two major energies, which is from
potential energy to kinetic energy and vice versa. These two energies
depend upon a very major factor of the travelling objects on the roller
coaster which is called mass. These energies are directly proportional
to the mass of the object but the potential energy and the kinetic
energy uses two different scaler and derived quantities which are
height(h) and velocity(v) respectively. The literal meaning of the
roller coaster is the change between different extremes in a plane of
motion having three major axes making it a 3D ride to thrill the rider
sitting in car.

1.1Types of Roller Coasters :

There are many types of roller coasters but the following are
some of the commonly used ones.
 Wooden
 Dive
 Suspension
 Regular steel
  Steel stand up
 Steel flying
 Boomerang
 Multi-Dimensional
 Heartline
 Giga

2. Dive Roller Coaster

Dive roller coaster is the one which is usually used in the most of the
amusement parks. It uses a vertical drop at a certain height and an
angle. Mostly the angle is kept up to 90, this is also one of the reasons
it is called dive roller coaster.

3.History :
The development of the dive roller coaster began in 1994. It was launched on 14
March 1998 at Alton Towers. This launch was the first ever launch of the dive
roller coaster. In this roller coaster the angle was 87 degree, it was not all vertical
drop but it was near-vertical drop. The first ever dive roller coaster having a full
on 90-degree angle was made in 2005 at Busch Gardens.
The design of the roller coaster can vary from one another depending upon the
requirements of the amusement park.

4. Physics of a roller coaster :

The following are the main physics behind roller coaster
 Centripetal force
 Conservation of energies
 Gravitational acceleration
 Inertia
 Gravity

4.1Energies :
The basic principal of roller coaster is that it uses potential and kinetic
energies at various points. At a point where the height is maximum,
 the potential energy is also maximum, and as the motion starts the
height of the body decrease and the potential energy also decreases
and it is converted in to kinetic energy and body gain some velocity
The potential energy is given by the equation
P . E=mgh
Where m is the mass of the car or train, g is the gravitational constant
and h is the height.
When the body moves from height the potential energy of the body
decreases which results in gain in kinetic energy and body gain some
velocity. The kinetic energy of the body is maximum when the height
of body become zero
And the kinetic energy is given by the equation
1
K . E= m v 2
2
Where m is the mass of object and v is the velocity.
The by the work energy principle the total change in kinetic and
potential energy during the motion remain constant

4.2 Centripetal forces :

The roller coaster consists of multiple curve path and circular loops.
As the object passes from a circular loop, a force acts on the body to
keep the object in that loop that force is called centripetal force. If the
force acting on the object is less than the centrifugal force the object
will not follow the curve path and leave the circular path. So, the body
must be given the certain velocity to keep the body in the circular
loop.
The centripetal force is given by the equation
m v2
F=
r
Where m is the mass, v is the velocity and r are the radius of the
circular path which the object follows.

4.3 Inertia and gravity :

As the roller coaster falls it accelerates and build the kinetic energy to
propel it through the remainder of the path no engine is required
 because of inertia. The law of inertia states that a body will stay in
motion until acted upon by an opposite force.So if a object has more
mass It will have more inertia ,due to more inertia it can complete the
path easily then the mass which has low inertia.

Calculations:
Results and Conclusions :
Working on this project we concluded that work energy principle is a major
phenomenon upon which all types of roller coaster are manufactured and
functioned keeping the limitations in mind provided by the practical environment.
By carrying out and noticing different behaviors of the ball we analyzed that as
the ball begins its dive from the initial height provided, the ball experiences a
gradual increase in its velocity. This observation can be proved by the calculation
done which uses the basic concept of energy conversation. Therefore we can
noticeably say that as the vertical height of the ball decreases, the potential energy
decreases in quantity, in fact the potential energy does not decrease and its just get
converted into kinetic energy following that the ball accelerates and ultimately the
velocity of the ball reaches such a point that the potential energy of ball becomes
zero and the value of the kinetic energy reaches its maximum value that equal to
potential energy of the ball at the initial point, hence proving that the law of
conservation of energy plays a very major part in projecting a ball from the
beginning extreme of the roller coaster to the finishing extreme of roller coaster.