2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

THE PHYSICS OF THE ROLLER COASTER

pulls the roller coaster up to the top of the first hill to the coaster cars. There are other

methods of pulling the roller coaster up such as using the repulsive force created by a set of

electromagnets. The Superman ride in Six Flags, New Jersey, United States of America uses

that system to push the car up (Pearson, 2001). The first hill allows the work done by the

motor to be as large as possible since the first hill is the highest of all hills. Another type of

potential energy is gravitational potential energy which is resulted from the position of the

roller coaster in the Earth’s gravitational field. The height of the hill allows the roller coaster

to gain gravitational potential energy as GPE is mass times the height which the object is at / −2 ) . This potential energy is converted into kinetic energy which results the movement of the and the free fall acceleration on Earth(9.81

roller coaster. When the roller coaster is released from the first hill, it will move at a very high

speed due to the gravity pull of the Earth and the potential energy being converted. At the

lowest height, the roller coaster has the maximum kinetic energy, and this remains with it

during the ride (assuming that no energy is loss during the conversion). Since kinetic energy

is related to speed and with the mass kept constant, the conversion will allow the roller

coaster to have speed (Pearson, 2001). At maximum kinetic energy, velocity will be maximum

but at maximum potential energy, the speed will be minimum as the kinetic energy is

minimum. Loss or gain of height will correspond to loss or gain of potential energy. However,

when potential energy is lost, kinetic energy is gained and vice versa (The Physics Classroom,

1996-2019). This energy conversion occurs frequently as long as the roller coaster keep

gaining and losing heights.

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