2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

THE PHYSICS OF THE ROLLER COASTER

- The track between the height of release and the loop is quite flimsy hence it could cause

the ball to slide or fall or the track. If it does not fall off, the ball count potentially lose

some energy and could not travel larger loops as expected. This effect is apparent in the

anomaly I have mentioned. I would improve this by adding some rods with track holder

holding the middle of the track.

- The rods sometimes leaned bit causing errors in height of release. This could result in less

potential energy the ball can be provided, and this was also present in my data. This could

be improved by using 2 to 3 rods with rod-rod holders to hold the main rods sturdy.

7.2 Extension

If I could extend this experiment, I would extend the scope of my investigation by adding

some concepts that I can explore with this experiment. With investigating energy loss, it

would be plausible to add other imitations of a roller coaster ride element like a turn or a

small hill but keep the value like the height or the turn constant and resume the loop

experiment. Then I can compare the radii the ball can complete in the new experiment with

this experiment to explore energy loss.

Also, I could investigate the roller coaster loop design like the clothoid loop to see how much

the entry speed requirement is reduced. I could investigate compare the height of release of

the new experiment with current data to explore this concepts more, demonstrating the

effectiveness of clothoid loops.

Bibliography American Coaster Enthusiasts, Inc. (2018). A Brief History of Roller Coasters . Retrieved from American Coaster Enthusiasts: http://www.aceonline.org/CoasterHistory/ Clothoid Loop. (n.d.). Retrieved from phys.uaf.edu: http://ffden- 2.phys.uaf.edu/211_fall2002.web.dir/shawna_sastamoinen/Clothoid_Loop.htm

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IB Diploma