Question

What are the essential elements of a roller coaster and how is it related to energy

Answer 1

Some of the essential elements are:

Launch track: It is the section where the train is accelerated to its full speed in a matter of seconds.

Lift hill: It transports the roller coaster train to an elevated point.

Train: It is the vehicle which transports passengers around a roller coaster's circuit.

In roller coasters, the two forms of energy that are most important are gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy.

The gravitational potential energy is given by:

$\begin{gathered} U=mgh \\ _{\text{ }}where\colon \\ m=_{\text{ }}mass_{\text{ }}of_{\text{ }}the_{\text{ }}train \\ g=_{\text{ }}gravitational_{\text{ }}acceleration \\ h=_{\text{ }}height \end{gathered}$

And the kinetic energy is given by:

$\begin{gathered} K=\frac{1}{2}mv^2 \\ _{\text{ }}where\colon \\ v=_{\text{ }}velocity_{\text{ }}of_{\text{ }}the_{\text{ }}train \end{gathered}$

From these equations we can conclude that they are important since they influence on the mass, the speed and the height. Which are part of the two forms of energy.