Roller Coaster Science

How do amusement park rides rely on science? In order to keep the rides and riders going and safe, there are a few things that the engineers of rides need to know.

An object at rest tends to stay at rest, and object in motion tends to stay in motion unless an outside force is applied.

Potential energy is stored energy

Kinetic energy is energy in motion.

We also learned that the force, mass, and acceleration of an object work together.

Newton's second law of motion states that Force= mass times acceleration (F=ma)

We tested this by making paper parachutes.

We learned that both the size of the parachute and the mass of the object parachuting down made a difference in the acceleration of the parachute.