Students explore the physics utilized by engineers in designing today's roller coasters, including potential and kinetic energy, friction, and gravity. First, students learn that all true roller coasters are completely driven by the...

A instructional activity where students construct a roller coaster and test it under different conditions to learn about force and motion.

An interactive playground for students to explore the physics of roller coasters. Learners investigate by changing the variables of force, velocity, friction, and vectors. Energy bar charts are displayed as the coaster car moves along...

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Some prefer the front seat, some prefer the back seat and others prefer to not even board a roller coaster at the amusement park. What is the science that makes...

Learn about Newton's Laws of Physics, g-force, the causes of motion sickness, and more by reading about different rides at an amusement park.

An interactive lesson where students design and build their own virtual roller coaster. Choose the height of the hills. the shape of the hills. and loop to find out if you successfully used physics concepts to pass the safety and fun...

This interesting and interactive exhibit demonstrates how Newton's Laws of Motion impact the design and safety of roller coasters.

Roller coaster rides are notorious for creating accelerations and g-forces. The magnitude and direction of normal force and gravity during the motion through a coaster's loop are depicted this animation.

Learn the facts about one of the tallest and fastest roller coasters in the world.

Using a roller coaster as an example, the transformation of mechanical energy from the form of potential to the form of kinetic and vice versa is explained and illustrated in the animation.

In this hands-on activity students learn about the laws of physics by creating a marble roller coaster.

[Free Registration/Login Required] Learn about the centripetal motion in the context of a roller coaster going through a loop-the-loop and over a hill.

Create a simplified roller coaster with this simulation by creating a track shape for a ball to travel on. Students can change gravity and damping. Site includes equations to help students understand what is happening in the simulation.

Design your own thrilling coaster and learn about energy and friction.

In this interactive module, students explore the centripetal acceleration experienced by riders within the circular-shaped sections of a roller coaster track.

An article describing free fall principles in roller coaster rides. In addition to the explanation of free fall, an experiment is described that allows you to test free fall with a cup of water. Part of a larger presentation on roller...

If you'd like to investigate the physics of amusement park rides, then this project is for you. You'll build a roller coaster track for marbles using foam pipe insulation and masking tape, and see how much the marble's potential energy...

Use animation and other interactive strategies to help understand physics principles. Change the track and height to see if your ball can make it to the end.

In this interactive module, describe and explain the motion of objects that either move in circles or can be approximated to be moving in circles. Kinematic concepts and motion principles will be applied to the motion of objects in...

What keeps you in your seat of a giant loop-de-loop roller coaster? Surprisingly, it is not the seatbelt but the seat. It works because of something called centripetal force and it does much more than make a great roller coaster. In this...

In this interactive exercise, explore the quantitative relationship between work and mechanical energy in situations in which there are no external forces doing work.

This unit has students design and build foam tubing roller coasters. The design process integrates energy concepts as they test and evaluate their designs that address the task as an engineer would. The goal is for students to understand...

Students use high speed video to determine whether a roller coaster is an example of a system in which mechanical energy is conserved. The activity is intended to give students experience extracting data from video clips, and using...