The Fantasy Roller Coaster - Designing Your Thrill
In 2001, Disney Interactive launched a fantasy roller
coaster game called the Ultimate Ride. It was a good gesture, and a great
piece of marketing.
When users get involved in the design of roller
coasters by virtual interaction, their knowledge of the operation of the
popular these theme park activities increases and this converts into more
visits to the real place.
Now, moving from the fantasy roller coaster, have you
ever wondered about the physics (science) of the roller coaster?
I asked my dad, he was a physics teacher. This is the
short answer to the question of how we can be sure that the coaster you
are riding on won't fall out of it's orbit (or off it's tracks)
while you do that flip...
How Coasters Remain On Track In A Loop
The carriage can be kept onto the tracks by carefully
selecting the right speed and bank angle along the track. It's a matter of
cooperating with gravity.
For example, at the top of a loop, the radius of the
loop is selected such that the centripetal acceleration provided by the
normal force from the tracks is greater than the acceleration due to
gravity at the top of the loop.
This means the roller coaster will maintain the right
speed along the loop. That means, the condition v2/r > g is
satisfied. Now, v = speed of roller coaster, r = radius of the loop, and g
= acceleration due to gravity.
You will also notice that the tracks are not at the
same horizontal level at all positions. The track is "banked" along the
corners much like racecar and cycle tracks at the stadium.
Building Fantasy Roller Coasters
In the interactive roller coaster game, your thrill
lasts longer than the 1½ minutes you get in the real world.
You get just 90 seconds of excitement on the Scorcher
at Six Flags Over Georgia (in Atlanta) or the Cheetah at Wild Adventures
in Valdosta, Georgia - the ones with which I'm most acquainted.
There is fun in design as well as well as in the
operation of your virtual roller coaster. And you still scream your heart
out, too, as you loop and scoot in your virtual world.
Fantasy roller coaster games allow users to choose
their own landscapes, material - such as wood or steel, and type; that is
whether it hangs or sits on rails.
By toying with coasters in "fantasy land" you learn a
lot. It makes us better appreciate and understand the thought and effort
that go into making some of the worlds most notable roller coasters.
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