What do you know about Roller Coaster??

When you are riding roller coaster at amusement or fun parks, did you noticed that roller coaster has no engine? So how the roller coaster has the power to move?? Where the energy that drove the roller coaster actually come??? All the questions can be answer by the study of science.

With the high study on physics, Mr. Lamacus Adna Thomson designed this scream machine on 20^th Jan 1885. The roller coaster contains a special railroad system with tracks and cars. The interesting facts it is roller coaster has no engine or motor. A lot of people enjoying riding roller coaster but did not noticed that the machine that drive them has no engine or motor.

So what is actually that generate a roller coaster to move and become one most thrill game?? The answer that we looking for it is the collaboration of potential and kinetic energy. These words are physics concepts that explained about energy that are exist in our daily life. What are the potential and kinetic energy actually?

Potential energy is an energy that is exist and stored in a system consist of two or more objects that interact to each other under forces or processes. The potential energy is related to the position of an object in a system. The potential energy that associated with a system can produce work done on the object. There are several example of potential energy, that is gravitational potential energy, elastic potential energy, chemicals potential energy, electric potential energy and others.

In the other side, kinetic energy is an energy that related to motion. Kinetic energy is the energy that keeps an object moves. An object moves is possessed by these kinetic energy. In real life we all see that every object that move is generate by a system or source of energy, there are potential energy, chemical energy and others, these all energy are transformed into kinetic energy when the object moves. This kinetic energy that is keep the object move continuously, but in present of friction, the kinetic energy transformed into another type of energy and cause the object stop. For your information, an energy cannot be destroyed or create.

Roller coaster generate power from the principle of conservation of potential energy into kinetic energy. The roller coaster did not have motor or engine. So, it is pulled by one chained to the other to the first peak of the roller coaster railway. After the cars or bogies reached the first peak, the cars are released and the potential energy took part. When the bogies at the peak, the kinetic energy that use to pulled up the cars are converse into potential energy. When an object at a high position, it contain potential energy due to the exist of gravitational forces. This is called gravitational potential energy.

When the cars are at the top of the peak, its gather much of potential energy needed. Then when become at the beginning of the slope, the gravitational forces will pulled the cars down and the potential energy are transformed into kinetic energy when the cars moved. The energy stored does not just enough to bring the cars go down the slope, but it is enough to bring the cars move up to the second peak. This process is repeated subsequently until the cars stop. An ideal roller coaster designed will have enough energy to complete the path of the railway until it become to an end on the application of brake run of the end.

In modern roller coaster it have launch mechanism that make sure the roller coaster run. When the roller coaster do not have enough energy to move, this launch mechanism take part, although the original concept is a little bit drifted away, but it still use the conversion of energy. The launching mechanism is just for an emergency situation. The normal railway of roller coaster usually, the first peak is the highest peak, it is because to make sure that the roller coaster have enough energy to complete the railway. Roller coaster works on the principle of conversion of one form of energy to another.