Year 10: The Science of Rollercoasters

Monday 24^th June Year 10 Physics students bundled onto a coach bound for one of the largest Physics labs in the south of England, Thorpe Park.

Arriving as the park opened, students headed straight for the workshop area to discover the science behind some of their favourite and most thrilling rides. The workshop building itself was filled with items from past rides and attractions, as well as model rollercoasters that were later used to demonstrate various physical principles.

The workshop initially focused on energy conservation in rollercoasters, in which students learnt that the total energy from the first big lift hill of a ride must be calculated to ensure it does not stop half way around or not quite make it over one of the later hills. This is due to the nature of traditional rollercoaster vehicles having no power source of their own.

Following this, students worked in teams to calculate a range of variables from the predicted velocity of the ride to compare the g-force generated by rides, rocket ships and washing machines.  It turns out that washing machines beat everything else hands down. As the workshop concluded the students were unleashed to conduct their own practical investigations on the wealth of equipment available to them. They were able to experience what a 2 g launch feels like when accelerating on Stealth or 4.5 g after the initial drop on Swarm.

There was even the opportunity to see eddy-current braking first hand on Detonator as the students plummeted to earth at an incredible 5 g, very relevant given the current topic of electromagnetism.

By the end of the day Year 10 expressed the benefits of being able to put the different concepts of physics they had been learning about into context in the park, as well as taking advantage of all its thrills. Finlay said “It was a fun day out learning Physics in an environment that helped bring realism to what we have been learning”.  The physics behind Thorpe Park brought the first year’s work to a successful and fulfilling conclusion.