Ben+and+Joe

Joe Miller & Ben Shermantoc

Great Adventure Roller coaster Project: Name: BEN AND JOE

ACTIVITY A: The First Drop of a Roller Coaster
Name of any roller coaster ride: Runaway Mine Train http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/SFOT-Mine_Train.jpg

PART A) At the park
 * 1) Estimate distances and angles **
 * 2) Measure time **

4) Graphs __** 1) Safety: What features were in place? **__ The ride had several safety feature intended to keep the people safe for the duration of ride. The ride had push down lap bars to secure the passenger securely in the car. The ride also had a guided tracks to keep the cart the intended path. The tracks were lined with brakes that could slow or stop the carts whenever needed. The cart was also equipped with hand holds to secure yourself. On Runaway Train, the rider felt heavy when traveling upwards, and lighter when traveling downwards, when it reached the bottom you felt normal as if you were on solid ground. The excitement level on the runaway train was medium-high. The coaster moved quickly but not what I would consider fast. On the way up the hill the excitement level was low, as I was more anxious than excited knowing the impending hill. On the way down the cart sped up significantly which made the ride more enjoyable. Finally at the bottom of the hill the coaster was still moving quickly which maintained the high excitement level. Some other factors that contributed to the excitement of the ride was the quick sudden turns, the high velocity, and the anticipation of going up hills.
 * 3) Diagrams **
 * Mass on a String: **
 * 5) Evaluate **
 * __ 2) Describe the weight sensations on the way up, on the way down, and at the bottom of the first hill: did you feel lighter, heavier, or normal? __**
 * __ 3) Describe the excitement level: on the way up, on the way down, and at the bottom of the first hill. __**
 * __ 4) Describe the thrill factors that may contribute to those feelings (besides the #g’s) __**

Part B) Back at School 1) Calculate Experimental Values
 * 2) Calculate Theoretical Values **



3) Evaluate Accuracy of the 3 calculations above. Velocity:

Acceleration: Power: 4) Evaluate Safety __**a. Calculate #g’s on the way down the hill and at the bottom of the hill**__ __**b. Were #g’s within safe limits?**__ Yes these are well within the safe limit for humans! __** c. Was there correlation between #g’s and excitement level? Explain, providing evidence. **__

Yes- Given that the ride had an extremely small amount of acceleration, it was not very exciting. Had the ride accelerated much faster, than the ride would have been significantly more interesting. 5) Thinking about Physics a) Explain the behavior of the mass on the string. Did the FBD of the car correlate to that of the mass? Why or why not? The FBD of the car crrelated to the FBD of the mass. b) Did the #g’s correlate to the sensation of weight?

-Yes, because the sensation of mass is less when the acceleration increases c) Discuss the graphs that you created and why they curve the way that they do. Accel v. Time  -As the train goes up the hill, it as a constant velocity and thus has an acceleration of zero. Once it goes down the hill, it starts to speed up and acceleration increases.  Dist v. Time  Initially, the roller coaster gains much distance which means that it was traveling quickly initially. Then, the speed slows down so it travels less in less time, and then the slope increases again, which represents a significant speed increase.  Velocity v. Time  -When the coaster goes up the hill, it has a constant velocity, and a straight line with a zero slope. Then, as it goes down the hill, it graduall increases.  Thrill v. Acceleration  -In this graph, the thrill level increases depending on the acceleration. So, when acceleration increases significantly, so does thrill.

__** ACTIVITY B: A Vertical Loop of a Roller Coaster **__

__ Name of any roller coaster ride: __

1) Estimate distances and angles 2) Measure time 3) Diagrams a. FBD of car or rider at top position  b. FBD of mass on a string at top position  c. Labeled sketch of roller coaster (top and side views)  d. Take a clear side view picture  e. Take a short video of the relevant segment  4) Graphs a. Create v vs. t, Fc vs. t and a vs. t graph for the motion this segment of the ride. b. Create a thrill vs. acceleration graph for this segment of the ride. 5) Evaluate a. Describe the safety features on this coaster  b. Describe the excitement level that you felt at the top, side and bottom of the loop.  c. Describe the thrill factors that may contribute to those feelings (besides the #g’s)  d. Describe the weight sensations at the top, side and bottom of the loop.: did you feel lighter, heavier, or normal?
 * PART A: At the park: **

1) Calculate Experimental Values a. Speed at top of loop  b. Centripetal Acceleration  c. Apparent weight at top of loop  2) Calculate Theoretical Values a. Minimum speed at top of loop b. Speed at top of loop c. Centripetal Acceleration d. Apparent weight at top of loop e. #g’s 3) Evaluate Safety a. #g’s were within safe limits?  b. Was there correlation between #g’s and excitement level? Explain, providing evidence.  4) Thinking about the Physics a) Explain the behavior of the mass on the string. Did the FBD of the car correlate to that of the mass? Why or why not? b) Did the #g’s correlate to the sensation of weight? c) Discuss the graphs that you created and why they curve the way that they do.
 * PART B) Back at School **

__ PART C: A Rotating Ride (either Vertical or Horizontal) __
Name of any rotating ride: //**The Tea Cups**//

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2439/3902273070_9434263812_z.jpg

1) Estimate distances and angles
 * PART A: At the park: **



2) Measure time 3) Diagrams



Top View



http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2439/3902273070_9434263812_z.jpg

4) Graphs

5) Evaluate __** a. Describe the safety features of this ride **__ The ride seem relatively safe. The tea cup has high walls that keep the rider from getting knocked out of the cup. The passengers also have seat belts which keep them safe in the ride. There is also a hand hold that a person can hold on to. __** b. Describe the excitement level that you felt at the min and max height (if vertical), or at max speed (if horizontal) **__ The excitement level is rather low. The speed in not that quick. Most of the excitement is a result of the spinning motion of the cup. This ride is meant for smaller, younger guests so I hadn't expected it to be overly exciting. __** c. Describe the thrill factors that may contribute to those feelings (besides the #g’s) **__ There are very few thrill factors, but I guess for a younger rider the velocity would be somewhat enjoyable. The circular rotation also contributes to the excitement. __** d. Describe the weight sensations at the top, side and bottom of the loop.: did you feel lighter, heavier, or normal? **__ Throughout the ride you feel slightly lighter.

PART B) Back at School


 * 1) Calculate Experimental Values **





2) Calculate Theoretical Values ( http://www.zamperla.com/en/product/141/tea-cup.html) a. Average Speed b. Centripetal Acceleration  c. Apparent weight  3) Evaluate Accuracy Period: Velocity: Acceleration: Apparent Weight: Note: The percent errors for the teacup rides are extremely high. One speculation of why these values are so high is that that the theoretical value for period/frequency was gathered from the manufacturer's website. On their site, they say the ride can be run at a series of different ranges, which are decided upon by the customer, in this case, Six Flags. Thus, Six Flags may run the teacup at a different speed than the manufacturer's maximum, which would explain the high percent errors. 4) Evaluate Safety __** a. #g’s **__ Yes - At a value of .385g's, this ride is well within safety ranges at less than one g. __** b. Was there correlation between #g’s and excitement level? **__ Yes- Given that the ride had an extremely small amount of acceleration, it was very unexciting. Had the teacups accelerated much faster, than the ride would have been significantly more interesting. 4) Thinking about the Physics a) Explain the behavior of the mass on the string. Did the FBD of the car correlate to that of the mass? Why or why not? The FBD of the car correlated to that of the mass on the string. b) Discuss the graphs that you created and why they curve the way that they do. On the acceleration time graph, we created a line at zero in the beginning for when you get on the ride, but before it starts. Then, there's another line indicating acceleration. Then, there is a period of negative acceleration when the ride is slowing. This is because the ride, when it's moving, is always accelerating. The last line is at zero because this is when the ride ends, where it isn't accelerating. On the centripetal force vs. time graph, the line is oscillating. That is because as the car is moving on the larger platform, there is a constant centripetal acceleration. But, when combined with the smaller platform that's also rotating, the centripetal acceleration decreases and increases constantly. Lastly, on the thrill v. acceleration graph, there is a point of zero thrill at the beginning and end, because the ride is moving. There is also a sharp increase, then sharp decrease, to represent increases thrill as the ride is accelerating faster, and decreased thrill as the ride is slowing down.
 * Frequency = 7rpm = .117rps **
 * Period = 1/T = 8.55s **