Roller Coaster

Roller Coaster Project Paper

By: Ju Kim

My roller coaster demonstrates Newton's three laws because his first law states that "An object at rest will stay at rest and an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force (forces that produce a non-zero net force that changes an objects motion)". A roller coaster would be an example of this because for example, when you ride the coaster and you go through a loop, at the top of the loop, your body would not fall because the belt (unbalanced force) and inertia. Inertia is the tendency of an object to resist motion. This also keeps you on the seat without having your body fall out even with the gravity (force that pulls everything toward Earth). At the end of the ride, the brakes and friction (the force that is created when one surface is rubbed against another) would stop you too.

Roller coasters demonstrate Newton's second law which relates Force, Mass, and Acceleration (Force = ma) because the amount of force needed to move the roller coaster would change based on the acceleration and mass of the roller coaster. For example, if the roller coaster had a mass of 40 kg, and an acceleration of 10 m/s, it would need a force of 400 newtons. If you changed the mass the amount of force needed would also change, like if it had a mass of 60 kg and acceleration of 10 m/s, it would have a force of 600 newtons.

Roller coasters would also demonstrate Newton's third law of motion which states every action has an equal and opposite reaction. For example, when you are going down a hill and you push against your belt, the belt would push you back with and equal but opposite force, and would keep you in the seat. Because of this, it would keep a balanced force because no force is stronger than the other and does not change the objects (your body) motion.