How do roller coasters work for kids

As it accelerates down the hill, the potential energy gets converted to kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is motion energy. Simply put, the energy changes from stored energy to moving energy. The weight of the roller coaster is pulled down by gravity which means it's falling. Sir Isaac Newton the dude who explained gravity figured out the concept of inertia.

No, inertia isn't a new game from EA , it's the law of physics that says that any object in motion will stay in motion until acted on by an equal but opposite force. When the roller coaster is at the bottom of the first hill, the kinetic energy is at it's biggest. Now that the coaster is whipping around loops and other hills, its energy is being lost to other forces like friction energy created by two things being rubbed together and air resistance.

On your way down, your bike picks up speed and momentum, and you use your brakes to control your speed and to slow down. Worlds of Fun would like to challenge you to create your own virtual roller coaster experience. Be sure to capture your experience on video and share it by tagging Worlds of Fun on social media for a chance to be highlighted on our channels!

Have Worlds of Fun at Home - click here for activities, resources and ideas for you and your family to create fun at home together. Regardless if you love them or are afraid of them, we hope that this brief introduction to the history and science behind roller coasters gives you a new appreciation for these scream machines. Search Search. Promotions Promotion. Worlds of Fun Village. Two parks.

One price. Thrills, family rides and pint sized fun, Worlds of Fun attractions have it all! Calendar and Hours. Don't miss a minute of the fun! Once you start cruising down that first hill, gravity takes over and all the built-up potential energy changes to kinetic energy. Gravity applies a constant downward force on the cars. The coaster tracks serve to channel this force — they control the way the coaster cars fall. If the tracks slope down, gravity pulls the front of the car toward the ground, so it accelerates.

If the tracks tilt up, gravity applies a downward force on the back of the coaster, so it decelerates. Since an object in motion tends to stay in motion Newton's first law of motion , the coaster car will maintain a forward velocity even when it is moving up the track, opposite the force of gravity. When the coaster ascends one of the smaller hills that follows the initial lift hill, its kinetic energy changes back to potential energy.

In this way, the course of the track is constantly converting energy from kinetic to potential and back again. This fluctuation in acceleration is what makes roller coasters so much fun. In most roller coasters, the hills decrease in height as the train moves along the track. This is necessary because the total energy reservoir built up in the lift hill is gradually lost to friction between the train and the track, as well as between the train and the air.