Sunfire Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Right now, I'm taking physics at school (it's only offered to juniors and seniors) since, of course, roller coasters follow the laws of physics. I think it's a pretty fun class, even if it involves quite a bit of math. On the subject of coasters, one of the word problems involved the Demon Drop at Cedar Point. I guess the book is a bit old, don't you think? Is anyone else taking/already took physics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yankees15 Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 ^ I'm also taking physics right now and I have the same book! I'm taking the class for the same reason you did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobra_roll06 Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 I'm studying Physics at University and quite a few of the Mechanics & Dynamics problems were based on roller coasters and flat rides. Magnum XL 200 was one of them. The loop from Irn-Bru Revolution was used in a circular motion question as well. But remember Mechanics is only one of the many parts of Physics. I had 6 Physics classes last year, only one of them was Mechanics based. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny In England Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Yeah, there's usually a coaster question in tests relating to the equations of motion. I just have to control myself when they call a corkscrew a loop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcdude Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 I am currently a high-school senior and am taking AP Physics C. It is a second year course after AP Physics B, which I took last year and did really well in (5 on the AP test). Mechanics is really the only part of any physics class that deals with amusement rides, but I have seen all types of amusement-park related questions. In addition to roller coasters, which are force and energy questions, I have seen ferris wheels, merry-go-rounds, and gravitrons in the circular motion unit and bumper cars in the momentum unit. Both of the physics classes I have taken had more than one unit (last year it was newtonian mechanics, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, electricity, magnetism, waves, optics, atomic physics, and nuclear physics, while it is just mechanics, electricity, and magnetism this year) and the only other unit that could possibly deal with roller coasters easily would be magnetism (LIM/LSM motors). However, if you are in a multi-part physics class, you will probably finish mechanics and not do anything else that has to do with amusement rides. I just remembered that there was a gravitron question and a roller coaster question on my test today. On the gravitron you had to find the minimum speed to keep people from sliding down the wall. On the roller coaster you had to find the speed at the bottom of a hill and what speed it needed to go over the top of the next hill to generate a weightless feeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steel Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 I'm taking Physics this semester, too. What textbook do you have? My Precalc textbook has a problem about Beast. And my German textbook has an entire chapter about fairs and amusement parks in Germany. *drool* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterdude5 Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 My teachers wanted me to take Honors Physics, but I decided to be lazy and not take it. Honors Pre-Calculus is enough for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgb60 Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Right now, I'm taking physics at school (it's only offered to juniors and seniors) since, of course, roller coasters follow the laws of physics. I think it's a pretty fun class, even if it involves quite a bit of math. On the subject of coasters, one of the word problems involved the Demon Drop at Cedar Point. I guess the book is a bit old, don't you think? Is anyone else taking/already took physics? Just be glad one of the problems doesn't mention Leap the Dips. Luckily, the laws of physics haven't changed much over the years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBru Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 I'm taking Physics as a freshmen (only honors class available), but the only coaster in our book is the defunct Moonsault Scramble. It was used as an example of kinetic energy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastCoastn07 Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 I'm currently taking Mechanics at my Penn State commonwealth college. It's the second time I've had to take the class, and I'm doing much better in it this time around. My campus is notorious for being the toughest commonwealth campus to pass Physics at in the entire Penn State University, mainly because there's only one professor who teaches Mechanics and he's very tough. Don't get me wrong, he's a good teacher when you work with him 1-on-1, but when it comes to giving lectures he's not the greatest and that might have to do with the large drop-out rate the class has. Last semester we started with about 50 people in our class, and by the end, there was probably 10-15 people left. We've had a few roller coaster related problems this semester so far involving vertical loops and calculating the forces on them as well as energy on bunny hills, but all of the problems were really simple and neglected a lot of things like friction. But like many of the people here have already said, Mechanics is only small division of Physics and is only one of the Physics classes you will have to take if you are planning to major in engineering (Mechanical in my case). However, many of the same concepts return if you end up having to take engineering mechanics classes, such as statics, dynamics, strength of materials, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Lots of parks have Physics days where they give out a packet of physics questions relating to their rides. Hopefully some of you get to attend your local parks physics days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dino_Martini Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Im taking physics. At the end of the course we get to take a day off, and go to Galaxy Land in West Edmonton Mall. Ride all the rides out there. Its going to be awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike541x Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 I'm taking it as a senior. My friend told me they they went to Busch Gardens Europe near the end of the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPDave Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 I'm doing Civil Engineering and quite a few of the Physics principles pop up in that. Slightly different however is that my course is not as concerned with the mecanics of the train moving on the track, but the track being supported and held in place while under the dynamic load of the train. It's quite interesrting so far, but i'm sure i'll hate it once it gets too hard! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemmy Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 I am currently in Engineering Physics 2 Not sure why I have to take it since I am a Computer Science major...but haven't had any roller coaster examples yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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