To find the acceleration of this coaster during the drop we will use the equation a = ( vf – vi)/ t. The final velocity is zero. The time it takes for the coaster to decelerate is 2 seconds.

The entire coaster lasts about 28 seconds and it’s drop is at a maximum 90 degree angle. It climbs to a height of 456 ft (139 m) and then drops to 38 ft giving it a drop of 418 ft (217 m) and a speed of 206 km/h, running on a hydraulic system and gravity. Kingda Ka is located in Six Flags, New Jersey. Some coasters also have a velocity in the x and y axis because they go down at an angle greater than 90 degrees and so certain velocities must be found through a calculation using the velocity component in the x axis and the velocity component in the y axis by looking at the angle of the drop.

To calculate the force we must first find the acceleration of the coaster as it hits the bottom of its drop and to do so we use the kinematics equation a = ( vf – vi)/ t where a is acceleration, vf if final velocity, vi is initial velocity, and t is time. To find the g’s of each coaster we will first find the force it exerts by using the equation force = mass x acceleration (F = ma). The three coasters we will look at are Kingda Ka (the tallest steel coaster in the world), Steel Dragon 2000 (the longest steel coaster in the world), and the Leviathan (the newest edition to Canada’s Wonderland). Let’s calculate the safety of three different roller coasters in terms of g’s. We can easily do these calculations ourselves. To calculate how much g’s a human feels on a coaster they must divide the force exerted on the person by the coaster by the force of gravity. Most coasters have gradual arcs upwards, twists and turns after the initial drop, or an arc up and then a second, less severe, drop.īefore creating a coaster, engineers and designers must calculate the g’s on their coaster so that it is safe. For example, if you go on a roller coaster with a large initial drop and there is a high amount of g’s in the vertical axis and then the coaster pulls out of the drop in an arc that is too steep for an extended period of time upwards, then blood will be pushed away from your head and you will eventually hit g-LOC (the term for Loss of Consciousness when g’s are applied) and then possibly… die.

A roller coaster becomes dangerous when the human body goes through a greater amount of g’s then they can handle through an extended period of time.

G roller coaster