Amusement Park Physics

Understanding amusement park physics is a great way to give you an appreciation of the dynamics of the various rides.

What makes amusement park rides so much fun is the forces your body experiences when you're on them. There are turns, twists, and rapid acceleration. It's quite different from what we experience on a daily basis. But it is precisely these unusual sensations of having your body pushed and pulled in different directions, that keeps people coming back for more.

However, designing these rides is much more than just putting in random loops on a track. A solid understanding of the physics is necessary for the designers in order to push the safety limits for humans as much as possible. So having an idea of how much force the body will experience on a ride is a key factor when deciding how fast, how high, or how big a radius is required.

Click on the links below to learn about the physics involved in these particular rides.

Ferris Wheel Physics
Roller Coaster Physics

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