Why does Newton's first law of motion relate to roller coasters?

Answer 1

Newton's first law of motion states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion. This is what keeps the roller coaster rolling through the hills and turns after it accelerates down the initial ramp. Also, the riders inside the car will experience changes in accleration and apparent weight. The riders will keep going at the same speed in the same direction unless some other force (the seat) acts on them to change that speed or direction. At the bottom of hills, they try to continue downward, and are pressed into the seat. At the tops, the riders are lifted up in their seats as they try to continue upward even as the seat pulls them down into the next drop. The same thing occurs on turns, where riders are pushed into the side of the seat as the coaster turns. (This is the reason for harnesses, seat belts, and restraining bars.)

Answer 2

kinetic energy (0.5mv^2) is translated to potential energy (mgh)at the top of the ride, then translated back to kinetic energy as it drops, next climb is less due to friction losses on the way

Answer 3

The net force applied on a object is equal to its mass times its acceleration.

A roller coaster car uses the gravitational acceleration from its downward sections to carry it back up and forward through upward sections and loops.

It also means that a coaster loaded with passengers will tend to gain a higher velocity than an empty one -- an important safety consideration.

Answer 4

At the top of the roller coaster, the cart has maximum potential energy and very little kinetic energy. As the cart goes down, that potential energy becomes kinetic energy, until, at the bottom of the roller coaster, there is very little potential energy and maximum kinetic energy.

Answer 5

It is an immutable law of Physics, specifically the branch called Kinematics, that

roller-coaster cars are conserved. That is, they can't be created or destroyed.

During a run of the ride, cars do not disappear, and no new cars are added.

In working with numerical equations involving the coaster, it is a fundamental

assumption that the number of roller coaster cars at the end of the run is equal

to the number of cars when the run begins, provided only the the speed of the

train of cars remains significantly below light speed during the run, and does not

approach the Relativistic realm.

Answer 6

the tendency of a body to resist acceleration