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I've always wondered about this!

I love long boarding so this was very interesting.

Very eye opening

interesting!

Butterflies in your stomach and adrenaline rushing through your veins, roller coasters are an extremely thrilling experience to the riders. While on them, have you ever thought about how they really work and why? Roller coasters actually operate similarly to catapults and in some cases they actually use catapult launches. These systems operate by very quickly building kinetic energy and exerting it to the train. An example of this system is called the linear-induction motor. This system uses electromagnets to create two magnetic fields that attract. Overall it's a good system because it creates precision, control, speed, and durability. Of course with such an efficient operating system, the train needs a good way to stop and let the passengers off. To create the maximum break efficiency, the breaks are instead built into the track instead of on the train itself. There are clamps connected to hydraulic systems, so in case of emergency the clamps tense and friction slows down the trains movements. When actually on the ride, you are part of the energy of the whole system. The ride stores massive amounts of potential energy when ascending up the hills. At the highest point, the train has the most gravitational force possible. After the peak, the train releases the potential energy and becomes kinetic energy.

I've wondered this myself, thanks for sharing!

I didn't know a baseball bat could have a "sweet spot"!

Commonly, kids will ask, "why is the sky blue?" and not knowing the real answer, parents will answer something like "well it's the reflection off of the oceans" or "that's just the way it is". Little do these kids know, they are actually inquiring about physics. In reality, beautiful blue skies are more then just a nice day or a pretty sight, it is actually only blue because that's the way the human eyes interpret it. When our eyes perceive colors, all they are actually doing is distinguishing different wave lengths of visible light when they strike our eye. It is possible for the wavelengths to be straight from a light source, like the sun, or reflected off of another object. The Earth's atmosphere is made up of tiny gas particles that are much smaller then wavelengths. When light hits a gas molecule, some of that light gets absorbed. Because they have shorter wavelengths and much higher energies and higher frequencies, blues and violets tend to get absorbed into the particles before the lower frequency colors. The gas molecule then releases the light in the color of the wavelength that it absorbed. From there, you may ask yourself, "why doesn't the sky appear violet then?". This is because your eye's color interpreters called 'cones' average the wavelengths together so that eyes will only perceive one color. The eye interprets the sky as mainly blue and white light (or visible light from the sun) and therefore the sky is light blue. Red sunsets are also explained by this phenomenon. Because when the sunsets, it gets further and further from the one who is viewing it, it takes longer wavelengths of visible light for the eye to see. Because the red side of the spectrum has much longer wavelengths, the eye perceives sunsets as red.

Hope Physics was successful for you!

Andrew, I hope you learn lots in Physics. :-)

About me: Overall, I'm an easy-going person. I like to hang out with my friends and I love my job. In the winter, I ski race. I'm very dedicated to my school work and generally try my hardest not to slack. Why I'm taking physics and what I hope to learn: I chose to take physics because I wanted to take a science my senior year, and I have already taken all the other regents ones. I think it will be an interesting class. Learning about how the Earth really works is captivating. Most of all, I'm looking forward to learning about Energy.