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ERIC Number: EJ901504
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Nov
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0143-0807
EISSN: N/A
The Comfortable Roller Coaster--on the Shape of Tracks with a Constant Normal Force
Nordmark, Arne B.; Essen, Hanno
European Journal of Physics, v31 n6 p1307-1317 Nov 2010
A particle that moves along a smooth track in a vertical plane is influenced by two forces: gravity and normal force. The force experienced by roller coaster riders is the normal force, so a natural question to ask is, what shape of the track gives a normal force of constant magnitude? Here we solve this problem. It turns out that the solution is related to the Kepler problem; the trajectories in velocity space are conic sections. (Contains 4 figures.)
Institute of Physics Publishing. The Public Ledger Building Suite 929, 150 South Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 215-627-0880; Fax: 215-627-0879; e-mail: info@ioppubusa.com; Web site: http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/EJP
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A