Roller Coaster Physics — Reading Comprehension

Have you ever ridden on a roller coaster and felt that rush as you zoom down the first big hill? It's a thrilling experience that's all thanks to some amazing science, especially energy transfer! Energy is the ability to do work or cause change. On a roller coaster, energy is constantly changing forms.

When the roller coaster car is at the very bottom of the first hill, it has almost no energy of motion. A huge chain pulls the car slowly up to the highest point of the track. As the car gets higher and higher, it stores up potential energy. This is a type of stored energy that an object has because of its position. The higher the car goes, the more potential energy it has. Think of it like a superhero building up power before they use it. The highest point of the first hill is where the roller coaster has its most potential energy.

At the top of that first hill, the chain lets go, and the roller coaster car starts to move down. Now, that stored potential energy begins to change into kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. As the car speeds up, its potential energy decreases, and its kinetic energy increases. When the car reaches the bottom of the hill, it is moving at its fastest speed and has the most kinetic energy.

The roller coaster continues to go up and down hills, and with each hill, this process repeats. The kinetic energy from going down a hill is used to help the car climb the next one, where it turns back into potential energy. But why don't roller coasters go on forever? It's because of the Law of Conservation of Energy, which states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be changed or transferred to other things.

As the roller coaster moves, some of its kinetic energy is converted into other types of energy. You might hear the rumble of the wheels on the track—that's sound energy. The rubbing of the wheels on the track and the air pushing against the car also create heat energy. Because some of the energy is lost as sound and heat, each hill after the first one is a little bit shorter than the one before it, so the coaster can have enough energy to make it to the top. This is why the first hill is always the tallest!

Fun Fact: The world's tallest roller coaster, Kingda Ka, is so tall that the cars are pulled up by a hydraulic launch instead of a traditional chain lift!

What is potential energy?

What is kinetic energy?

Where does a roller coaster have the most potential energy?

What happens to the potential energy as the car goes down a hill?

Why is the first hill on a roller coaster always the tallest?

If a roller coaster car is halfway down a hill, what types of energy does it have?

A roller coaster car makes a loud sound as it moves. Where does the energy for this sound come from?

A student designs a model roller coaster. What is the best way to make the car go faster down a hill?