Fun article that explains how roller coasters work.

Give it a read!

HowStuffWorks “Roller Coaster Forces”: “To understand the sensations you feel in a roller coaster, let’s look at the basic forces at work on your body. Wherever you are on Earth, gravity is pulling you down toward the ground. But the force you actually notice isn’t this downward pull — it’s the upward pressure of the ground underneath you. The ground stops your descent to the center of the planet. It pushes up on your feet, which push up on the bones in your legs, which push up on your rib cage and so on. This is the feeling of weight. At every point on a roller-coaster ride, gravity is pulling you straight down.

The other force acting on you is acceleration. When you are riding in a coaster car that is traveling at a constant speed, you only feel the downward force of gravity. But as the car speeds up or slows down, you feel pressed against your seat or the restraining bar.”

I still think we need to take a class trip to Carowinds to put our new knowledge of forces to the real test!