Coaster Crazy--A Roller Coaster Webquest

You are climbing up the hill to the first drop. The car reaches the top and slowly starts to increase in speed as it goes screaming down the hill going 60 miles an hour. Your stomach has dropped to the pit of your belly, your feet are planted firmly on the floor. It twists, it turns, it goes in circles. In about 30 seconds to a minute the trill is over!

Roller coasters are designed to move themselves around the track without any form of fuel. How can the roller coaster get around all of those loops, turns, twists, without any assistance? The laws of physics help us explain how the roller coasters get around the track.

What is the history behind roller coasters and how they have developed to todays thrill rides? How do the laws of physics affect roller coaster designs? If you could develop your own roller coaster for a theme park, what would it look like?