Most of the definitions of roller coasters say they’re elevated railways with steep inclines and descents. They carry passengers through sharp curves and sudden changes of speed and direction for brief thrill rides in wheeled cars that are linked together. Their paths are continuous loops that end at the same place they started.
Roller coaster rides start with a steep climb, the cars linked together in a train, ratcheting their way to the top, pulled by a chain. When they reach the highest point and nose over, gravity takes over and supplies the power for the rest of the ride. Passengers are pressed down in their seats by positive gravitational forces and lifted up from them by negative gravitational forces. The thrills come from a feeling of flying, going very fast, and being tossed around by drops, rises, banked turns, barrel rolls, loop-the-loops, and corkscrews.
Make sure you don’t miss the thrill-seekers in the third row
A Closer Look at Roller Coasters
If you look up the history of roller coasters, you’ll find they had several ancestors
You’ll also find there are lots of ways to define which roller coaster was the first (with wheels, with rails, in the US, etc). Rather than trying to settle an unwinnable contest, I’ll show them to you in several versions.
Late 1700s: Russians slid down icy hills in wooden sleds for centuries until someone came up with idea of building wooden slides and covering them with ice. These artificial hills were called Russian Mountains. Empress Catherine the Great enjoyed them so much that she wanted to ride in the summer, too. Duly inspired, her engineers added wheels to the bottom of sleds and built a grooved track to keep cars in the middle of a wooden chute. Catherine had one built at her summer palace in 1874.
1817: In Paris, an amusement park on the Champs Élysées featured a ride called the Aerial Strolls. Wheeled cars for passengers were locked to the track and guide rails were added for safety.
1850: In Pennsylvania, the 9-mile-long Switchback Gravity Railroad was built to haul coal from where it was dug out the mountains to where it was loaded onto barges. It was downhill all the way, so gravity powered the coal cars. For the uphill return trip, mules pulled the empty carts up a steel railway. Some say the mules rode special cars downhill, too. When there was no coal coming down, coal cars were swapped out for passenger trolleys that went as fast as 50 miles per hour. Many historians agree that the Switchback Gravity Railroad of 1872 was the inspiration for America’s first roller coaster at Brooklyn, New York’s Coney* Island Amusement Park in 1884.
How do roller coasters work?
Potential energy is stored on the way and released as kinetic energy on the way down. The amounts of both are determined by the height of the first climb.
How do roller coasters stay on the tracks?
Most roller coasters have three different types of wheels. Running wheels, also called load wheels, are bigger than the other two types. They sit on top of the rails and bear the weight of the cars, just as they do with railroad trains. Up-stop wheels sit below the rails and keep the cars from lifting off the tracks during negative G-forces. Side-friction wheels are spring-loaded and mounted horizontally inside or outside the track to keep the cars centered on the rails.
Roller coasters were made of wood until 1959
Walt Disney opened the first steel roller coaster at Disneyland. The steel construction made the ride smoother, safer, and faster. Tubular steel also allowed for more innovation in roller coaster design, such as corkscrews with their 360-degree rolls. Some of the newer roller coasters are made of wood (the trade calls them woodies) because they’re nostalgic, noisier, and add to the thrill.
Why do people ride roller coasters?
Most are thrill-seekers who enjoy the adventure. Roller coaster rides trigger human fight or flight response, a natural survival mechanism that helps humans react quickly to real, perceived, or imagined threats. Adrenaline pumps, heart rates go up, breathing gets faster, and brain chemistry is altered by rising glucose, endorphin, and dopamine levels. The feeling of excitement is said to be similar (but more intense) for skydivers, bungee jumpers, and hang-gliders.
Someone said the difference between roller coasters and those in-the-air diving, jumping, and hanging activities is that you have a better chance of coming back alive on a coaster
Which are the best seats on a roller coaster?
Many people prefer the front and back seats because they provide the strongest sense of weightlessness as you go down the hills and the strongest G-forces as you go up the hills and around the turns. Front and back seats also go over the hills faster than the seats in the middle.
How dangerous are roller coasters?
Roller coasters that travel with fairs are more dangerous than coasters with permanent locations. In the US, on average, four people a year are killed riding roller coasters. Incidents can be terrifying, too, such as these riders who were stuck hanging upside down for hours.
Coaster wars
Innovations draw roller coaster riders like moths to the flame. Each roller coaster and theme park tries to outdo the others by setting records for speed, length, height, and scare factor. There is lots of inventing going on with roller coaster designers, too and always new twists such as riders standing up, hanging upside down, or underneath the rails rather than atop them.
How many roller coasters are in operation today?
Nearly 6,000, according to the Roller Coaster Census Report. The three countries with the most coasters are China with 1,518, the United States with 846, and Japan with 244.
How Will You Celebrate National Roller Coaster Day?
You’ve got until this Friday, August 16, 2024. If you’re really adventurous, ride some of the Guinness world record holders. (Please note that roller coaster statistics are very messy and change frequently.)
The fastest roller coaster in the world is the Formula Rossa at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi. The 14-seat cars reach a top speed of 149 mph.
The tallest roller coaster in the world is the Kingda Ka at Six Flags, New Jersey. At its highest point, it’s 456 feet tall, nearly the height of a 50-story building.
The longest roller coaster in the world is the Steel Dragon at Nagashima Spa Land in Japan. From start to finish, it measures 8,133 feet, more than a mile and a half.
The most expensive roller coaster in the world is Expedition Everest at Walt Disney World, Florida. It cost approximately $550 million to build.
The oldest operating roller coaster is Leap-the-Dips in Lakemont Park, Pennsylvania. In 1902 it was 1,170 feet long, 40 feet tall, and went 10 mph over a series of 9-foot-dips, hence the name. It cost a nickel to ride and paid for itself in the first three weeks.
Bonus
Life has been described as an emotional roller coaster, with its ups and downs, peaks and valleys, twists and turns. Sometimes you’re at the top of the world and other times you’re at the bottom. Click here to take a video roller coaster ride with the Ohio Players’ Love Roller Coaster.
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*Did you know coney is another word for rabbit?
