CONTENTS THE SCREAM MACHINE 4 W H AT I S E N E R G Y 6 G R AV I T Y A N D D E S I G N 8 HEIGHT AND ENERGY 10 HIGH AND LOW HILLS 12 S U P E R FA S T S P E E D S 14 D I R E C T I O N A N D A C C E L E R AT I O N 1 6 TURNS AND LOOPS 18 20 SHARP TURNS FEELING G-FORCES 22 24 END OF THE RIDE FORCES AND FUN 26 28 MINI MARBLE COASTER 30 GLOSSARY WEBSITES 31 32 INDEX
O I NTHE SCREAM MACHINE T C U D O R T N I It’s finally your turn You step into a roller coaster car and safety bars lock you in your seat You hear the click click click click as a machine pulls the cars up the first huge hill Up at the very top you see the steep drop ahead of you Ready Hang on tight 4
The cars speed down the hill It makes your stomach feel a little woozy as though it’s floating inside you You let out a loud scream The roller coaster cars hurtle along the track They have enough momentum to move around it by themselves No engines do the work The cars fly around curves and even go upside down on loops This is energy at work The cars gather potential or stored energy as they are lifted to the top of the first hill When the cars travel down the hill that stored energy changes to kinetic energy the energy of movement
