Amusement Park Physics With a NASA Twist - Space Flight Systems ...

NASA Connection—Roller Coasters
Once roller coaster cars start moving, your body is forced to
change direction with the cars because of the track and your
seatbelt. As the coaster car reaches the top of a hill, the
rider’s body tends to keep moving upward in a straight line
due to inertia. The car curves away as it follows the track. As
a result, the rider is lifted out of the seat until the rider
experiences low g. At the bottom of a hill the rider is pushed
into the seat and he or she experiences a force greater than
that of gravity, making one feel heavy. The riders are
experiencing high g at that point.
Astronauts experience extreme shifts in g when they are
launched into orbit by the Shuttle Transportation System.
They are at 1 g on the ground and within 2 minutes they are
experiencing about 3 g which then lasts for about 6 minutes.
Once they are in orbit (after about 8 minutes total) they are in
free fall and experience 0 g. Their bodies adjust to the new
“weightless” environment after about 1 day.
The KC–135 is a NASA research aircraft that flies parabolas
similar to continuous roller coaster hills. As the pilot controls
the plane’s direction, the passengers bodies want to continue
on a parabolic path, just like on a coaster. Unlike a coaster,
they are not harnessed down and there is no track, so they
float until the plane pulls out of the arc (about 20 seconds).
As the plane pulls out of the parabolic path, the researchers
again hit the floor and experience up to 2 g.
Mean Streak—When the roller coaster rolls
over the top of a hill, seat restraints keep the
rider’s body from moving upward.
Astronauts experience a maximum of 3 g
during liftoff, similar to the high g felt on a
roller coaster.
A scientist doing microgravity research on the
KC–135 experiences microgravity conditions.
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Amusement Park Physics With a NASA Twist
EG–2003–03–010–GRC