- If a roller coaster car were to roll over the top of a hill and then drop downward as if it were in free fall, what geometric shape would the path take?
- For a traditional, once-around loop roller coaster, with a single lift hill, where does the energy come from that powers the cars around the track? Where does the energy go?
- Roller coaster builders often brag about having the highest and steepest hills. If roller coaster A has a 300 ft high hill with a descent angle of 80°, and roller coaster B has a 310 ft high hill with an angle of 70°, which roller coaster will have the faster speed at the bottom of the hill?
- If measured from two fixed points on the track, one shortly before and one shortly after the top of a hill, when a train of roller coaster cars travels over the hill, which car will have the fastest average and maximum speeds -- the first or last car in the train?
- A new genre of roller coasters was introduced in the past decade featuring "linear induction motors" that "launch" roller coaster trains at extremely high acceleration rates (and at speeds up to 100 mph). For what purpose was linear induction motor technology originally developed?
- What is the name most frequently given to roller coasters throughout the history of amusement parks?
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