How to Build a Roller Coaster

The thrill of riding a roller coaster is not for the faint of heart. The seemingly endless aggregation of curves, hills and loops can almost certainly bring out the screamer in you. People are fascinated with the height, length and speed of today's modern roller coaster. Building roller coasters and moving them with such velocity requires skills in engineering, architectural design and physics, combined with some imagination.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Know how the roller coaster works. The only power the roller coaster needs is that of an electronic motor, which pulls it up to the top of the first hill. The total track length of roller coaster can vary; the longest one in the US is about 1,480 feet.

2. Determine the height of the first hill, which is the single most critical task. It is the beginning height that determines the amount of velocity the roller coaster will have to make its journey around the track. The best height for this first hill is 262 feet.

3. Figure out the slope of the first hill. The roller coaster relies solely on the force generated by the slope of the first hill to glide it to the end. The best slope is one with a curve at the bottom with a flat path.

4. Determine the second, lower slope or exit path. The exit path is the slope by which the roller coaster will maintain its velocity after traveling down the first hill. The exit path should have a low slope for a safe exit out of the first hill.

5. Calculate the height of the second hill; this calculation is as critical as the height of the first hill. The second hill maintains the velocity of the roller coaster, giving the riders a feeling of "weightlessness". The best height of the second hill is 230 feet.

6. Add the loop. The addition of a loop to the roller coaster track offers a more thrilling ride in terms of speed and feeling the pull of gravity. The designer can choose the shape of the loop to be a perfect circle loop or an elliptical loop. Either shape must be 115 feet high.