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Roller Coaster!
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Program Overview
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If you ask students who have ridden a roller coaster what they were
thinking about as they careened down the first big drop, at 70-plus
miles per hour, it probably wasn't physics. But then, they had yet
to watch this episode of NOVA.
This program follows roller coaster designers through the steps of
designing, planning, and building a new theme park ride. Their
primary challenge is to create a ride which is thrilling, yet meets
safety, space, and cost requirements. Along the way they use
computers and increasingly elaborate models to test their
assumptions about how a roller coaster will work. In addition to
applying their knowledge of physics, roller coaster designers must
also understand psychology in order to create an exciting
experience.
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