With speeds reaching an incredible 128 miles per hour and dizzying heights of 456 feet, roller coasters no longer are the creaking wooden trains of the past.
Even though the technology and design of amusement park rides gets more complex every year, the basic laws of physics governing the principles of scream machines are one thing sure to stay constant.
Physics professor David Gerdes realized how useful roller coasters are as a tool to explain the laws of physics after taking a group of Michigan Math & Science Scholars on a recent summer trip to an Ohio amusement park.
“We went to Cedar Point and wore accelerometers on our bodies. We were able to measure a lot of interesting things about these rides that you might not expect,” he says. Gerdes will share this data April 12 at the last scheduled 2008 Saturday Morning Physics session.
In his lecture, “Taking the Plunge: The Physics of Roller Coasters,” Gerdes hopes to use demonstrations and the data he collected from real rides to put physics in terms that people can understand. “I hope to explain things like why you don’t fall off the loop-de-loop, why you feel like you’re being crushed in your seat and why it feels like you’re going to fly off into space at the top of hills.”
Saturday Morning Physics began in 1995 as a way for the general public to learn about the latest physics ideas in non-technical, easy-to-understand terms. Hugely successful, the physics department continued to sponsor the series. The 2008 Saturday morning lectures began Feb. 2 and will continue through April from 10:30-11:30 a.m. in 170 Dennison Hall.
“Saturday Morning Physics has a really devoted following,” Gerdes says. “I used to be a coordinator, and people would come up to me in the farmer’s market or grocery store and tell me how much they liked a certain lecture or about something specific they wanted discussed in a future lecture.”
From elementary school aged children to people with a layman’s interest in physics to retired engineers and teachers, the lectures’ audiences represent a broad cross section of the community.
Gerdes says he often sees the same people at the lectures every year. “There’s often a lengthy Q-and-A at the end of the lectures, and many questions are very intelligent and knowledgeable. Hopefully it’s a reflection of everything people have learned over the years.”
The next scheduled Saturday Morning Physics lecture “What is String Theory Anyway?” will be on Feb. 16. For more information about this and other upcoming lectures go to www.lsa.umich.edu/physics/seminars/smp.
