Why do you feel weightless on the top of a roller coaster physics?
Why do you feel weightless on the top of a roller coaster physics? When you plummet down a steep hill, gravity pulls you down while the acceleration force seems to pull you up. At a certain rate of acceleration, these opposite forces balance each other out, making you feel a sensation of weightlessness — the same sensation a skydiver feels in free fall.
Why does a roller coaster not fall during a loop?
When you go around a turn, you feel pushed against the outside of the car. This force is centripetal force and helps keep you in your seat. In the loop-the-loop upside down design, it's inertia that keeps you in your seat. Inertia is the force that presses your body to the outside of the loop as the train spins around.
Where do we feel the least weight on a roller coaster?
The normal force however has a small magnitude at the top of the loop (where the rider often feels weightless) and a large magnitude at the bottom of the loop (where the rider often feels heavy).
Is the top of a roller coaster kinetic energy?
When the roller coaster moves downwards, kinetic energy is generated. The maximum kinetic energy generated is when the roller coaster is at the bottom of the track. When it begins to go up, the kinetic energy converts to potential energy.
Do you feel heavier or lighter at the top of a roller coaster loop?
Roller coasters are generally designed to have non-zero but fairly small normal forces at the top, so a rider feels almost weightless. At the bottom of the loop, the apparent weight can be considerably larger than mg, so a rider feels much heavier than usual.