Physics class applies learned theories to rollercoasters
QUEENSBURY, NY. (NEWS10) - What better way to apply what you learned in your college physics courses than to test your theories in person with real roller coasters? Well, 17 Siena students are doing just that.
And, in a classroom that would even make Sir Isaac Newton jealous. These students are applying their skill sets right here at the Six Flags Great Escape.
“The different forces applied on to an object is how much it accelerates how much it changes how fast it's moving that's acceleration,” said Michael Karner, Junior, class of 2024.
I had to ask, what keeps us in our ride seats, besides the safety bars.
“All right, when you're spending upside down there is forces acting on you have to force of friction force of gravity the normal force and they're all acting on you to keep you in the ride,” answered Enzo Morina, Junior, class of 2024
Dr. Rose Finn of the physics department says this is a great opportunity for the students to apply hands on techniques.
“They've actually been working for a couple of weeks designing lab so studying the rides and figuring out what could they what physical principal could they illustrate or measure and try and get the actual gather real data for,” says Dr. Rose Finn, professor of physics.
In case you are wondering if the college will continue offer the rollercoaster course.
“This is actually the first time we've tried it at Sienna so, but I think based on how things are going will be trying to do it for every year from now on,” said the professor.
And what better group of folks to answer the all-important question of, is it safe?
“Yeah, I think so. We've learned in the safety precautions we take and then come in here testing the data and once after this we'll go test it run it a few more times I think we can say it's pretty safe,” said Jake Koszelak Junior class of 2024
And now that the studying and all the hard work is done, we tested the theories on the new outlaw ride here at the park.