ROLLER COASTER THRILLS EXPLAINED
Each year, people flock to theme parks for the adrenaline rush delivered by roller coasters. But how are they engineered to delight and excite?
WORDS
BRENDAN WALKER
To experience thrill, you need a sudden and large increase in the physiological states of arousal – your body and mind’s state of alertness – and pleasure. Let’s consider arousal first. You can generate this by subjecting your body to unusual forces, up to a safe limit. But if those forces are persistent or repeated too often, then arousal is greatly reduced. Novelty is critical. So let’s take a rollercoaster ride together and think about the forces. We’ve set off, with a constant acceleration steadily increasing our forward velocity. We feel it as a force equal to our mass multiplied by acceleration, pushing us backwards. It can be exciting, but soon loses novelty.