What Are the Angles & Pitch of the Track That Keeps the Roller Coaster in Motion?

Angles

• Track angle plays an important role in the basic construction of a roller coaster. The steepness of each drop or hill impacts the speed and energy levels of the roller coaster car. Angles can go up to 90 degrees, which is a vertical drop, for new, free-falling or launched coasters. However, traditional steel drops can get up to the 70-degree range while 50 degrees is steep for a wooden coaster.

Pitch

• The pitch of the track is widely known as banking and keeps the car safely in motion during abrupt, fast changes in direction. The pitch can be flat or completely upside-down for certain track elements like helixes that flip riders upside down. A 90-degree pitch is often used to bank a sharp curve in one direction and limit the lateral forces riders feel, which can swing them hard from one side to another.

Energy

• Potential and kinetic energy are the two primary forces that keep the roller coaster car in motion. At the top of the first drop, for example, the potential energy is highest, and at the bottom of the first hill, the kinetic energy is the highest. Maintaining this balance throughout the ride keeps the car moving at various speeds.

Gravity

• Gravitational pull is what riders feel as they plummet toward the ground. Conversely, after rising up a hill and dropping back down, the forces that pull a rider up from his seat are g-forces, which are created by inertia and gravity. At every point in the ride, gravity pulls the car and the riders straight down, so different track elements give riders different sensations due to the direction of gravity̵7;s pull and the car̵7;s motion.