Download Roller Coaster Engineer Project Name: Date: Goal You and your

Roller Coaster Engineer Project
Name:
Date:
Goal
You and your partner will design and sketch a scaled side view of the basic geometrical properties of a roller
coaster and then compare your design to an actual existing ride. You will also make a basic cost analysis of the
steel and paint requirements of the ride.
Requirements for completion
1. Starting Questions
a. If you were going to build a roller coaster what kind of ride would you build?
b. How tall would you build your ride? Explain why you would build it to your decided height.
c. How much horizontal length will your coaster have? Explain why you would want it that long.
2. Rough sketch
You and your partner will each create half of a sketch for your coaster rail path. In order for both
halves to align correctly, you need to plan with your partner the general shape of the coaster and
coordinate where there will be a meeting point.
a. With your partner, create a rough sketch of the rail part of the roller coaster.
i. Each partner creates half of the sketch.
ii. In your rough sketch you must include 10 points where you indicate height and horizontal
position on the sketch.
iii. Indicate the height and horizontal position for the meeting point where your partner's
track joins with yours
iv. The sketch should take up 2 full pages connected to each other
3. Support columns
To support your ride, you and your partner must plan out at least 10 support columns.
For each column you will have a cylinder which stretches from the ground to the track of your ride. As
part of your cost analysis, you will have to determine the volume of the cylinders to figure our how
much steel you will use. You will also need to determine the surface area of the cylinders to figure out
how much paint you will need
a. Write down and label the diameter of your choice for all your support columns
b. Create a data table which lists the horizontal position and height for each of your supporting
columns.
c. Create an additional 2 data table columns which give the volume and surface area for each of
your ride's support columns
4. Roller Coaster Cost Analysis
The current price of steel for your roller coaster is $203 per cubic foot. A gallon of water proof
paint for your ride costs $25 per gallon. Each gallon of paint will cover 100 square feet on your coaster.
Each foot of the top track that your planned costs $75 dollars
a. Determine the cost to build your roller coaster as planned
i. Determine the cost of each column based on your volume calculation
ii. Determine the cost to paint the columns based on your surface areas for each column
iii. Determine the cost of the top track by approximating the length from your plan.
iv. Use the 3 material costs to determine your final cost.
W. Miller 2011
Email: [email protected]
5.
Final scaled sketch
You final sketch will be a scaled drawing. This means that each line you draw in your final
sketch will be in proportion to the true height of your roller coaster. If you want to create a scaled line
which is a hundred feet high there are a few steps you need. First you need to decide on a scale. You
might say that 1 cm equals 20 feet. In that case, your line will be 5 cm long. You should pick your scale
so that when you draw your sketch it takes up the majority of your planned paper space.
a. Each partner creates half of the final sketch
b. Your final sketch will include the planned columns and the track drawn to scale at the planned
positions based on scale distances.
6.
Six Flags comparison
While at six flags, you will make some qualitative and quantitative observations of the
rollercoasters in the park, If you are unable to attend the trip, you can find information on
rollercoasters through internet research.
a. How does your roller coaster height compare to the roller coasters in the park?
b. What would you change about your roller coaster to make it work within the park?
c. What mathematical ideas do you think the person who designed the park coasters considered
when deciding on a plan to build them?
Extra Credit
Bring a small tape measure protractor and something to take notes on with you to Six Flags. Using those tools,
take an approximation of the hieght of one of the roller coasters. Your approximation must include your
measurements and a mathematical sketch showing the geometrys and method for how you determined your
height.
W. Miller 2011
Email: [email protected]