Essay about Rollercoasters - Informative Speech - 1286 Words

Introduction: You wait in line for what seems like forever and finally you take your seat. You pull the paddle bars so they fit snug against your shoulders. You reach the top and then comes the big drop. You start screaming or if youre daring you put your hands up and enjoy the ride. Im of course speaking of roller coasters. Today Im going to go over the history, the different types of roller coasters, the mechanics, and the most important part, safety of roller coasters. History The oldest roller coaster is believed to have originated from the so-called Russian Mountains, which were specially constructed hills of ice, located around Saint Petersburg. Built in the 15th century, the slides were built to a height between 70 and 80†¦show more content†¦Perhaps the best known historical roller coaster, The Cyclone, was opened at Coney Island in 1927. The Great Depression marked the end of the first golden age of roller coasters, and amusement parks in general went into deterioration. In 1959 the Disneyland theme park introduced a new design breakthrough with the Matterhorn Bobsleds. This was the first roller coaster to use a tubular steel track. Unlike conventional rails set on wooden railroad ties, tubular steel can be bent in any direction, which allows designers to incorporate loops, corkscrews, and many other maneuvers into their designs. Most modern roller coasters are made of steel, although wooden coasters are still being built. New designs and technologies are pushing the limits of what can be experienced on the newest coasters. Mechanics: The cars on a typical roller coaster are not self-powered. A standard full circuit coaster is pulled up with a chain or cable along the lift hill to the first peak of the coaster track. The potential energy accumulated by the rise in height is transferred to kinetic energy as the cars race down the first downward slope. Kinetic energy is then converted back into potential energy as the train moves up again to the second peak. This hill is necessarily lower, as some mechanical energy is lost to friction. Not all rides feature a lift hill, however. The train may be set into motion byShow MoreRelatedNoughts and Crosses14387 Words   |  58 Pagescontemporary writers of fiction for young adults continue to offer us fresh opportunities to enjoy literature with our students. Oxford Rollercoasters is a series that offers teachers the opportunity of studying first-class novels – recently written for teenagers – as whole-class readers with Year 7, 8 and 9 students. Focus on assessment of reading Oxford Rollercoasters includes titles with varied themes, challenging subject matter and engaging plots – for example, Noughts and Crosses takes a very