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Pendulum rides, rotations and the Coriolis effect

Pendrill, Ann Marie LU orcid and Modig, Conny (2018) In Physics Education 53(4).
Abstract

An amusement park is full of examples that can be made into challenging problems for students, combining mathematical modelling with video analysis, as well as measurements in the rides. Traditional amusement ride related textbook problems include free-fall, circular motion, pendula and energy conservation in roller coasters, where the moving bodies are typically considered point-like. However, an amusement park can offer many more examples that are useful in physics and engineering education, many of them with strong mathematical content. This paper analyses forces on riders in a large rotating pendulum ride, where the Coriolis effect is sufficiently large to be visible in accelerometer data from the rides and leads to different ride... (More)

An amusement park is full of examples that can be made into challenging problems for students, combining mathematical modelling with video analysis, as well as measurements in the rides. Traditional amusement ride related textbook problems include free-fall, circular motion, pendula and energy conservation in roller coasters, where the moving bodies are typically considered point-like. However, an amusement park can offer many more examples that are useful in physics and engineering education, many of them with strong mathematical content. This paper analyses forces on riders in a large rotating pendulum ride, where the Coriolis effect is sufficiently large to be visible in accelerometer data from the rides and leads to different ride experiences in different positions.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Physics Education
volume
53
issue
4
article number
045017
publisher
IOP Publishing
external identifiers
  • scopus:85048776500
ISSN
0031-9120
DOI
10.1088/1361-6552/aac3cb
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
9feb5f1c-c1eb-4911-9e68-b3f2b113dade
date added to LUP
2018-07-04 13:02:41
date last changed
2022-04-25 08:13:17
@article{9feb5f1c-c1eb-4911-9e68-b3f2b113dade,
  abstract     = {{<p>An amusement park is full of examples that can be made into challenging problems for students, combining mathematical modelling with video analysis, as well as measurements in the rides. Traditional amusement ride related textbook problems include free-fall, circular motion, pendula and energy conservation in roller coasters, where the moving bodies are typically considered point-like. However, an amusement park can offer many more examples that are useful in physics and engineering education, many of them with strong mathematical content. This paper analyses forces on riders in a large rotating pendulum ride, where the Coriolis effect is sufficiently large to be visible in accelerometer data from the rides and leads to different ride experiences in different positions.</p>}},
  author       = {{Pendrill, Ann Marie and Modig, Conny}},
  issn         = {{0031-9120}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  number       = {{4}},
  publisher    = {{IOP Publishing}},
  series       = {{Physics Education}},
  title        = {{Pendulum rides, rotations and the Coriolis effect}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6552/aac3cb}},
  doi          = {{10.1088/1361-6552/aac3cb}},
  volume       = {{53}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}