A roller-coaster car is released from rest at the top of the first rise and then moves freely with negligible friction. The roller coaster shown in Figure P8.73 has a circular loop of radius R in a vertical plane. (a) Suppose first that the car barely makes it around the loop: at the top of the loop the riders are upside down and feel weightless. Find the required height of the release point above the bottom of the loop in terms of R. (b) Now assume that the release point is at or above the minimum required height. Show that the normal force on the car at the bottom of the loop exceeds the normal force at the top of the loop by six times the weight of the car. The normal force on each rider follows the same rule. Such a large normal force is dangerous and very uncomfortable for the riders. Roller coasters are therefore not built with circular loops in vertical planes. Figure P6.20 and the photograph on page 157 show two actual designs.

Transcribed Image Text:

Figure P8.73