Intel Education: It's a Wild Ride: Roller Coaster Web Sites

Students found, classified, and wrote brief descriptions of roller coaster Web sites. A database of these Web sites was used during the group design task. The compiled list of sites with redundancies removed is shown below.

Database of Roller Coaster Web Sites

[Design Sites] - [Force & Motion] - [History] - [Statistics]

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Design Sites

http://www.coasterquest.com*
Great information on design, maintenance, and safety of roller coasters.

http://www.consignag.com/*
Contains information on safety and the control systems of roller coasters.

http://www.themedattraction.com/theme_design.htm*
Describes how some roller coasters were designed and constructed.

http://www.cinternet.net/~bowersda/glossary.htm*
Tons of technical and slang "coasterese."

http://www.coaster-world.com/glossary.shtml*
Extensive list of key words that deal with roller coasters.

http://www.rcdb.com/glossary.htm*
Vocabulary describing elements of roller coasters.

http://library.thinkquest.org/6201/physics.htm*
Diagram for design of simple roller coaster part.

http://www.fearofphysics.com/Roller/roller.html*
Simple diagrams for designing loops and hills.

http://www.coasterquest.com/howitworks.htm*
Detailed information on safety features designs of roller coasters.

http://www.me.utexas.edu/~uer/roller/index.html*
Describes roller coaster technology, historical to current.

http://www.coasters.net/designers/*
A list of roller coaster designers and roller coaster companies.

http://www.rollercoasterz.com/Designers_Corner.html*
A list of designer companies is listed with links to their web sites.

http://www.funderstanding.com/k12/coaster/*
Build and test your own roller coaster.

http://www.learner.org/exhibits/parkphysics/coaster.html*
Build a simulated roller coaster and learn the basics.

Force & Motion

http://search.eb.com/coasters/ride.html*
Scientific principles behind roller coasters.

http://www.teachingtools.com/GoFigure/FlyerCarpets.htm*
Physics of roller coasters with many valuable links.

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/roller-coaster1.htm*
Force and motion principles behind Roller Coasters.

http://www.necc.mass.edu/MRVIS/MR3_13/start.htm*
Individual lessons on force and motion principles.

http://library.thinkquest.org/C005075F/English_Version/index.html?tqskip1=1*
A Web quest designed by students on the physics of amusement parks.

http://library.thinkquest.org/2745/data/openpark.htm*
Another site designed by students for an Internet contest.

http://curie.uncg.edu/~mturner/cyclone.html*
Things to do on amusement park field trips.

http://library.thinkquest.org/6202/*
An explanation of calculations for roller coaster design.

http://www.learner.org/exhibits/parkphysics/glossary.html*
Glossary of physics vocabulary.

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/*
Detailed explanations of force and principles-high school level.

History

http://coasters.eb.com/index.html*
Visual history of roller coaster designs and inventors.

http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/coasters/history/*
Good for recent history.

http://www.me.utexas.edu/~uer/roller/history.html*
Extensive history of roller coasters with history of the technology.

http://www.farmington.k12.mo.us/school/hs/departments/curr/rollercoaster/history.htm*
Easy to understand history of roller coasters.

http://www.learner.org/exhibits/parkphysics/coaster2.html*
A short history overview.

http://www.coaster-world.com/history.shtml*
Information about coasters around the world with timeline.

http://naid.sppsr.ucla.edu/coneyisland*
History of Coney Island.

http://home.nyc.rr.com/johnmiller/index.html*
The life of an influential roller coaster builder.

Statistics

http://www.coasters.net/cgi-bin/coasters.pl*
Choose a coaster from a list and view statistics of the ride.

http://www.ibiblio.org/darlene/coaster/coasterndx.html*
Get statistics about a roller coaster by name.

http://score.kings.k12.ca.us/lessons/coaster.connection/regular.htm*
Mathematical calculations of the force and motion principles of a roller coaster.

http://www.rcdb.com/*
Statistics on 600 different roller coasters around the world.

http://www.amusementpark.net/*
Lists roller coaster and amusements park statistics

http://ultimaterollercoaster.com/coasters/records/*
All about roller coaster records.

http://www.aceonline.org/ACEcensus/*
Number of roller coasters in each part of US.

http://www.coaster-world.com/records.shtml*
Roller coaster record holders.

http://www.rollercoasterz.com/record_books.htm*
Another site of record holders, organized and easy to use

http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/coasters/records/*
Another site of roller coaster record holders.

http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/coasters/*
Yellow pages of roller coasters.

http://home.coastergrotto.com:8080/records.jsp*
Tons of stats up to 2003.