3.1 FRICTION BY ROLLER COASTER
Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding against each other. Whenever an object moves against another object, it feels frictional forces. These forces act in the opposite direction to the movement. Friction makes it harder for things to move.
Friction plays a major role in actual roller coaster physics, where mechanical energy which is the sum of potential and kinetic energy is not conserve. There are four types of friction in roller coaster. First of all, rolling friction which occurs between a rolling object and the surface it is rolling on. The rolling object is the wheels and it is rolling on the track and there is also this type of friction occurring inside the bearings of the wheels. Besides that, sliding friction that caused by moving two flat surfaces against each other. Sliding friction is the people moving in the roller
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Friction exists in all roller coasters, and it takes away from the useful energy provided by roller coaster. Friction turns the useful energy of the roller coaster which is gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy into heat energy, which serves no purpose associated with propelling cars along the track. Friction is the reason roller coasters cannot go on forever, so minimizing friction is one of the biggest challenges for roller coaster engineers. Friction is also the reason that roller coasters can never regain their maximum height after the initial hill unless a second chain lift is incorporated somewhere on the track. Friction is a requirement for the beginning, ending and alteration of the movement of a wheel or other rolling