Coasters: the next generation.

Do you like the thrill and fear of riding roller coasters? Lots of people do, because new types of coasters are opening every year. They're always bigger, scarier or faster than the ones from the year before.

But now, engineers have created a new type of coaster that's radically different. These new roller coasters have a powerful new launch system called a LIM, or linear induction motor. It can blast you from sitting still to the speed of a car on a highway - almost 100 km/hour - in four seconds flat.

The loopiest roller coaster in the world turns riders upside down eight times. You'll have to go to Spain to ride The Dragon Khan.

The first LIM coaster opened two years ago, in King's Paramount Theme Park in Virginia, U.S.A. It's called The Outer Limits: Flight of Fear. Not only does it catapult you to quick speeds, but the new coaster can charge you up the hills so you'll go just as fast as coming down.

The typical roller coaster uses a chain lift, so trains chug slowly up, at less than 10 km an hour (yawn!) and only go fast on the way down.

Superman the Escape in California is the tallest, fastest coaster. It's faster than a car on the highway, clocking in at up to 160 km/hour.

LIMs work by creating a magnetic wave, using electromagnetic energy and laser beams, to catapult riders out of the loading station. The train will move faster and faster as it passes through each LIM.

The longest coaster in the world is The Ultimate at Lightwater Valley Theme Park in the United Kingdom. It's more than two kilometres long.

If you think that the Outer Limits LIM coaster can't be topped, keep reading. A new coaster called Volcano, The Blast Coaster is opening in the same park in Virginia this year. It's also a LIM ride, but the seats are attached from on top, so your legs get to hang down like a swing. The ride starts in the heart of the volcano, and blasts you straight out of the top of the mountain. It almost feels like being in a rocket at lift off.

There aren't any LIM coasters in Canada - yet. But you can bet they'll be around soon!

Coasters The First Generation

People have always liked thrill rides. The earliest "roller coasters" we know about were ice-covered wooden slides used in Russia about 500 years ago! The first coaster in North America was built in Coney Island, New York City in 1884.

Another ride that's been around for a long time is the ferris wheel. Early ferris wheels were made of wood and were "man" powered. Someone would climb up into the middle of the wheel and walk to make it go around - kind of like a hamster running in its wheel. But people quickly began to look for bigger and faster thrills. An American engineer built the largest ferris wheel ever in Chicago in 1893. It had 36 cabs which each held 60 people. More than 2,000 people could ride at one time.