PHYSICS LAWS TESTED ON PARK RIDES.Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer VALENCIA - Wielding calculators and protractors, high school students from as far away as Arizona descended upon Magic Mountain at Six Flags For the national flags of Texas, see . Six Flags (NYSE: SIX) is the world's largest chain of amusement parks and theme parks and is headquartered in New York City. There are 20 such parks run by Six Flags. California on Sunday to apply the principles of physics to something they know well, roller coasters While there have been hundreds of different roller coasters built, there have been just a few that were notable for specific reasons. Some reasons include:
While some of the juniors and seniors peered through angle-calculating contraptions to determine the slope of the coasters, others took to the rides and timed the drastic descents, filling in the values of complex mathematical formulas. ``We just rode a ride called Atom Smasher atom smasher: see particle accelerator. , which had to do with centrifugal acceleration,'' said Annie Chang, 16, a junior at Burbank High School Burbank High School may refer to:
Chang and her Burbank High School classmates Classmates can refer to either:
The laws of acceleration, energy conversion and other physics principles are dramatically demonstrated on Physics Day at the park for students who previously may have studied the science of motion only in school, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Magic Mountain officials. More than 2,000 students, working in teams, received workbooks directing them to rides whose elements they had studied. Gary Luan, a 17-year-old junior at Rosemead High School, found the rides more fascinating as physics in action. ``It reflects on how physics applies to real life. Most people go to the theme park, and they don't look at what's going on What's Going On is a record by American soul singer Marvin Gaye. Released on May 21, 1971 (see 1971 in music), What's Going On reflected the beginning of a new trend in soul music. behind the scenes,'' said Luan, who worked alongside fellow classmate Tony Jiang to determine how close the steepest descent on the Scream ride comes to free fall. Louisville High School Louisville High School may refer to:
Deats, who wants eventually to go to law school, said Sunday's field trip helped abstract subject matter seem concrete. ``Normally you're just using foreign ideas. This is more visible,'' Deats said. ``I like physics a lot, but it's more interesting to attempt to do it on roller coasters.'' About 150 high schools from Arizona, Fresno, San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. and greater Los Angeles participated in the Magic Mountain physics lesson. ``Physics Day provides the students with challenges not seen in the classrooms,'' said Ron Broschart, general sales manager at Magic Mountain. ``Not only is the day challenging for the students; they have a lot of fun while they're here.'' Nicholas Grudin, (661) 257-5255 nicholas.grudin(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color in AV and SAC editions only) Burbank High student Daniel Kang, 16, practices Sunday for a paper airplane accuracy toss on Magic Mountain Physics Day at Six Flags California in Valencia. (2 -- ran in Valley and SAC editions only) A Louisville High school team from Woodland Hills works on a physics problem illustrated in a theme park ride at Valencia. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer |
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