Why roller coaster loops aren't circular

June is World Roller Coaster Appreciation month and if you love roller coasters check out American Coaster Enthusiasts, the group that Randy Geisler is a part of. Check out their channel here: youtube.com/c/ridewithace/ And if you’re looking for a deep dive into physics, Professor Matt has a channel too: youtube.com/user/yoprofmatt Thanks for watching!

I did learn about this after playing Roller Coaster Tycoon as a kid and wondering why customers find my 20 g-force hypercoaster a bit too intense.

As someone who studied engineering, works in theme park design, and is just an all around coaster enthusiast, can confirm this video is on point. Even using the the correct geometry based terminology of clothoid loops to describe the “teardrop” loop., made famous by the manufacturer Arrow Dynamics (who also helped make the Matterhorn). Fun thing to notice, Arrow built a number of geometry based coasters (as opposed to force-based) with the clothoid loop. But for a long time only used one size for the loops design. So the bigger the first drop, the higher the same sized loop had to be off the ground. Examples, Great American Scream Machine, or the still operating Viper at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

I love Vox because I never know what I’m going to learn about when we get an upload but I’m never disappointed ☺️ this is so interesting and makes sense. I still don’t like rollercoasters but I like the science behind it lol

I would like to thank Chris Sawyer for his RollerCoaster Tycoon series for introducing the concepts of rollercoasters (and theme parks) to millions of children like me, who are either unable or less fortunate to go to one. But I'll always enjoy to go on one in any shape or size...

I live half an hour from HersheyPark and visit frequently. When I was younger, I hated coasters, but SooperDooperLooper was one of the first ones I tried to get over my fear and it barely even realized I was going around the loop! Thanks Vox for explaining the technology behind smoothing the g force and the mechanisms in place to make these things awesome (yes I do love coasters now)!

This is also exactly why the radius of turns in roads are variable, just such that the steering input is gradual rather than you having to flick it in. This is especially evident with on-off ramps of highways.

For a similar reason train tracks and street curves (like offramps) aren't perfect circle sections like you may find on a model railway either. If they were, turns would be really violent or require you to turn your wheel in an instant.

This explains why athletes have so much trouble when they try to ride full pipes or loops. Every loop I've ever seen built for skateboard, bike, motorcycle, etc were all perfect circles.

Vox over here making a video about rollercoaster engineering and they did their research to the point where enthusiasts won't be able to rip this video apart. I'm impressed. Well done! I loved the quick flash to Olympia Looping in that transition near the end there.

You forgot to mention that the engineer who invented the modern looping coaster is Werner Stengel from Munich. He invented also many other things in Rollercoaster design. Revolution in six flags Magic mountain was built by Schwarzkopf and designed by Stengel. Stengel also designed Top Thrill Dragster, Millennium Force and Kingda La (and many hundreds more).

Been putting off watching this video because it didn't seem interesting from the title and thumbnail. I'm glad I was proven wrong. Absolutely amazing story telling and the amount of work required to tell it is inspiring and the quality is AMAZING! Here's hoping this becomes a new genre of investigative journalism throughout YouTube. Please do more of this!

I mean, you could make them circular, if you wanted people to be flatter

Are you serious??? 😑 few days ago I searched up the whole internet for this question cause I needed it for my Physics class. If only u had made this video before 😓

One time I was seated next to a blind middle schooler on Magic Mountain's Revolution. A bunch of people started screaming like as soon as the ride started moving and this 13ish year old just yelled " WHY ARE YOU ALL SCREAMING??? I'M BLIND AND I'M NOT EVEN SCARED!! " Classic pubescent snark 😂

Amazing that a news company can get you interested in almost anything

Nah, we jumped a whole part of history once the tubular steel was mentioned: who thought to go from a one car structure to multicar? And how much testing was involved? I don't like coasters at all but this was an interesting video. Thank you!

“Superdooperlooper” Best name ever for a roller coaster

Tysm I was always uncomfortable about how rollercoasters aren’t round . I thought it would look gorgeous round.

i live super close to hershey and i’m basically there every week or two in the summer and it’s super fun, the sooperdooperlooper was my first ever coaster and it’s what go me into coasters really. it’s a really interesting and fun ride even though it seems kinda lame to today’s standards.