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To go several feet high in the air with speed, then to flop and come down in the blink of an eye. This sounds so strange, isn't it?
But, the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions said that every year crores of people stand in queues for hours to have such an adventure.
So, what does this adventure bring to our minds that many people are willing to happily spend money for?
The story of adventure is very old
Man has been in search of thrill or adventure for centuries.
Andy Hine, founder and historian of the 'Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain', told BBC News that the roller coaster originated in Russia about 400 years ago. There people used to make small snowy mountains with the help of wood. Then they would slide down from it.
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"By the 19th century the idea had spread to Europe. There wasn't enough snow in Paris to do it, but after seeing the Russians having so much fun, they wanted to try it out too," Andy Hine tells BBC podcast 'CrowdScience'.
He made a structure of rollers running on wheels on a wooden track, on which people would sit and come down from above. Due to this process of rolling and sliding (coasting), it got its name 'rollercoaster'.
Hine says that it was an ordinary track with a long slope, but during this time its speed was 65 km. It used to reach up to per hour. This speed on a wooden track was remarkable.
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"Scientist Lamarck Thompson, resident of Coney Island, New York, was considered the father of gravity rides. In 1984, he created what we call rollercoaster today. Although at that time it was made entirely of wood."
"Steel designs were introduced in the late 1950s, allowing rollercoasters to go faster and with the addition of large undulations to the track, with banked turns added later."
Hine explains that the trains remained on the track with the help of wheels mounted above and below the track, hence 'inversion' also became possible. That means people could be completely opposite in this."
"Now you can get thrown 14 times in one ride."
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A large part of the thrill of a ride comes from gravity, or G-force, which is a measure of acceleration. When we are sitting still, the Earth's gravitational force acts on us, which is equal to 1g.
Dr. Shauna Pandya, one of Canada's first commercial astronauts, told BBC News that fighter pilots are trained to withstand forces of up to 8G or 9G. This is much more than the gravity that occurs in most roller coasters.
Pandya was spun with the force of 6G in a centrifuge which is a fast rotating machine.
She says, "On just 2G, our body feels twice as heavy. And 6G can be considered as if an elephant is sitting on your chest."
Gravity can be positive or negative depending on its direction. And in both the situations the experience is completely different.
Positive gravitational force occurs when an object or vehicle moves upward at high speed. Like it happens at the time of rocket launch.
It presses you down on your seat, making your body feel heavy.
This experience is often felt most strongly at the bottom of a mountain or slope on a rollercoaster, as the track has to push you up with great force.
At the top of a hill, you feel your body light, because then the G-force reduces to zero or below. In the rollercoaster world this feeling is called "airtime".
If you fall down at the same speed that gravity is pulling you down, you will experience zero gravity.
Pandya tells that a similar experience happens in the lift also. For a few moments you are falling down at the same speed at which your elevator is going down.
So for a moment you can feel complete zero gravity.
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When the force of gravity goes below 0g, it is called negative G-force. When the track suddenly drops sharply after a climb, the train descends faster than your body.
In such a situation, you start rising up from your seat, you remain safe only because of the safety belt.
What does it do to us?
Our nervous system perceives the shocks received on a roller coaster as a real threat. Due to this our 'sympathetic nervous system' becomes active.
This is called the body's fight-or-flight response.
Professor Brendan Walker of Middlesex University, UK, calls himself the world's only thrill engineer.
He tells BBC News that it makes your heart beat faster, the pupils of the eyes dilate and breathing becomes faster.
"But some people still enjoy it."
Dr. Richard Stephens, senior lecturer in psychology at Keele University, UK, says, "Research has shown that in such situations the level of endorphins in our body increases."
"These are our body's feel-good hormones, which reduce stress and make us feel good."
She adds, "Rollercoasters also increase the levels of cortisol in our body, which is called the 'stress hormone'. However, not all stress is bad. Rollercoasters are an example of 'eustress', that is, stress that is perceived positively by the body. It is seen as a challenge, a fun experience and an adventure, rather than something negative."
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Walker believes that inventions are also the reason behind this. They argue that thrills have evolved as a mechanism that serves as a reward for maintaining life on Earth."
"When primitive humans successfully escaped from a predatory animal, 'adrenaline' would flow in their body. With this they would experience relief and happiness."
Walker says that in today's modern life we rarely have to face any such danger.
In such a situation, rides like rollercoaster work as a safe option. That means this is an artificial way of creating exciting moments.
designed for adventure
Walker has studied the heart rates and facial expressions of riders for many years. Their aim was to find out what makes roller coasters exciting.
"If you look at a rollercoaster like a recipe, there are certain ingredients that we look for," he explains.
"These are things that change your emotional state, for example changes in G-forces, very high speeds and altitude."
"The thrill of roller coasters comes from the fact that riders never know what's going to happen next," Walker says.
"The more movements a ride has, like loops and corkscrews, and the more frequently they occur, the more exciting the experience becomes."
Walker said, "There is no time to think about what will happen next. Due to which the riders are always in some kind of emotion."
Hine says where you sit in the ride also makes a difference. More positive G-forces can be felt in the front seat. Sitting at the back experiences more zero gravity.
This speed is not fun for everyone
Many of us may feel nauseous because of the rollercoaster.
Pandya is also a medical doctor, she says that our balance depends on the coordination of three things. What our eyes are seeing, what our inner ears are feeling and what our muscles and joints are telling us about where our body is.
When gravity changes suddenly, these signals do not match each other.
"As soon as we reach a state of zero gravity, the coordination between these three inputs gets disrupted and our brain gets confused. This can lead to vomiting," says Pandya.
For some people, these complications add to the thrill of falling down. For others it merely causes motion sickness.
"Some people are prepared for these experiences, while others are not," says Stephens.
Walker tells about the 'Sensation-Seeking Scale'. It was developed in the 1960s by Professor Marvin Zuckerman of the University of Delaware, USA.
"It divides people into four categories in terms of their search for new experiences."
According to Walker, "There are some people who like thrill and adventure. Such people like skydiving and going on roller coaster."
"Some people like theater or fireworks, there's no risk involved. While some people want to avoid disappointment."
Whether you smile happily or feel nervous while sitting on a rollercoaster depends on your biology and personality. However, for those who like it, it is something different.
In the words of Walker, "People say that when they are full of adventure, they feel as if they are really alive."
Published by Collective Newsroom for the BBC.
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