About This Quiz
It's a toss up between which is more fun: a roller coaster or a water slide. They both have breathtaking ascents and hair-raising descents. In fact, a water slide is essentially a roller coaster, just without the safety harness or train seat and with the addition of a little bit of the cold and wet stuff. Want to understand the mechanisms behind these thrilling rides? Take our quiz and get to know all the behind-the-scenes information.According to the World Water park Association, there are more than 1,000 water parks in North America, which were visited by 78 million people in the year 2006.
Water slides, just like roller coasters, are powered by gravity. It is gravity that pulls your body down the slide's descent.
The higher you climb, the greater the potential energy or energy of position. In layman's terms, this means the higher you climb, the further you have to come down.
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Kinetic energy is energy of motion. Gravity converts the potential energy of your ascent of the slide to the kinetic energy of your descent.
A tall slide has more potential energy, because as you climb higher, the potential energy increases or the further you have to come down.
The tallest free fall water slide is the "Summit Plummet" at Walt Disney World's Blizzard Beach. It is 120 feet (37 meters) tall.
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The tallest raft water slide is the "Insane", an 11-story high water slide in Brazil.
The purpose of the water streaming down a water slide is to lubricate the slide, eliminating friction between the slide and your body.
A slide works against gravity -- gravity pulls you downward and the slide pushes you upward, slowing down your acceleration. The ratio of upward and downward energy is dependant on the angle of the slide.
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On a speed slide, the exit flume -- the long, straight canal of water at the end of the slide -- slows you down gradually.
On a speed or sled slide, you move forward in a straight line. On a serpentine, you move forward in all different directions, because of the curves.
On a serpentine slide, the slide works against gravity and your body's own inertia. Your body will naturally want to continue straight at a turn, so the slide has to curve, to force your body to change direction.
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A slide needs a smooth surface for you to glide along. Fiberglass provides this kind of surface.
The individual segments are shaped with a raised lip on one end and a sunken step on the other end so that they fit together. Heavy duty bolts are then used to fasten the fiberglass segments to one and other.
The sharpest turns on a water slide are usually completely enclosed so that no-one will fly off the slide.
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The fiberglass segments of a water slide are supported by a framework of steel girders. The segments often are not directly on top of the girders, but are attached to them by sturdy cantilevers.
Water parks usually use a motorized pump to pump water from the pool at the base of the slide, up through pipes to the top of the slide.
There is usually a one-way valve between the top of the pipe and the pump. This keeps the water inside the pipe when the slide is turned off, so that when the slide is turned on again, there is no need to wait for the pipes to fill -- the water starts to flow immediately.
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Water parks filter the water several times a day through a sand and gravel filter. The sharp edges of the sand and gravel trap any dirt in the water.
A water coaster is a type of water slide on which you travel in a complete circle, because the slide uses gravity to push you downward and water power to push you upward.