Coasters are the elaborate waltz of engineering and physics. If you're going to do a project on coasters, it's going to be hard to avoid "what makes a roller coaster move." That's why physics teachers usually plan a trip to a Theme Park after talking about gravity and work equations. Coasters are basically about gravity, friction, and kinetic energy. Those are the easiest things to talk about if you?????????re doing a science project about coasters, and, yeah, they all "make a roller coaster move."
Your best route is to talk about physics and roller coasters, and turning potential energy into kinetic energy when the train goes over the top of the lift hill, and how some energy is converted into heat with friction between the rails and the wheels. Show things like how (without the help of LIMS or any other booster) a train can't go higher than the first hill, and how at the end of a ride the train can't go as high as it used to because the train is losing energy. Coaster projects are usually fun real world math and physics examples.
Originally posted by hyyyper
"Does a full train go faster than an empty train?"
That?????????s a question answered with Force = Mass * Acceleration, where Mass is different based on the load of the train . . . So it's just more Physics, he?????????d probably get to show more with a broader question, and I'm just guessing that the more stuff that's going on with his project the better he?????????ll do.