Science at the Amusement Park

Abstract

What is up? What is down? What is a straight line? With beating heart we face the unusual movements. An amusement park is a large hands-on physics laboratory, full of rotating coordinate systems, free-falling bodies and vector additions. It gives ample opportunity to experience Newton's laws with eyes, hands and body. The amusement park Liseberg in Göteborg is the largest amusement park of Scandinavia. It has long physics traditions - Albert Einstein gave a talk at Liseberg in 1923! Liseberg has many rides well suited for physics investigations, using simple equipment, as well as electronic accelerometers. Some investigations can easily be adapted to the local playground. The heartbeat responds in different ways, both to the various accelerations and rotations of the body, but also to the thrill when in the queue. It can be monitored with electrodes on the body and the signal sent down to ground to be viewed in real-time by the classmates.