Ride Speeds - Can They Change?

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Roller coasters are just that... "coasters."
The vehicles are hoisted to the top of a lift hill... and released.
(There can be more than one lift hill per coaster track.)

The only way to slow them down, mid-ride, is to switch on the (on the tracks) safety brakes (there are several places with safety brakes) and stop them at that emergency stop point.

You can turn off those brakes though. My little sister knew someone who worked an amusement park and they turned the emergency brake off for our ride and it was noticeably faster.

 

[kaceyo]

The back car on roller coasters is often faster due to the acceleration and gravity pull of the previous cars. We noticed this especially on Big Thunder

 

[OKW Lover]

The back car on roller coasters is often faster due to the acceleration and gravity pull of the previous cars. We noticed this especially on Big Thunder

Umm, if that were true wouldn't they pass the front cars?

 

[Networth]

The back car on roller coasters is often faster due to the acceleration and gravity pull of the previous cars. We noticed this especially on Big Thunder

Think you may have meant as the last car comes over a lift hill the whole train starts to pick up speed.

 

[kaceyo]

"Imagine a coaster train reaching the top of a hill. As it ascends, it slows down because gravity is pulling on it from behind. But when the first car makes it over the apex, gravity starts pulling that car down the other side of the hill. Because of gravity's pull, the first car starts to accelerate, which accelerates the second car, which accelerates the third car and so on. In this way, all of the rear cars are accelerated by the motion of the first car, so they all start accelerating at different points along the track. By the time the last car moves over the hump, gravity has already accelerated the first car a good bit. Consequently, the rear car will have a higher acceleration at the top of the hill than the first car did. This increased force essentially whips the car over the top, briefly pushing up on the riders so that they almost fly out of their seats."
http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/engines-equipment/question624.htm