Luna Park Physics Excursion
On March 9, Mac.Rob’s VCE Unit 3/4 Physics students were lucky enough to escape classrooms and assessment to enjoy a thrill-seeking day at Luna Park in beautiful St Kilda. At the start of the day, we were completely ready to take on each and every ride! All of a sudden, abstract concepts like centripetal force and tension came to life in the form of roller coasters, screaming students and a whole lot of fun! A fan favourite was the Supernova ride, a 360-degree ride that made us scream for joy as it spun you around at wild speeds. Even the teachers got in on the fun, spotted taking a break from marking to hop on the rides.
Believe it or not, exclamations of “acceleration is proportional to net force!” could be heard from students held upside down in midair! There were even rumours of students trying to calculate the normal force on the Ferris Wheel (hint: It is less than gravity at the top). At the end of the day, students could be seen leaving with prizes from the arcade or shaken up from braving the infamous Pharaoh’s Curse, a vertical loop of terror. Maybe with newfound Unit 4 knowledge, we’ll get to tackle the scarier rides next time...
Megan M and Amrita M