We use shapes like loops and drops to make rides exciting. Engineers call these shapes elements. With Pantheon, an outdoor roller coaster that opened in 2022, we used 1,014 meters (3,327 feet) of track. That gave us room to use a lot of creative ride elements!
For example, in the middle of Pantheon, there’s a section of track where devices called electromagnets use magnetic forces to push the car forward, then backward up a vertical piece of track, then forward again (see Design of Pantheon). Finally, the car builds up enough kinetic energy, the energy of motion, to make it over a 55 meter (180 foot)-tall hill.
At the top of that hill, your car is full of potential energy. Then gravity pulls you down the other side. As you speed over the remaining hills, you feel weightless, like you’re coming out of your seat.