Coloring and Physics

Hi everybody, Hannah and Kelly here to give you the update on May 22nd, day nine of our trip!  

Coloring and Physics Fun:

Now, we know what you're thinking, they get to go to DisneyWorld every day and now coloring?  Well, that's not quite the case.  Today, Dr. Harris taught the group about a specific set of problems in Graph Theory called colorings.  Colorings are when you take a graph, made up of vertices and edges, and try to "color" each vertex so that no two connected vertices have the same color.  These colorings help to visualize scheduling problems and to determine the fewest number of workers needed for specific intervals.Next, Dr. Bouzarth joined in on the fun and began to explain some of the physics behind our favorite Disney rides.  Included in our lesson was a discussion of forces, conservation of energy, and magnetism.  For example, the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster in Hollywood Studios uses both permanent magnets and electromagnets to create the 0 to 60 launch at beginning of the ride. 

Afternoon Park Fun:

After discussing our favorite attractions and how physics played a part in creating the experience, we headed over to Hollywood Studios to see some physics in action.We all headed over to The Voyage of the Little Mermaid, which is a brief retelling of the movie with live preforming, puppets, clips from the movie, and wet water effects. We then split up for a bit while some of us headed over to The Tower of Terror and experience the ride, now equipped with knowledge of how Disney uses physics to make the ride more exciting. When the elevator car drops, it is actually moving to the ground faster than it would if only gravity was pulling it to the ground, which gives the rider that weightless feeling at the top. Another portion of the group headed over to the Animation Studio and to meet Mickey and Minnie. We then all met up again to watch a car stunt show called Lights, Motors, Action, which most everyone enjoyed. After that the group split again and some went and enjoyed some delicious ice cream while others went and rode the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. We then reunited for some friendly competition on Toy Story Mania to end our day.

Tomorrow is Disney’s 24-hour event called “Rock Your Disney Side” where the Magic Kingdom is open from 6AM Friday morning until 6AM Saturday morning. This day at the park will be filled with special events and lots of fun dance parties. A (probably crazy) group is planning to wake up at 4AM to get to the Magic Kingdom early tomorrow before it even opens to be there as the rope drops (and to participate in the “Frozen Family 5k” and hopefully meet Princesses Elsa and Anna from Disney’s movie Frozen).