by Kelly Milner Halls

Special to the Atlanta Journal Constitution News for Kids

 

Cox News Service

ATLANTA -- When Six Flags Over Georgia unveiled the Georgia Scorcher -- its rockin' new, 54-mph, 2.5-minute stand-up roller coaster -- this spring, one thing was on the minds of would-be riders. Fear.

"We all love to be afraid," says Six Flags spokeswoman Terrie Ward. "We love the anticipation that goes along with riding a roller coaster like the Scorcher."

What we love, says Atlanta psychologist Michael White, is the illusion of danger. "Because of safety regulations, we know roller coasters are not really dangerous," he says. "The perfect blend of fear and safety makes roller coasters especially appealing."

Maintaining that balance between scary and safe depends upon the magic of physics -- the science of matter and energy and how they interact.

That science is at work with every lift and loop, every camelback and corkscrew of the Scorcher. For each danger, there is a safeguard. And for every safeguard, there seems to be an element of risk.

The incline

Like most roller coasters, the Scorcher relies on that first, agonizing hill to propel the car through the rest of the ride. As the car inches up the incline, it stores energy to use on the way down. The scientific name for stored energy is "potential energy."

The coaster car saves energy produced by the motor that pulls the car to the top of the hill, says Jeff Templon, professor of nuclear physics at the University of Georgia. That potential energy will be used to power it through the rest of the ride.

The first hill on a roller coaster has to be perfect. Too much height and the coaster might descend too quickly and jump the track when it turns. Too little height, and it won't pick up enough speed to stay safely on the curves.

The drop

That built-up potential energy turns into kinetic energy as the coaster zooms down the first 101-foot hill. Kinetic energy is the energy of movement.

As each car descends, gravity hurls it down the coaster tracks.

Inclined loop

The roller coaster picks up enough speed from heading down the first hill to push the car through the first loop. The kinetic energy used coming down the hill is converted back to potential energy as it climbs the first half of the loop, says Templon. When it descends the other side of the loop, the stored energy converts again to kinetic.

As long as designers make sure the rest of a track is lower than the first hill, the coaster will have enough energy to complete it, Templon says.

Spiral vertical loop

Even though George Lucas didn't invent centripetal force, you may have heard of it. When you go upside down on a coaster, it feels like there's a force pushing you into the seat, preventing you from falling out. Actually, it's only your seat, or, on this ride, the floor, pushing against you, Templon says.

Your body wants to move in a straight line, but the coaster track curves. The seats in the car follow the track and force your body into following that track as well. If the seat was not there pushing you around the loop, you would fall out.

High-speed camelback

When it comes to this two-humped bump, physics is required to prevent physical injury. The makers of restraints -- the straps and harnesses that hold bodies inside roller-coaster cars -- know their products will work. The humps can be especially rough because the shifts are so sudden. When the ride is heading up a hill, the seats are pushing your body up just as centripetal force does. But when the track drops suddenly, your body still may be moving up while the seats and your restraints are headed down.

Corkscrew

Even though gravity never changes, it sometimes feels stronger. That feeling is measured in G-forces. When your body changes direction at high speeds, it will feel like gravity is pulling harder at you. Pilots feel G-forces when they flip or dive in their jets, and so will you when a roller coaster heads through a corkscrew loop. The Scorcher claims forces as high as four Gs (four times the ordinary pull of gravity on the human body) as well as zero Gs (that sense of floating or weightlessness).

For more than 100 years, Colorado has been ressurecting prehistoric beasts.  Now thanks to an incredibly rich fossil heritage and the century old dedication of paleontologists, Coloradans can wander through the lost worlds found.

 

 

Fossil fans rambling down the roads to Estes Park would be missing a great discovery if they did not stop and explore Dick's Rock Museum along the way. Half of the modest but well maintained building is dedicated to permanent geological exhibits from picture agates to coprolites (fossilized dino dung). The other half of the structure is a retail rock and fossil shop.
But buying geologic treasures at Dick's Rock Museum is more than a simple shopping experience - - it's almost personal. What started as a passionate hobby for Nebraska farmer Dick Siebenaler more than half a century ago took a dramatic turn in 1964. While thumbing through the classified section of a rock and mineral magazine, Dick noticed a rock shop for sale in Estes Park.
"I turned to my wife Marilyn and said, 'Hey, you wanna live in Estes Park, Colorado?' She said, sure,' so I telephoned the next day. I never really thought anything would come from it." But within 30 days, Dick, Marilyn and their two children (six-months and two-years-old), were settled in Estes Park.
"We love what we do," owner Dick Siebenaler says of the unique Colorado life he and his wife have made for themselves. "Geology has been good to us. So we try to share what we love with the people who visit the shop."

 

 

A massive Triceratops skull, on permanent loan from the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., is the first prehistoric treasure you'll see as you stroll through University Science Museum's paleo-exhibit. This exact copy of a three-horned skull found and excavated in Wyoming by 1890's fossil hunter Bell Hatcher is scientifically precise, right down to the delicate scars made as the living beast's muscles scraped against bone 65 million years ago.
But dinosaurs are only a part of the University's impressive collection. "We actually specialize in early tertiary fossils - - prehistoric mammals," says museum Curator of Paleontology Peter Robinson. "In fact, we have sponsored field schools for under-graduate students for the past four years."
During those sizzling summer field session, Robinson and his students have gathered dozens of fossilized prehistoric primates, though only a few are on display. "We'd like to see more of the collection on display," Robinson admits. But without money to pay a full-time preparator, it remains only a dreams.
What is on display, including an Edmontosaurus skull, several saber tooth cat skeletons, and a collection donated by one time University staffer Dr. Robert T. Bakker, is well worth exploring. Teaching fossil displays at Hunter Hall, are also open to the public, Monday through Friday.

 

 

WaterWorld claims to be one of the biggest water parks in North America, boasting literally 30 acres of wet and wild warm weather fun. But it's the theme park style "Journey to the Center of the Earth" attraction, not the comparative splash value that earns WaterWorld a place among the ranks of dino-cool.
Thousands of adventurous visitors have already made their way past the turnstiles into four man float tubes and through a fanciful crack in the earth's crust in search of $2.2 million dinosaur thrills. "We wanted to create something unique," says park spokesman Rick Fuller, "and most people agree, 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' is a one-of-a-kind experience."
More than a dozen life-like animated models of dinosaurs (Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops) and other prehistoric creatures (water bound plesiosaurs and flying pterosaurs) roar and ramble throughout the five minute excursion. "They pop out of no where," says twelve-year-old fan Doug Warrick. "The plesiosaur scared me to death. It was great - - it was really, really cool."

 

 

The Denver Museum of Natural History recently spent $6.6 million dollars to showcase some of the finest prehistoric fossils ever collected. The final result, a multi-media exhibit called "Prehistoric Journey," guides visitors through the geologic origins and progress of early life on earth.
Though the dioramas and interpretive displays representing ancient sea life and early reptiles are outstanding, the real magic begins when dinosaurs come into view. In the first dinosaur diorama, gifted museum artists have sculpted a pair of pachycephalosaurus models, dramatically battling for territory or perhaps the right to mate. Near the battling "bone heads" is a Triceratops skull, slowly rotting away in a gurgling Mesozoic stream.
Just beyond that vibrant diorama are more than a dozen individual dinosaur skeletons. Included are thigh high meat eater Coelophysis, its bigger carnivorous cousin Allosaurus, herbivores like the long necked Diplodocus, duckbilled Edmontosaurus and Colorado State fossil Stegosaurus. Each of the skeletons are mounted in dramatic poses. You can almost hear the blood thirsty snap of the Allosaurus jaws as it hovers above the defensive plant eater below.
Prehistoric Journeys goes on to explore prehistoric mammals such as woolly mammoths and early rhinos, prehistoric primates and eventually early man. The combination of these remarkable exhibits make the Denver Museum of Natural History's stroll through the past a definite "must" for any Colorado fossil fan's future.

 

 

Millions of years ago, herds of long necked Apatosaurus, plated Stegosaurus, sharp toothed Allosaurus and grazing Iguanodon roamed the sandy prehistoric beaches near what would become Morrison, a sleepy bedroom community only ten minutes from downtown Denver.
Massive fossilized bones and trackways may be all the great lumbering beasts left behind, but every fossil tells a story. For example, adult Iguanodon tracks preserved in stone along side smaller juvenile tracks imply the herds may have sandwiched their young between their adult bodies to shield them from predatory attacks. Any plant eating Iguanodon baby left unattended would prove an easy snack for any blood thirsty Allosaurus waiting behind the next sandy bluff.
The Friends of Dinosaur Ridge, a non-profit group championed by famed dinosaur tracker Martin Lockeley of the University of Denver, have made the stories easy to read. Ten roadside markers along a one mile stretch of road point out and detail the incredible fossil discoveries first made by Arthur Lake and his excavation Halls, team during the earliest days of paleontological history. One marker explains how these fossilized bones helped spark the "dinosaur goldrush" of the late 1800s. Another explains that rounded bulges in reddish stone are actually the sunken tracks left behind by a group of bulky Apatosaurus. Still another marker points out rippling water marks left by the wake of an ancient seaside current.
Park your car at the foot of the ridge and hike, or effortlessly drive from marker to marker. But don't miss this unique opportunity to capture a glimpse of not only how dinosaurs died, but how they might have lived as well.

 

 

When you roll into Florissant, Colorado the word "fossil" creeps into your field of vision again and again and again. It seems the whole town is proud of the prehistoric discoveries made in and around Teller County during the last 100 years.
According to Park Ranger Tom Ulrich, 60 to 80,000 late Eocene fossil specimens nearly 35 million-years-old have been recovered from Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. And while most have been distributed to educational facilities around the world, several hundred of the best fossils are on exhibit at the park visitors center.
"After a traumatic volcanic eruption," says Ranger Ulrich, "feather light ash settled on bits of plants, seeds, leaves and insects, creating a very gentle form of preservation. Every minute detail was captured. As a result, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is known primarily for the incredible detail and diversity of our plant and insect fossils."
Dozens of Sequoia tree stumps petrified just outside the visitors center are as massive as the plant and insect specimens inside are delicate. "Again, these are volcanic fossils," says Ranger Ulrich. "Silica rich mud flow preserved these stumps." The mineral rich waters saturated the massive tree trunks, eventually replacing the organic matter with a mineralized or petrified mirror image. The protective coating of volcanic ash and river sediments protected the ancient fossils underground until scientists discovered and excavated them millions of years later.
"We estimate there are 80 to 100 stumps preserved at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument," says Ranger Ulrich, "but less than half are exposed." Once a fossil is exposed to natural elements of erosion like weather, they are in danger. "Leaving the remaining fossils underground is the best way to protect them for generations to come."

 

 

Dinosaur hunters including O.W. Lucas first discovered Canyon City in the late 1800s during the height of the historic dinosaur "bone wars." Once on the scene, they found the rocky beauty of geologic layers harbored much more than visual delights. A wealth of prehistoric treasure had been softly entombed in stone millions of years before they arrived.
Lucas soon began to gently remove the bones from their rocky burial jackets, and it's a tradition that continues today. Two of only three Stegosaurus specimens ever found were unearthed in Canyon City - - one as recently as 1992. That is a fact even more significant, if you consider the fact that Stegosaurus is the official Colorado State Fossil. Teams from the Denver Museum of Natural History unearthed a rare dinosaur nesting site just two years later in 1994.
Though the Denver Museum of Natural History is the designated fossil repository -- technical storehouse -- for fossils found on federal lands in Canyon City, the Dinosaur Depot takes pride in celebrating Canyon City's proud paleo heritage. Headquartered in Canyon City's converted turn-of-the-century firehouse, the small museum proudly exhibits fossil casts and educational displays based on both recent and historic paleontological discoveries.
Technicians in a working fossil lab work to remove stone from fossilized Stegosaurus bones as visitors look on through glass observation windows. The finished bone will go to the Denver Museum of Natural History for study and careful preservation. But a cast or exact copy of the Stegosaurus will eventually be the cornerstone of the Dinosaur Depot's exhibits.
More than 21,000 visitors have explored the old firehouse since it opened in June of 1995. But if its organizers have their way, the Dinosaur Depot will one day be dwarfed by the Dinosaur Discovery Center. "Canyon City is known for well preserved, well articulated dinosaur fossils," says spokesperson Dawn Maroni. "Once it's complete, the Dinosaur Discovery Center will do those fossils justice." Until then, the Dinosaur Depot offers a look back into some of Colorado's finest dinosaur history.

 

 

Dinamation International Society is considered by many to be the perfect blend of science and fantasy, when it comes to dinosaurian endeavors. Creator Chris Mayes formed the dinosaur robotics firm in Southern California more than a decade ago in answer to what he saw as a need for new, energized blood in the realm of museum displays.
Devil's Canyon Science and Learning Center, located just outside Grand Junction, is Dinamation's first attempt at a long term, permanent exhibit. Not only are there a dozen or more life-sized animated dinosaur dioramas, there are also interactive hands-on educational exhibits for kids. A state-of-the-art working fossil lab was created at the same location to process genuine paleontological discoveries made by the science arm of the Dinamation International Society.
Expert paleontologists contributing fossil finds to the Dinamation organization include famed Colorado dinosaurologists Dr. Robert Bakker and Dr. Jim Kirkland, the man credited with finding and naming Utahraptor. And visitors are welcome to watch the science of bone preparation as it happens.
But it is fun, not science that will keep young paleo fans enchanted at Devil's Canyon. Whether it's a vicious Utahraptor snarling victorious as it gnaws on the detached head of a long necked sauropod or a wild eyed Dilophosaurus waiting to spray unsuspecting Passers-by with streams of icy water, the moving models capture the imagination of kids of all ages, and might never let go.

 

 

Paleontologists:

Dr. Robert T. Bakker -- Colorado based dinosaurologist and media star Robert Bakker is perhaps the best known paleontologist in the world, thanks to his outspoken visibility in dinosaur video programming. His signature straw hat, beard and pony tail make him easy to pick out of a crowd. But his education (degrees from both Harvard and Yale) and his extensive field experience have won him respect as well as fame. His novel, RAPTOR RED, earned him a hefty book advance and literary honors a little less than two years ago.

John Bell Hatcher -- John Bell Hatcher was Yale University paleontologist O.C. Marsh's right hand man before going west to make fossil discoveries of his own. In the late 1880s, Hatcher worked the iron ore mines of Maryland and collected a large number of dinosaur and other fossils from the Arundel Clay unit of the Potomac Group. Hatcher's efforts on behalf of Marsh resulted in the most dinosaur material to have ever been collected in Maryland.

Dr. Jim Kirkland -- Jim Kirkland, on staff as Dinamation International's Senior Paleontologist, has both educational and field experiences second to none. His ability to collect and makes sense of scattered bone fragments and detail has earned him the respect and admiration of his peers within the field of paleontology, as well as countless video sound bites on dinosaur documentaries for the past decade. But it was the discovery of Utahraptor that really brought Dr. Kirkland the notice he so richly deserved.

Dr. Martin Lockeley -- Known as the leader of the Dinosaur Trackers, Martin Lockeley has an unparalleled level of expertise when it comes to studying the rocky tracks these prehistoric beasts left behind. On staff at the University of Denver's Geology department, he has championed the cause of Dinosaur Ridge, a remarkable natural resource only minutes from downtime Denver, in addition to collecting paleontological data all over the world.

Historic Note

"bone wars"

The friendship and subsequent angry rivalry 19th century scientists Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope experienced was so heated, so intense and so productive, it became known as the great "bone war."
Marsh, backed by his wealthy Uncle George Peabody and Yale College (now known as Yale University), was tipped off to rich fossil deposits west of Denver in Morrison by local educator Arthur Lake in 1877.
O.W. Lucas, a Colorado contemporary of Lake's, also discovered dinosaur bone beds south of Denver in Canon City. Lucas dedicated his discoveries to Edward Drinker Cope. And so the race was on.
By the late 1890s, more than 130 different new species of dinosaurs had been named and collected from Colorado to Wyoming, thanks to the fierce and personal "bone wars" competition.

Colorado State Fossil

Stegosaurus was declared the Colorado State Fossil on April 28, 1982 after grade school students petitioned to make it so.

Coprolites

Coprolites are the fossilized "droppings" of dinosaur. Shape and content determine whether or not a meat eater or plant eater left the unusual "deposits" behind.

Dinosaur Nesting Site

Canyon City's rich paleontological history was revisited in July of 1993 when a team from the Denver Museum of Natural History, the Bureau of Land Management and the Garden Park Paleontological Society excavated one of the most remarkable dinosaur nesting sights ever discovered. The nest, thought to be one of the oldest clutches of eggs, contained at least three different layers of eggs.
The eggs were left by 145 million-year-old Dryosaurus, a small plant-eater common to Colorado.

GARY STAAB

By Kelly Milner Halls

Having Gary Staab on staff was a handy resource when it came time for the Denver Museum of Natural History to create 3-D dinosaurs for "Prehistoric Journey" exhibit. Staab brought an impressive level of creative expertise to the table when he joined forces with two other DMNH exhibit designers to create a number of models. At 29-years-old, the Nebraska educated paleo-artist's has more than half a dozen years of practical experience under his belt, including an internship at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. and a close association with famed anthropological artist and DMNH research associate John Gurche.
One look at Staab's finished work, including Prehistoric Journey's Coelophysiscut away diorama, says volumes about his skill as an artist. Designed to give visitors an inside-out look at how the wolf-sized meat eater might have looked and lived 70 million years ago, the exhibit explores not only the fossilized skeletal structure excavated by paleontologists, but subjective theory on how muscle, meat and skin might have dressed out the bones.
"I started by photographing the museum's existing Coelophysis skeletal mount, put together by DMNH paleontologist Ken Carpenter," Staab says. "I studied the bones themselves." Intricate scars on bones themselves are the best way to study and understand where muscles attached and how. According to Staab, if the scars are deep, the animal was strong and active. That behavior, he says, should be reflected in the art. "Next I made a series of bone drawings to better understand this animal's anatomy."
Once Gary had the anatomical details of Coelophysis firmly in mind, the artisticprocess began. In a period of two months, Staab sculpted every part of the beast - -from muscle to skin to tongue to teeth - - in clay. "I even had to sculpt all the exposed bone parts because the fossils were far too fragile to cast."
Dinosaur skin proved especially challenging. "I had one fossilized skin impression from a predatory dinosaur," he says, "that indicated non-overlapping scales." So Staab created a rubber peel based on that impression and similar samples from a large modern Indonesian monitor lizard known as the Komodo Dragon. He used the skin stamp wherever possible. But when skin surfaces were limited by size, he sculpted each individual scale by hand.
Staab took special care when crafting the Coelophysis head. "I tried to keep the skull really tight...identical to the actual articulation itself. Because it's the face - the eyes - - that give a model life." He studied dozens of competition grade taxidermy eyes before making an amber colored selection. He crafted each razor sharp Coelophysis tooth - - a hundred or more (32 on the lower left jaw alone) - - by hand.
In his devotion to detail, Staab even created a controversial Coelophysis tongue to place inside the sculpted mouth. "Not everyone would agree with me on that one," he admits, "but this was an animal moving a lot of meat through it's mouth. It's probably going to have something to help manipulate that food."
Once content with the sculpture, Staab made a latex mold and cast an exact duplicate model for exhibition. "I used a translucent resin to guarantee that meaty look," he says. The earthy colors he used to paint the finished project were based on what many see as modern dinosaur counterparts - - reptiles and birds, though in this case, Staab did exercise a measure of creative self-control. "There are so many brightly colored birds and reptiles, it's always a temptation to paint in super bright,exaggerated tones. But in this case, the inner spaces - - the muscles and flesh of the cut-away - - were so colorful, I stayed away from that."
Staab sees his work as only a part of the brilliance that made Prehistoric Journeys what it is. "Each of us, because of interest levels and experience, were drawn to certain things," Staab says. But he admits, "Prehistoric Journeys was the kind of project I'd trained most of my life to create."

Credits

Lost World Found Colorado Dinosaurs written by Kelly Millner Halls.
Dinosaur Illustrations by Rick Speers
Produced and designed by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , Pocket Protector Productions, for Digital City Denver.