A CM-Tech Textbooklet

The Physics of Wheeee

— Instructor / Administrator Companion Guide —

Bringing an Amusement Park to the Yard:

A Working Guide to Ride Rentals, Event Insurance, Guest Lectures,

and the Capstone Ride-Design Project for Physics 101

References University Physics Volume 1 by OpenStax

(But almost any Physics textbook should work, the laws of Physics don’t exactly change, just our understanding of them)

CM-Tech First Edition 

The Cade Moore Polytechnic Institute

Faculty & Program-Administrator Edition

A Letter to Whoever Is Reading This

Hi there,

You are potentially reading this because somebody at a US correctional facility, at CM-Tech, or in one of our partner programs thinks that bringing a traveling amusement ride (or a whole midway) into a yard for a day or two is a pretty interesting idea — and they want to do it right. This document is for you.

Many middle and high-school physics classes take field trips to amusement parks. The teacher hands out an accelerometer or similar worksheets, the students ride two or three rides, and later as homework they write up what they felt.

It works. The reason is simple: an amusement park is kind-of like a gigantic physics laboratory that happens to also be the most fun place within a hundred miles. You cannot convince a 19-year-old that angular momentum matters in the abstract. Put that same 19-year-old on a Scrambler and they might truly feel angular momentum for the first time in their life.

Many of our students cannot physically go to amusement parks. So, this textbooklet focuses on the inverse operation — bringing the amusement park to the students. It covers the whole process, starting from "which companies even rent these things out," navigating insurance and logistics, then into a potential learning goldmine: guest lectures from the ride crew, a capstone design project that uses real insurance classifications as its design constraints, and a ride-by-ride map of which chapter of University Physics Volume 1 (OpenStax) each ride teaches best.

This is a companion to the student textbooklet of the same name, The Physics of Wheeee, which is itself a companion to University Physics Volume 1 by OpenStax. In our tradition we call these little books textbookLETS — little books that go along with big textbooks. If a student cannot figure out a problem from the short textbooklet alone, the little book tells them exactly where to look in the big book. If they still cannot solve it, the textbooklet gives hints. If they still cannot solve it, eventually the textbooklet will tell them. But not until they should have had a proper go at it themselves, the way Newton and Leibniz did when there was no big book yet.

One last thing. Many of our students are naturally a little rebellious.

That can actually be a good trait to have in an engineer. 

Engineers use their understanding of science to defy the rules of the universe, like gravity. In this textbooklet we lean into it: the capstone ride-design project is framed around an insurance-premium threshold, and the game is to stay just under the line that would bump your ride into the next insurance tier. It turns the math into a game where insurance policies are like the referee, and your slide rule is one of the game pieces.

We hope you enjoy the journey, and we hope that you and our students have a truly transformative and fun experience.

— The CM-Tech Team

About the Cade Moore Polytechnic Institute

The Cade Moore Polytechnic Institute (CM-Tech) is a nonprofit polytechnic institution delivering STEAM (STEM + Art) education to incarcerated learners across the United States and disadvantaged learners everywhere through 3rd party partnerships.

For example, our content reaches incarcerated students through two partnerships. The first is with Edovo, a secure e-learning platform available on tablets in over half of U.S. correctional facilities. The second is with the Prison Library Project, administered by the Claremont Forum in California, which can mail physical course materials to facilities without tablet access. Together these two channels allow our educational content to reach the majority of the U.S. prison population.

CM-Tech is a board-governed nonprofit institution, not owned or operated by any individual or company.  It is a private school without any religious or political affiliations.

Our values center on respect for learner privacy, accessibility of language and imagery, and the central idea that education should be made fun again.

This document is an internal-facing faculty and administrator companion guide. It is not itself meant to be student-facing, although many of the ideas in Parts VII, VIII, and IX are designed to flow directly into the student textbooklet of the same name.

How This Guide Is Organized

This is a long document. It is not meant to be read in one sitting. It is structured so you can skip ahead to the part you need and stop where it makes sense to.

Part I — The Big Idea

Why bringing amusement park rides to a facility is worth the hassle. Precedents, pedagogy, how it connects to existing CM-Tech materials.

Part II — Who Rents You an Amusement Park

National midway operators, regional carnivals, single-ride specialists, inflatables-and-more rental companies, and the industry directories.

Part III — Approaching Vendors

How to talk to these companies. What you can offer them. Why Monday through Wednesday and potentially winter-time rentals can sometimes be discounted.

Part IV — Getting the Ride onto the Yard

Logistics. Space, power, surfaces, weather, crew background checks, count-time integration, inspection certificates.

Part V — Insurance

Arguably the most important (and somewhat boring) section. Covers types of coverage, major providers, potential strategies to reduce premiums, a potential adjuster “playbook”, and the documentation that can address issues before they happen.

Part VI — Guest Lectures

The educational multiplier. What the ride crew can teach and how it feeds into our electrical-engineering major today and the potential mechanical-engineering major in the future.  (Being a Polytechnic means that we only teach a handful of things, but we teach them very well.)

Part VII — Ride Types and the Physics They Teach

A matrix mapping rides to the chapters of University Physics Volume 1 they demonstrate best.

Part VIII — The Capstone

The student project. ASTM standards are the the rules of the game. Insurance tiers as the threshold. The goal?  Channel rebellious "malicious compliance" energy into mathematical analysis.

Part IX — Things You Might Not Have Considered

A brainstorming section on additional items to consider incorporating in the future.

Part X — Further Reading and Resources

Books, papers, free student workbooks, standards organizations, trade bodies.

Appendices

Email templates, a documentation checklist, and the full OpenStax chapter-mapping matrix.

Part I. The Big Idea

Why this works

It has been documented in U.S. physics education for at least forty years that students learn kinematics, dynamics, and circular motion dramatically better when they have felt the forces involved with their own bodies. The earliest written program we found is Carolyn Sumners and Howard Jones's "Roller Coaster Science" (1983, Science and Children), and by the late 1980s Jearl Walker at Scientific American had published "Thinking about physics while scared to death on a falling roller coaster." Today, nearly every mid-size and large amusement park in the United States runs a Physics Day program — Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags Great America, Cedar Point, California's Great America, Valleyfair, and many others each publish free downloadable student workbooks.

The leading modern researcher is Ann-Marie Pendrill at the University of Gothenburg and Lund University, whose book Physics for the Whole Body in Playgrounds and Amusement Parks (AIP Publishing, 2021) is the closest thing the field has to a bible. Pendrill has spent two decades publishing in Physics Education on exactly this pedagogy. On the ride-design side, Brendan Walker — the self-described "thrill engineer" at Middlesex University, who has advised Alton Towers and Thorpe Park — has written extensively about G-force, jerk, and jounce as the signals the body reads when deciding whether something is "exciting" or "terrifying."

The pedagogy is not experimental. It has been studied, validated, and is routinely used in high-school and college physics programs. The only thing keeping it out of our programs is the logistical gap — most of our students cannot be transported to an amusement park. So we wrote this guide to help facility administrators bring an amusement park to the students.

Why this is actually feasible

Traveling carnivals are a bigger business than most people realize. North American Midway Entertainment describes itself as "the world's largest traveling outdoor amusement park" and owns over 225 rides. The Outdoor Amusement Business Association (OABA) has been the industry's trade body for over fifty years. Individual rides can be rented for corporate events, weddings, and private parties — several companies listed in Part II will rent a single Ferris wheel for a flat fee, with setup, breakdown, operators, and generator included.

Many operators run full schedules Thursday through Sunday — state fairs, county fairs, community festivals — but have significant downtime Monday through Wednesday. Many also take the winter off entirely (roughly December through February in the Northeast and Upper Midwest; Florida- and California-based operators might work year-round). Their rides, trucks, and crews are physically parked during those windows. If your event calendar aligns with their downtime and with their route, the marginal cost to the carnival company of showing up at a facility is much lower than their peak rate — which is your opening for a philanthropic or bulk-discount pitch.

Precedents in corrections

This is not a novel idea. The New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision runs a formal Special Events Program that includes Family Day Picnics, religious and ethnic celebrations, and community volunteer entertainment. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation runs Get on the Bus, which annually transports children and caregivers into prisons for a day of family visitation that includes photos, meals, and structured activities. The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has, in past years, hosted a picnic at Knoebels Amusement Park.

What we are suggesting is the natural synthesis of those three precedents: a one- or two-day educational event, tied to existing Family Day visitation infrastructure, where the entertainment component is simultaneously the physics laboratory for the Physics 101 course. The rides can be enjoyed by students, by staff and their families, and by visiting family members of the incarcerated population — all on the same day.

Why this fits our existing curriculum

CM-Tech's Physics 101 course already uses OpenStax's University Physics Volume 1 as its "big book" and our own textbooklet The Physics of Wheeee as its little book. Physics 101 is organized around amusement-park phenomena because that is where most of the classical mechanics curriculum visibly lives. The roller coaster is Chapters 7 and 8. The Scrambler is Chapters 10 and 11. The pirate ship is Chapter 15. The Gravitron is Chapter 6.

Physics 102 uses OpenStax's Volume 2 and is built around electromagnetism — and we have a tabletop role-playing campaign in our Realms of Redemption game system where the players are adventurers hired by Nikola Tesla to rescue Topsy the elephant from execution by electrocution.*  That campaign ends in a heist: the players have to figure out how to extract the elephant from a circus grounds undetected, using only technology they can build by hand with the materials of the early 1900s. A ride day at a facility is, in a very real sense, the live-action cousin of that campaign. The circus comes to you, and the physics is real.

*Topsy is an actual elephant who was killed by electrocution in 1903.  It was recorded by a film company associated with Thomas Edison who was alleged to have electrocuted stray animals with AC electricity in an attempt to prove to the public that Tesla’s AC current was dangerous as part of a bitter rivalry.

What you are learning with this guide

By the end of this document you should be able to:

• Identify the ride-rental provider most likely to be within driving distance of a given facility.

• Understand their business cycle well enough to ask for the right kind of discount at the right time of year.

• Book an appropriate insurance policy with the right endorsements and additional-insured language.

• Anticipate what documentation / information that an insurance adjuster might request if a claim happens, and pre-document to avoid potential issues.

• Walk a ride crew through a facility safety orientation and count-time integration.

• Recruit one or more ride operators as volunteer guest lecturers.

• Assign the Physics 101 capstone ride-design project using real ASTM standards and realistic insurance-tier constraints.

• Map any ride you book onto the specific OpenStax chapters it teaches best.

Part II. Who Rents You an Amusement Park

The U.S. outdoor-amusement industry divides into three overlapping tiers: national full-midway operators (who will set up an entire traveling fair), regional midway operators (same thing at smaller scale, usually within a few-state region), and single-ride or small-package rentals (a Ferris wheel here, a carousel there, often with inflatables and carnival games mixed in). A fourth tier — nationwide inflatable and "adult-sized" bounce-house rental companies — sits alongside the carnivals and is worth its own section.

We surveyed the major companies in each tier below. Phone numbers, addresses, and capacities change; treat the details as a starting point for outreach, not a fixed record.

National tier — full midway providers

North American Midway Entertainment (NAME)

Based in Farmland, Indiana. Owns and operates over 225 rides and describes itself as "the world's largest traveling outdoor amusement park." Services 20+ states. Corporate event rentals are handled by their corporate marketing director; they have run midway packages for the NCAA Finals, NFL Drafts, concerts, and many state fairs. Packages can be as small as a single ride or as large as a full midway; ride-and-operator packages include transportation, setup, breakdown, site wiring, and uniformed staff. Website: namidway.com. Corporate rentals page: namidway.com/rentals/corporate-rentals.

Wade Shows, Inc.

Self-described as "America's Largest Family-Owned Provider of Carnival and Amusement Rides." Headquartered in Michigan. Tracked as one of the top carnival-route operators on CarnivalWarehouse.com. Website: wadeshowsinc.com.

Amusements of America

Founded at the 1939 New York World's Fair when the Vivona brothers bought their first Ferris wheel. Now second- and third-generation family run. Two units travel "from Vermont to Florida and everywhere in between," hitting decades-long county-fair and community-festival contracts along the way. Website: amusementsofamerica.com.

Dreamland Amusements

Headquartered in Delco, North Carolina. Carries over 50 rides on the East Coast (FL, GA, SC, NC, VA, WV, MD, DE, DC, PA, NY, CT, VT, MA, NH, ME). Has explicitly listed corporate event, school event, fundraiser, and TV/movie-production rentals as services alongside their fair work — they have even supplied rides for the White House Congressional Picnic. Website: dreamlandamusements.com.

Reithoffer Shows, Strates Shows, Deggeller Attractions

Three additional large East Coast / Southeast operators that appear on almost every industry top-carnival list and are tracked by the CarnivalWarehouse.com routes tool. Consider reaching out through carnivalwarehouse.com/tracker/routes.

Regional tier — multi-state carnivals

Powers Great American Midways

Mid-Atlantic operator (NC, VA, MD, PA) with a public event schedule. Useful because their current-season dates are posted on the web: you can look at their schedule, find a date that has them "dark" (no booking), and propose a Monday–Wednesday facility visit between listed stops. Schedule: powersgreatamericanmidways.com/event-schedule.htm.

Brass Ring Amusements / Midway of Fun

California-based, serves CA, WY, ID, MT, UT, CO. Self-branded "California's Friendliest Carnival." Family-owned since 1985. Good fit for western U.S. facilities. Website: midwayoffun.com.

Carnival Midway Attractions

Orange, California. Fourth-generation family-owned. Explicitly advertises corporate rental and movie-production services alongside fair work. Services CA, WY, ID, MT, UT, CO. Tony Guadagno, the owner, is the midway coordinator for the San Diego County Fair. Website: carnivalmidwayattractions.com.

Modern Midways

Midwest-based (Dyer, IN). Self-described as "a glittering galaxy of spectacular state fair amusement rides and attractions, a mobile family fun fair and theme park for all ages." Website: modernmidways.com.

Single-ride and small-package rentals

These companies are easier to work with for a first-time event because they expect small bookings and usually hold a simpler fleet.

Big Round Wheel

Ferris-wheel specialist serving the Carolinas, Georgia, and (on advance planning) nationwide and international. Flat-fee rentals include power source and on-site staff; signage and decals can be added for sponsor branding. Website: bigroundwheel.com.

Cushing Amusements (Massachusetts)

Will rent anywhere from a single ride to a 25-ride fleet. Offers site-plan support, generator options, and operates on concrete, asphalt, gravel, or level grass. Explicitly has experience adding amusement-device licenses in new states on request — useful if your facility's state is one where the operator is not pre-licensed. Website: cushingamusements.com/rentals.

Palmetto Amusements (South Carolina)

Services corporate events, campus festivals, and church picnics, with explicit nationwide reach on advance planning. Website: palmettoamusements.com.

CoCo Events (NYC / tri-state)

Ferris wheels, teacup rides, kid roller coasters, lollipop swings, Ferris wheels, full midway setups for up to 5,000 guests. Explicitly handles NYC, Long Island, NJ, CT, with nationwide reach on advance planning. Useful reference points from their site: small kiddie rides need about 20×20 feet, mid-sized rides about 30×30, and large rides 40 feet or more of clearance. Most larger rides need 208V or 480V power; they can provide generators. Website: cocoeventsnyc.com.

North American Amusement (New England)

Full-service provider in MA, RI, NH with CORI-checked staff. Good fit for Northeast facilities. Website: northamericanamusement.com.

BYB Event Services

Provides Ferris wheels, carousels, trackless trains, and portable carnival games for city festivals, corporate events, college events, and school fairs. Notable for their customer-experience focus on booking consultation. Website: backyardbounceevents.com.

Inflatables, mechanical bulls, and adult-sized attractions

These are the most accessible option for a first event. An adult-sized inflatable obstacle course, mechanical bull, portable mini-golf, portable bumper cars, or zorb-ball track can give you almost all of the physics teaching value of a ride at a fraction of the insurance and logistics complexity.

Sky High Party Rentals

Nationwide delivery, Inc. 5000 three times. Large inventory of bounce houses, mechanical bulls, water slides, obstacle courses. 25% deposit on large nationwide events (over $1,000) such as school-district or large-conference rentals. Standard units are 13×13 ft or 15×15 ft, needing 17–20 ft of clearance. Wind cutoff: 15 mph. Website: skyhighpartyrentals.com.

3 Monkeys Inflatables (Central PA / Northern MD)

Remarkably deep adult-inventory catalog: adult obstacle courses, human foosball, rock climbing walls, Euro Bungee trampolines, portable bumper cars, mechanical bull, portable axe throwing, portable zip lines, 9-hole mini golf (inflatable and wooden), portable escape rooms, VR stations, portable casino parties, dunk tanks, and a "Twin Spin" carnival ride. 20+ years in business. Website: 3monkeysinflatables.com/adult-bounce-house-rentals/.

Inflatable Party Magic (DFW, Texas)

Adult-size water bounce houses, slip-and-slides, mechanical bulls, rock walls, human hamster balls, virtual-reality roller coaster, Euro Bungee, portable bumper cars. Useful inventory for a mid-summer Texas facility event. Website: inflatablepartymagictx.com/adult-bounce-house-rentals/.

Regional inflatable operators

Every metro area has at least one. Search terms that work: "adult bounce house rental," "portable mechanical bull rental," "portable bumper cars rental." Additional regional providers we logged include Jump City Inflatable Rentals (Minneapolis/Twin Cities), L.A. Inflatables Rental (Los Angeles), Bouncy Rentals (Baltimore/MD), and TentandTable (nationwide equipment supplier).

Industry directories — how to find operators near a facility

The authoritative route-tracker is CarnivalWarehouse.com. Their "Carnival Routes and Schedules" page lets you look up routes by carnival company name or by event location. Useful for identifying what carnivals pass near a given facility and when.

The OABA (Outdoor Amusement Business Association) keeps a member directory of carnivals and of concessionaires, fairs, and suppliers. Over 50 years in the industry, based in Orlando. The OABA is also a natural partner for a larger philanthropic conversation — they already run scholarship funds and Jamboree fundraisers, so the language of "in support of education" lands easily. Phone: 407-848-4958. Email: oaba@oaba.org.

The most complete independent directory we found is carnivalmidways.com, which lists hundreds of small and mid-size carnival operators sorted by state.

Quick rule of thumb

If a facility is within ~200 miles of a current carnival route stop and you can secure a Monday-through-Wednesday window in a shoulder season (April-May or September-October), the odds that a carnival will say yes to a reduced-rate or philanthropic booking are highest. For mid-summer in-season bookings they are near zero — that is peak revenue time.

Part III. Approaching Vendors

What you are asking for

Be precise about what you want before you ask. A first-pass request for a facility event usually contains: one or more specific rides (or inflatables), a specific date (or two-day window), the address of the facility, the expected audience size, the surface they will be setting up on, the power availability (or whether a generator is required), and whatever clearance or dimensional constraints the site has.

Then — separately, and more important — what you are offering them in return. This is what most outreach emails get wrong. Do not just ask for a discount; tell them why you are asking.

Three framings that work

Framing 1: The Monday-through-Wednesday downtime leverage

Traveling carnivals have a structural problem. They set up on Thursday, run Thursday through Sunday, tear down Sunday night, and then have roughly three days before they need to be at the next event. Those three days often contain just travel and a bit of maintenance. The rides are sitting idle. The crew is being paid. The fuel, insurance, and payroll costs run whether or not a dollar comes in.

If you can offer them a Monday-or-Tuesday paid event between two fair stops — even at a reduced rate — you are offering them marginal revenue on an otherwise dead day. That is a genuinely different conversation from asking for a discount off their peak rate. Your email can literally say this: "We know that Monday-through-Wednesday is typically a down period for your operation between fair bookings. If our event date falls on one of those days, would you consider a reduced rate?"

Framing 2: The philanthropic/tax-deductible angle

CM-Tech is a nonprofit. Any reduction the carnival company grants below a fair-market rate can be structured either as a philanthropic contribution (if they choose to donate the difference) or as a sponsorship. Both have potential tax benefits for the operator. This matters because most carnival companies already donate in-kind rides and staff to local Lions Clubs, Kiwanis, Knights of Columbus, schools, churches, and hospitals. The OABA explicitly runs Jamboree fundraisers where member companies donate rides for nonprofit fundraising. Our ask fits the same philanthropy pattern they already participate in.

When you make this framing, give the operator something concrete they can tell their accountant. Ask them to invoice at their full rate and then issue a separate in-kind donation letter for the discount amount; or alternatively, invoice at the reduced rate with a "sponsor of CM-Tech" credit on materials. A CPA-friendly trail matters.

Framing 3: The education and workforce pipeline angle

Carnival operators have a chronic labor problem. The H-2B visa program they rely on for seasonal workers is capped every year, politically volatile, and perpetually in short supply. Several operators have explicitly told the trade press that their biggest operational constraint is finding qualified workers to assemble, operate, and disassemble rides.

CM-Tech students — many of whom finish electrical, diesel, and skilled-trade coursework with us — are a prospective domestic labor pipeline for this industry. Our students can be connected to NAARSO or AIMS inspector-certification pathways (see Parts VI and X) and emerge as qualified ride mechanics, inspectors, or operators. This is not an empty promise; we have an electrical-engineering major today and one of our partner facilities already hosts a diesel program.

The operator does not have to commit to a pipeline program to give you a discount — but knowing that their donation is not just a charity check, but a genuine investment in a future labor channel, makes the ask land very differently.

Who to contact

For the national operators, look for a "corporate marketing director" or "corporate events" contact. NAME lists their corporate marketing director (Lynda Franc) on their rentals page. For regional and single-ride operators, the owner or an operations lead is usually the right contact. Cold-email the general address listed on the website, but CC any specific name you can find in their team page.

Timing: reach out in January for the next year's May–September season, and again in August for late-fall or winter events. In-season (peak summer) outreach is rarely productive unless you are calling a regional single-ride specialist who is not booked that week.

What to ask about in the first call

• Their current season route and what is scheduled within ~150 miles of the facility.

• Monday–Wednesday availability in the window you care about.

• Minimum and maximum ride count for a discounted facility event.

• Whether they carry an existing Commercial General Liability (CGL) policy and can add the facility as additional insured at no extra cost.

• Whether their crew is willing to do a short safety orientation and a background-check process (see Part IV).

• Whether they would be willing to have one or two crew members give a 30–60 minute guest-lecture session to students on how the rides actually work (see Part VI).

• Their current per-ride day rate so you can frame a reduced-rate counter-offer.

What not to promise

Do not promise attendance numbers, revenue, or a particular mix of visiting family members. The facility controls those. Do not promise security access or that the crew will be "fine" — they will need background checks. Do not commit the facility to anything in writing until the warden or assistant warden has signed off.

The universal opening line

"We are a nonprofit polytechnic institution that delivers STEM education inside U.S. correctional facilities. We are planning a one- or two-day physics capstone event at a partner facility in [state] in [month] and are exploring whether a limited selection of your rides could be brought on site for the students, along with staff and visiting family members. We understand Monday through Wednesday tends to be a quieter period between your fair bookings and wanted to see whether that window might work for a reduced-rate or sponsored arrangement. Is there someone on your team I could speak with for ten minutes to discuss feasibility?"

Part IV. Getting the Ride Onto the Yard

Assume you have a verbal yes from a vendor and a verbal yes from the facility. What follows is the practical checklist for turning that into a working event day.

Surface, space, and access

The single most common cause of a cancelled booking is a site-survey mismatch. Most rides need a relatively level surface — concrete, asphalt, gravel, or packed dirt with grass is fine if it is flat. A tilt of more than about 2° across the ride footprint is usually a no-go. Corrections-yard surfaces vary widely: some facilities have paved recreation yards that are ideal; some have compacted dirt that requires a layer of temporary matting; some have grass that needs mowing and approval from the facility's grounds staff.

Access matters too. The trucks that deliver even a modest Ferris wheel are 53-foot semis. They need a clear approach path through the sally port, a turnaround area, and a staging space. The ride crew will need to push that approach through security on the day — which means someone at the facility has to be the point of contact and has to already have the trucks and people cleared.

Power

Small kiddie rides and inflatables run on standard 110V outlets. Mid-size rides typically need 208V, 240V, or 480V three-phase service at 30–50 amps. Large rides like a 90-foot or 150-foot Ferris wheel need significant draw — in some cases, the ride trailer carries its own generator, which is usually the simplest solution for a facility event. Generator-based operation means diesel fuel, diesel noise, and a fuel-delivery plan.

This is also an obvious teaching moment. Your facility already has either a grid tie, an emergency backup generator, or both. Having the students watch the ride crew set up power distribution — run the cables, bond the generator to ground, confirm phase sequence — is a ready-made electrical-engineering lab.

Weather

Inflatables must come down if sustained wind exceeds 15 mph. Rides with rotational mass (Ferris wheels, swing rides) have higher wind cutoffs (usually 25–35 mph for operation) but the cutoffs are real and set by the operator. Rain alone does not shut most rides down, but lightning within a few miles does. Carnival operators are conservative about weather; they have seen what happens when an inflatable takes flight with people in it.

Your booking contract should specify what happens if weather cancels. Three common arrangements: (1) reschedule to a specified backup date at no additional cost, (2) pro-rata refund of the booking fee, (3) full refund minus a non-refundable deposit for setup. Negotiate this before you pay. Event-cancellation insurance (discussed in Part V) can cover the financial side; the operational side — rescheduling family visitation — is on you.

Inspection certificates

Every state that regulates amusement rides — 44 of 50, the outliers being Alabama, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming — requires a current inspection certificate before a ride can legally operate. The inspection is typically performed by a NAARSO- or AIMS-certified inspector (see Part X for certification bodies) and issued by the state or local Authority Having Jurisdiction.

Ask the operator for a copy of the current inspection certificate and the ride manufacturer's identification plate before the event. Keep both on file. If the facility's risk manager or contract office has any questions about liability, those two documents are often enough to make the file look normal.

Crew background checks

This is where most prison-event plans stall. Carnival crews rely heavily on H-2B visa workers from Mexico, Central America, and elsewhere. Those workers cannot typically be cleared through a standard prison background-check process in a few days. The workable solutions are:

• Start the crew clearance paperwork 45–60 days before the event. Give the facility's background-check office a list of names, DOBs, and relevant ID numbers as early as possible.

• Negotiate with the operator to send U.S.-citizen crew members only for the facility event. This is often possible if you are running only one or two rides; it is impractical for a full midway.

• Arrange for the ride crew to work only in the outer perimeter / parking-lot area, with the rides themselves inside a contained event zone operated by facility staff and pre-cleared CM-Tech staff. This is the compromise used at most Family Day events.

Count times and prison schedule integration

Every correctional facility has daily count times when the incarcerated population must be physically present and countable. Rides cannot be running during count. Build the event day around the facility's count schedule — which is typically known 12+ months in advance — and make sure the operator knows that there is a hard 20-minute window at each count where the ride comes to a stop, no exceptions.

Get the count times in writing from the facility's scheduling office, and then print a one-page day-of-event schedule that lists them alongside everything else. Mistakes in this area do not just cost the event; they cost the program's relationship with the facility.

On-site medical

For a multi-ride event with 200+ participants, have an ambulance or an EMT on site for the entire run of the rides. Some jurisdictions require this by ordinance; most insurance underwriters will reduce the premium if you can certify on-site medical presence (see Part V). The facility medical staff may cover this internally, or you may need to arrange an external medical standby through a private ambulance service. Document this arrangement in writing.

Signage and barriers

Every ride comes with mandatory restriction signage: height restrictions, health restrictions (heart conditions, recent surgery, pregnancy), behavior rules, and a warning that riders ride at their own risk. The operator brings these signs with the ride.

Add perimeter barriers around the ride's moving envelope. Most operators provide these; if not, rent them separately. Insurance underwriters care about barriers more than almost anything else — they are cheap, highly visible, and make the most common accident (a bystander stepping into a moving ride's path) dramatically less likely.

Take photos. We cannot stress this enough — see Part V. If a claim is filed, your photo of the signage and barriers in place is often the single piece of evidence that decides whether the claim is paid or contested.

Ride operators are not facility staff

The operator's crew runs the ride. Facility staff do not. This is non-negotiable from the carnival company's side — their insurance underwriter requires it, and the crew is union or contract labor in most cases. What facility staff can do is: monitor the queue, check height/health restrictions before patrons reach the ride, manage the count-time stop, and handle medical response. The operator runs the actual ride.

A model day

For a single-ride one-day event at a medium-security facility:

• Day minus 60: Vendor verbal yes. Facility warden verbal yes. Background-check list started.

• Day minus 45: Contract signed. Insurance policy purchased (Part V).

• Day minus 30: Site survey. Power confirmed. Medical standby contracted. Background checks advancing.

• Day minus 14: Inspection certificate filed. Signage and barriers specified.

• Day minus 7: Final day-of-event schedule including count times issued to vendor, facility, and medical.

• Day minus 1: Setup begins (typically 4–6 hours of setup for a mid-size ride). Ride inspection performed on-site.

• Event day: Staffing 2–4 hours before first rider. Rides operate around count-time windows. Full documentation photos taken throughout.

• Day plus 1: Teardown. Post-event incident log written even if no incident. File kept for three years minimum.

Part V. Insurance

Insurance is the part of this project most likely to cause a headache and least likely to be exciting. It is also the part most likely to make the project feasible or practically impossible. Take the time to do your research and read contracts carefully.

Two policies, not one

For a facility ride event, there are almost always two separate policies in play at the same time:

• The operator's Commercial General Liability (CGL) policy. Every legitimate carnival operator carries one; they cannot run their business without it. This policy covers bodily injury and property damage claims against the operator arising from the ride itself — an operator-caused accident, a mechanical failure, a safety-protocol breach.

• The event holder's Special Event Liability policy. This could be paid for by CM-Tech or the facility, depending on the situation, and covers claims against the event holder, not the operator — slip-and-falls in queue lines, food-vendor issues, crowd-control incidents, any injury that is not directly operator-caused.

Both policies should name the other parties as additional insureds. The operator should add the facility and CM-Tech to theirs. The event holder should add the facility and the operator to theirs. The result is a web of cross-coverage where each party is protected against the others' possible negligence.

Major providers

Amusement-industry specialty

A.E.R.I.A. (Amusement Entertainment Risk Insurance Associates) has been writing amusement-industry policies for over 60 years. They cover carnivals, independent ride owners, concessionaires, fairs, events, family entertainment centers, and water parks. If your operator needs help placing or supplementing coverage, A.E.R.I.A. is the specialist. Website: amusemententertainmentrisk.com.

Hard-to-place and last-minute

Prime Insurance Company (excess and surplus lines, 40+ years) writes day-of-event policies, covers events with amusement devices that many carriers exclude, and can include pandemic / communicable-disease riders. They can write a policy in hours when another insurer has dropped coverage. Good backstop. Website: primeis.com.

Event insurance marketplaces

A set of online marketplaces will issue a one-day or multi-day CGL policy (with amusement-device coverage where relevant) in minutes, with an instant Certificate of Insurance (COI):

The Event Helper (Gaslamp Insurance Services, Grass Valley, CA) — theeventhelper.com

Event Insurance Now — 1 to 10 day events — eventinsurancenow.com

EventInsuranceQuote.com — eventinsurancequote.com/one-day-event-insurance/

Insurance Canopy — insurancecanopy.com

Thimble (one day to two weeks) — thimble.com/event-insurance/coi-events

CPH Insurance — cphins.com/special-event-insurance-faq/

XINSURANCE — explicitly supports entertainment and amusement events — xinsurance.com/risk-class/special-event-insurance/

World Insurance Associates (entertainment & amusement) — worldinsurance.com/product/entertainment-amusement-insurance

Amwins (TULIP program — tenant-user liability for venues) — amwins.com/products/special-events-insurance-program

TULIP, briefly

A Tenant User Liability Insurance Policy is a short-term liability policy sold through the venue itself to any third party using the venue for an event. TULIPs are common at universities and government buildings; correctional facilities generally do not offer them, but the concept is worth knowing — if the facility or a partner has a TULIP program in place, it may be the simplest route to coverage.

Typical coverage limits

Venues — including facilities — will typically specify minimum required limits in the event contract. The industry-standard minimum for a public-attendance event with amusement devices is:

• $1 million per-occurrence general liability

• $2 million aggregate general liability

• $1 million property damage to the rented premises (sometimes $250,000)

• Host liquor liability included (even if no alcohol — some policies auto-bundle)

• Additional insured endorsement naming the facility and the operator (and any county or state agency involved)

• Primary and noncontributory endorsement (so your policy pays first, not the venue's)

• Waiver of subrogation (so your insurer cannot sue the venue after paying a claim)

Some higher-risk events or larger crowds require $3M–$5M aggregate. If the facility's contract says $5M, you probably need a broker rather than an online marketplace — the marketplaces can cap out at around $2M - $5M.

How to reduce premiums

Premium is not a fixed number. It is a function of (a) event type, (b) expected attendance, (c) activities, (d) operator track record, (e) the underwriter's subjective read on your documentation. You can plan around most of these factors. Specific practical levers:

Pick the highest deductible you can comfortably afford

This is the universal insurance rule and it applies here. A $5,000 deductible versus a $500 deductible can reduce the premium by 20–40%. If the event runs clean (no claim) you have saved real money. If a claim happens, you are on the hook for the first $5,000 — but the policy covers the rest. The math only works if the program can absorb a $5,000 hit without institutional pain. For CM-Tech's purposes, that is likely feasible with philanthropic reserves.

The general rule: pick the highest deductible that does not actually scare you.

Certify on-site medical presence

Having an ambulance or licensed EMT on-site for the duration of the rides is one of the biggest underwriter-friendly variables. It reduces both claim frequency (they treat minor incidents before a claim is filed) and claim severity (they stabilize serious injuries before they become worse). Put this in the application and, if possible, in the contract with the private ambulance provider.

Use physical barriers and visible signage

An underwriter who sees "ride perimeter barriers" and "ASTM-compliant signage at all ride entrances" in the application is writing a lower-risk policy than one who sees neither. It is an inexpensive intervention that can lead to real-world savings.

Require the operator's inspection certificate

If the underwriter sees that every ride on site carries a current NAARSO- or AIMS-level-I (or higher) inspection certificate, the risk profile drops significantly. Collect copies before you apply.

Name the right additional insureds

Over-naming (adding vendors who should have their own policies) can flag the application for scrutiny. Under-naming (not adding the required venue) can get your COI rejected. Try to get the list right the first time.

Buy early, not late

Last-minute event insurance exists (Prime Insurance specializes in it), but it costs more. Policies bought 30+ days out can be 15–25% cheaper than equivalent day-before policies.

Critical: what a claim file needs before the event even happens

This is the section that if skipped risks costing a lot of money later. If an incident happens on event day, the insurance adjuster might go looking for reasons to reduce or deny the claim. Most of those reasons depend on evidence that either exists or does not exist — and whether it exists is determined before the event.

Here is a potential pre-event documentation checklist:

• Photographs of every barrier in place around every ride, timestamped, GPS-tagged if possible. Take these before the first rider boards.

• Photographs of every warning sign and height-restriction sign at each ride, with the sign legible in the photo.

• Copy of the operator's inspection certificate for each ride.

• Copy of the operator's current CGL COI showing the facility and CM-Tech as additional insureds.

• Copy of the event holder's CGL COI with the facility and operator as additional insureds.

• Signed medical-standby contract showing EMT/ambulance is scheduled to be on-site for the full event window.

• Weather log — screenshots of the NOAA / National Weather Service forecast for the facility location on event day.

• Staffing log listing each operator's employee name, shift start, shift end, and role.

• Incident-report template, printed and handed to each on-site supervisor, to be filled out immediately if anything happens.

The adjuster's playbook

An adjuster's employer might encourage them to minimize what the insurer pays out. This is not personal or malicious; it is the structure of the industry. Their arguments can fall into a handful of predictable categories. Knowing these potential arguments ahead of time can allow you to pre-empt them (if you cannot prevent the claim from happening in the first place).

Adjuster Argument

What They Mean

How You Can Prepare For It Pre-Event

"The injured party had a pre-existing health condition that the signage warned against (heart, back, pregnancy)."

If the rider ignored a posted warning, the adjuster will argue that the rider accepted the risk.

Photograph every warning sign in position and legible. Keep a photograph of each ride's queue entrance showing signs in view. If possible, have the operator's crew acknowledge sign placement in writing.

"Barriers were not properly in place."

If a spectator stepped into a moving ride's envelope, the claim may depend on proving whether or not barriers were present.

Photograph every barrier in position before opening. Photograph the full perimeter. Time-stamp.

"The event holder was negligent in supervision."

Generic catch-all. Covers any complaint about crowd management, queue control, or staff attention.

Maintain a staffing log with named supervisors for each zone and shift. Keep post-event written attestation from each supervisor that their zone was covered.

"The rider violated ride rules (stood up, unbuckled, reached out)."

Operator-side defense against rider injury claims. Often fair, but shifts the burden to the rider.

Keep the operator's crew log of rule-violation announcements and any rider ejections. Photograph the rules board at ride entry.

"The operator did not have a current inspection."

Adjuster points to an expired or missing state inspection certificate.

Collect and retain the current certificate for every ride. Cross-check the date against event day.

"The event exceeded the approved scope in the policy application."

Adjuster reviews the application and finds that attendance, activity type, or ride type was misstated.

Apply honestly. List every ride type. List realistic attendance. Any change between application and event day, notify the insurer in writing.

"Alcohol was involved."

Even if the event did not serve alcohol, a rider arriving already intoxicated can create a liability gap.

Include host-liquor-liability endorsement in the policy (many are auto-included). Document security screening at entry.

"The cause was an act of God (weather)."

Used to push the claim into the event-cancellation or property policy instead of general liability.

Maintain the weather log. If the event ran in marginal weather, document the safety officer's explicit decision to continue and the criteria used.

Documentation template

Collect the following file structure on a single thumb drive (or shared cloud folder with restricted access) before the event and archive it for a minimum of three years after:

• /contracts — vendor contract, facility event agreement, medical-standby contract

• /insurance — all COIs, declarations pages, policy documents

• /inspections — state or NAARSO inspection certificates, manufacturer ID plates for each ride

• /photos/signage — one photo per sign, labeled by ride and location

• /photos/barriers — perimeter photos, labeled by ride

• /photos/setup — crew setting up, date-stamped

• /logs/staffing — who was on shift where, when

• /logs/weather — NOAA screenshots, on-site readings

• /logs/incidents — blank incident-report template, and any filed reports

• /post_event — post-event attestation memos from each zone supervisor

If a claim happens anyway

Even with a clean file, claims can still happen. A good rule of thumb is: say very little, document everything, contact the insurer immediately, and let the adjuster do their job. A few practical points:

• Never admit fault on-site. An EMT's sympathetic "are you okay, we are so sorry" can be quoted back in a deposition.

• File the incident report on the day it happens, not the next day.

• Photograph the scene of the incident before it is cleaned up. If a ride component failed, photograph the component in place.

• Notify the insurer within 24 hours.

• Preserve everything. Do not discard, move, or repair any ride component involved in an incident until the insurer has released it.

Disclaimer:  This is not legal advice

CM-Tech is not a law firm or an insurance broker. The information in this guide is general industry reference material, not legal or financial advice specific to any particular event, facility, or jurisdiction. Work with a licensed insurance agent or broker — preferably one with amusement-industry experience — for the actual purchase. Work with counsel if you are drafting contracts or responding to a claim.

Part VI. Guest Lectures — The Educational Multiplier

The biggest return on investment from a facility ride event is not the ride time itself. It is the presence, for one or two days, of a trained crew of ride operators, ride mechanics, and ride assembly specialists inside the facility fence. These are the people who actually make the machinery work. Give them a classroom for an hour and they will teach things no textbook can.

Every ride that comes in was disassembled, transported on a semi-trailer, unloaded, re-assembled, safety-checked, and wired into a power source. Most of that process is happening the day before the students see the rides. The setup is itself a 4-to-6-hour mechanical engineering lab.

Who to ask

For a single-ride event, ask the ride's lead operator (sometimes called the ride foreman). For a multi-ride event, ask the traveling safety officer (a role that exists on most mid-size and large operator crews) and the mechanical-maintenance lead. If the crew includes a NAARSO Level I, II, or III inspector, that person is the gold standard guest lecturer — they hold a nationally recognized certification and have typically been in the industry for a decade or more.

The ask is small: a 30–60 minute session, informal, Q&A driven, with the ride itself as the demonstration aid. Offer an honorarium if the budget allows; if not, a signed thank-you letter from the facility warden and from CM-Tech goes a long way.

Natural lecture topics

The content does not have to be pre-scripted. Let the crew member talk about what they know. But here are the natural topics a typical ride crew has deep expertise in, mapped to our existing courses:

Electrical — for Physics 102 and the electrical-engineering major

• Three-phase power distribution: how the ride pulls 208V or 480V three-phase, what the phase sequence is, why it matters for motor direction.

• Induction motors. Most ride main drives are three-phase induction motors — exactly the Tesla motor that the Physics 102 curriculum and the AC/DC textbooklet already cover. A working one sitting in front of students closes the loop beautifully.

• Variable-frequency drives (VFDs). The ride's speed and ramp-up profile are usually controlled by a VFD. Seeing the VFD in a control cabinet, hearing it whine during spin-up, and watching the crew ramp the rotation speed up through discrete steps is an electrical-engineering lab in miniature.

• Grounding and bonding. Why the generator has to be bonded to ground. What happens when the ground bond is poor. How the operator tests it with a clamp meter.

• Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). Nearly every modern ride runs through a PLC — an industrial micro-controller running a ladder-logic safety program. Students in our electrical track will recognize this from their coursework.

Mechanical — seeds for the future mechanical-engineering major

• Hydraulic systems. Drop towers, bumper cars, and many ride-assembly mechanisms use hydraulic cylinders. How pressure, flow rate, and cylinder area combine to produce force.

• Pneumatic systems. Some restraint mechanisms (lap bars, shoulder harnesses) use pneumatic locks. How compressed-air controls differ from hydraulic.

• Magnetic eddy-current brakes. Many drop towers and newer coasters use induced-current brakes — a set of conductive fins pass through a permanent-magnet field, eddy currents in the fins generate a retarding force proportional to velocity, and the ride brakes without any mechanical contact. The physics is directly Chapter 32 of University Physics Volume 2 (Faraday's law), and watching one in action is like watching Lenz's law.

• Bolt torque and fastener pretension. How the crew uses torque wrenches on critical structural bolts. What the torque specifications mean. Why under-torque is as bad as over-torque.

• Non-destructive testing (NDT). Dye-penetrant inspection, magnetic-particle inspection, ultrasonic inspection. Most of these are done off-season, but a ride crew member who has been through an NAARSO training can explain the concepts.

• Fatigue life. ASTM F2291 specifies a 35,000-operational-hour minimum fatigue life for primary ride structures. That number is not arbitrary; it comes from a specific methodology of stress cycling. Crew members who have sat through a NAARSO seminar usually know this.

• Kinematics of ride folding and unfolding. Large rides unfold from their trailer through a complex sequence of linkages and hinges. Watching a Ferris wheel erect itself from a flat trailer is one of the more impressive mechanical-engineering demonstrations available to a student. The physics of moments, balance, and lifting points is entirely visible.

Diesel — for the partner facility's existing diesel program

• The generator is usually a large skid-mounted diesel unit, often in the 50–200 kW range. Fuel delivery, cooling, engine governor, alternator field excitation — it is all the same curriculum as the diesel program at our partner facility. Invite the diesel program's instructor to co-lead this session.

• Trailer-truck systems. The 53-foot semi-trailer that delivered the ride has its own diesel-mechanics curriculum: air brakes, transmission, fifth-wheel coupling, axle load distribution.

Structural — for a future mechanical or civil engineering track

• Load path. When a rider sits in a Ferris wheel gondola, the weight is transferred through the gondola pivot, into the spoke, into the hub, into the support tower, into the trailer, into the ground. Tracing the load path is a structural-engineering exercise.

• Center of gravity and tipping resistance. Why the trailer has counterweights. Why the support legs deploy outward at an angle.

• Wind loading. Why ride operators shut down in specific wind conditions. How a Ferris wheel turns into a sail when the wheel face is perpendicular to the wind.

Safety-and-process — transferrable to any industry

• Lockout/tagout (LOTO). Every ride has a formal LOTO procedure before maintenance. Every industrial workplace in the U.S. has the same. Students who learn LOTO on a Ferris wheel are learning OSHA Subpart J.

• Daily pre-operation inspection. The crew runs a daily checklist before the first rider. Walking through that checklist is an exercise in procedural discipline.

• Incident reporting. How a ride team escalates an unusual reading, a rider complaint, a visible wear pattern.

Format suggestions

What works in a facility classroom:

• 30-minute structured talk + 30-minute Q&A. The crew member brings one or two components as props (a bearing, a coupler, a short length of chain). Students have been pre-assigned three questions each; the first 30 minutes is the presentation, the second 30 is student-led.

• Walking tour of the ride during setup (where facility security permits). This is the highest-bandwidth option but requires the largest security lift. If possible, assign students to observe specific aspects: one watches the electrical setup, another the structural assembly, another the hydraulic connections.

• Workbook-style observation assignment. Each student receives a one-page observation worksheet (see Appendix). They take notes on what they see during the crew's work. This is lowest-security-lift because it requires no separate session — the students are simply watching the setup while standing at a safe distance inside the existing ride area.

Building the pipeline

If the visit goes well, keep the relationship warm. Several of the largest carnival operators have shared publicly that their chronic labor shortage is their biggest constraint. Our students — particularly those coming out of electrical and skilled-trade programs — could be exactly the domestic labor pool the industry is looking for. NAARSO runs an annual safety seminar where certification candidates do hands-on ride-inspection training at working parks (recent host sites include Fun Spot America and SeaWorld Orlando). That seminar is the natural next step for a student who wants to pursue ride inspection or operations as a career. See naarso.com/certifications/ and aimsintl.org/ride-inspector-certification/ for the two main certification pathways.

Theta Tau tie-in

CM-Tech has reached out to Theta Tau — the co-educational professional engineering fraternity — about establishing a student chapter. An amusement-ride event with engineering guest lectures is exactly the kind of chapter activity Theta Tau's national organization already profiles. Document the event thoroughly (with appropriate learner-privacy protections) and it becomes supporting material for the chapter application.

Part VII. Ride Types and the Physics They Teach

This Part is the core curriculum bridge. It maps every ride class you are likely to encounter onto the specific chapter of OpenStax's University Physics Volume 1 it best demonstrates. When you book a ride, use this matrix to plan the classroom sessions before the ride arrives and the debrief sessions afterward.

The mapping assumes the full OpenStax Volume 1 sequence, which covers classical mechanics from kinematics (Chapter 3) through waves (Chapter 16). Chapters are approximate — most rides touch multiple chapters, and the more interesting classroom conversations happen when a student notices the same ride illustrates angular momentum and energy conservation and fluid dynamics simultaneously.

The master matrix

Ride

Primary OpenStax Chapters

What the Students Feel and What It Teaches

Ferris wheel

Ch. 4 (2D motion), Ch. 6 (circular motion)

Students moving in a vertical circle feel their apparent weight change. At the top of the wheel, apparent weight = mg − mv²/r (lighter). At the bottom, apparent weight = mg + mv²/r (heavier). Slow rotational speed means the effect is subtle — which makes it a great "warm-up" ride for the whole curriculum. Pendrill has written multiple papers on the Ferris wheel as an intro circular-motion lab.

Carousel / merry-go-round

Ch. 10 (rotation), Ch. 11 (angular momentum)

Rigid rotation. Every rider has the same angular velocity ω but different linear speed v = rω depending on radius. Rider on outer edge moves faster than rider near the center — which can be felt in how much they have to lean when the carousel starts. Natural lab for measuring ω with a stopwatch.

Swing ride / Chair-O-Plane

Ch. 6 (circular motion), Ch. 15 (pendulum / conical pendulum)

The classic conical pendulum. As rotational speed increases, the chains tilt outward at a larger angle from vertical. The tilt angle θ satisfies tan θ = v²/(gr), independent of rider mass — a 100-pound rider and a 250-pound rider tilt at the same angle, which surprises most students until they work the math.

Scrambler / Tilt-A-Whirl

Ch. 10 (rotation), Ch. 11 (angular momentum), nonlinear dynamics

Scrambler: three rotating arms each with three rotating tubs — the compound rotation produces the stomach-dropping effect of the tub passing near neighboring tubs at high relative velocity. Tilt-A-Whirl: the tubs are free to rotate on their own axle and do so chaotically in response to the hill-shaped track they traverse. The Tilt-A-Whirl is, genuinely, one of the canonical nonlinear-dynamics systems studied in the physics literature.

Gravitron / Starship 2000

Ch. 6 (circular motion), Ch. 5 (friction and normal force)

The classic "wall-of-death" spinning drum. Riders stand against the inner wall, the drum spins up, and the floor drops away. Riders stay pinned to the wall by the centripetal normal force of the wall pressing inward; friction between rider and wall supports their weight. The required angular velocity for a given coefficient of static friction μ_s is ω = √(g/(μ_s · r)). Real Gravitrons spin at roughly 24 rpm.

Pirate ship / Viking boat

Ch. 15 (oscillations, pendulum), Ch. 8 (energy conservation)

A physical pendulum. Period depends on moment of inertia about the pivot, not just length — a subtle and useful distinction from the simple-pendulum formula. Energy conservation means peak height predicts peak speed at the bottom: v = √(2gh). Riders feel lightest at the peak and heaviest at the bottom.

Drop tower

Ch. 3 (free fall, kinematics), Ch. 8 (energy), and (if magnetic brakes) Ch. 32 of Vol. 2

Near free-fall on the way down, then rapid deceleration at the bottom. Most modern drop towers use eddy-current magnetic brakes (conductive fins passing through a magnetic array, inducing retarding currents). A direct bridge to electromagnetism. Riders feel weightless for 2–3 seconds of free fall.

Bumper cars

Ch. 9 (linear momentum, collisions)

Nothing teaches conservation of momentum like colliding into your friend's car. Elastic vs. inelastic collisions become obvious: a perfectly head-on collision at low speed is nearly elastic (you bounce apart). An off-center collision is a 2D momentum problem. Students who have played billiards have already seen this; now they feel it.

Ring of Fire / Loop-o-Plane

Ch. 6 (circular motion, minimum speed), Ch. 8 (energy)

A vertical loop. At the top of the loop, the minimum speed to maintain contact with the track is v_min = √(g·r). Below that speed, the rider would begin to fall away from the track. This is the iconic circular-motion problem from every intro physics textbook and students can feel it when they pass through the top of the loop.

Round-Up

Ch. 6 (circular motion), Ch. 5 (friction)

Similar to the Gravitron but the rotation axis eventually tilts away from vertical. The rider ends up "upside-down" (briefly) and held against the pad by the normal force. Requires the rider to think about direction of centripetal acceleration even as the orientation of the ride changes.

Roller coaster (full-size)

Ch. 7 (work and kinetic energy), Ch. 8 (potential energy, conservation)

The flagship. The lift hill converts electrical work into gravitational potential energy; the rest of the track is energy being shuffled between PE and KE minus friction. Most of University Physics Chapters 7 and 8 can be taught entirely through a single coaster. Also features chain drives, magnetic launch systems (LIM / LSM motors — tied to Ch. 30 of Vol. 2), banked turns (Ch. 6), and inversions (Ch. 6).

Kiddie coaster / family coaster

Ch. 7, Ch. 8, Ch. 3

Smaller-scale coaster suitable for visiting children. Same physics, much gentler G-forces. Good for a family-day event that combines student physics observation with child-friendly rides.

Bounce house / inflatable

Ch. 9 (impulse), elastic deformation (Ch. 12)

The air-pressurized walls deform elastically when a jumper lands, then spring back. Classic elastic-impulse demonstration — the fabric exerts an upward force over a longer time than hard ground would, so the impulse delivered to the jumper's legs has a smaller peak force. Same principle as airbags and landing gear.

Water slide / slip-and-slide

Ch. 5 (friction), Ch. 8 (energy)

A near-frictionless inclined plane (water is the lubricant). Energy conservation gives terminal speed; residual friction gives real-world losses. Students can race identical sliders of different masses and discover that mass drops out of the terminal-speed equation — a clean lab.

Zorb ball / hamster ball

Ch. 10 (rolling motion, moment of inertia)

Rolling without slipping is one of the harder topics in rotational dynamics because the rider is simultaneously translating and rotating. Zorb balls make it physical and immediate. For a hollow sphere, I = (2/3)MR², so the kinetic energy splits 60/40 between translation and rotation — which is why the zorb ball rolls visibly slower down a hill than a solid ball would.

Mini golf (portable)

Ch. 4 (projectile motion), Ch. 9 (collisions), Ch. 5 (friction)

Putt-putt physics. Every putt is a problem in rolling friction, elastic collisions (ball against bumper), and occasionally projectile motion (on course features with ramps). Low-security-lift — it runs on whatever flat surface you have.

Mechanical bull

Ch. 10 (rotation), Ch. 11 (angular momentum)

Rider's torso rotates about the bull's saddle pivot. Holding on requires generating enough torque (through arm and leg tension) to match the bull's angular impulse each cycle. Center of mass and moment of inertia matter — a rider who keeps their torso close to the pivot (low moment of inertia) rotates more but resists less; a rider who leans back rotates less but takes a larger hit each cycle.

Portable bumper cars (inflatable)

Ch. 9 (momentum, collisions)

Same physics as carnival bumper cars, often easier to rent and lower-power (battery operated, small footprint). Similar teaching value.

Euro Bungee / trampoline bungee

Ch. 15 (simple harmonic motion), Ch. 8 (energy)

An oscillator with two stiffness regimes: the bungee cords provide elastic force above a threshold, gravity provides force below it. Not quite simple harmonic motion, but close enough to teach the concept of restoring force and natural frequency.

Rock climbing wall

Ch. 5 (friction), Ch. 7 (work), Ch. 12 (static equilibrium)

Every hold is a static-equilibrium problem: the climber balances weight, reaction force, and friction with their hands and feet. Belay systems are classical mechanics (tension in a rope over a pulley with friction).

Portable zip line

Ch. 8 (energy), Ch. 5 (friction)

Gravity accelerates, rolling friction decelerates, magnetic or spring brake stops. Clean energy-balance problem.

How to pick rides for a first event

If you can only bring one ride, pick a Ferris wheel. It is slow, highly visible, has a strong iconic value, demonstrates circular motion clearly, is among the easiest to insure (very low G-forces), and the open gondolas let students talk to each other during the ride — which means ride-time itself becomes a discussion session.

If you can bring two, add a Scrambler or a Tilt-A-Whirl. The second ride should demonstrate rotation (Chapters 10 and 11) in a way the Ferris wheel does not — specifically, compound rotation with a tilting axis. The difference in what students feel on the Ferris wheel vs. on the Scrambler is enormous, and the conversation about why that difference exists is the whole of rotational kinematics.

If you can bring three, add a drop tower (for free fall and electromagnetism via the brake) or a swing ride (for the conical pendulum). Either completes a solid intro-mechanics tour.

If you can bring the whole midway, start with the three above and add a bumper-car pavilion (momentum and collisions) and a pirate ship (pendulum). Those five rides collectively cover Chapters 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 15 of University Physics Volume 1 — essentially the entire classical mechanics sequence, experienced in the body rather than on the page.

If you cannot bring any rides at all

The inflatables-and-attractions tier covers a surprising amount of the same ground. Zorb balls (rolling motion), a bounce house (elastic impulse), a mechanical bull (angular momentum), a portable bumper-car set (momentum), a rock climbing wall (static equilibrium), and a portable mini-golf course (projectile and collision physics) give you Chapters 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 15 — almost the same coverage as a five-ride midway. And the insurance and logistics lift is dramatically smaller.

One of the cleanest labs we have ever designed

Put two students of different masses in identical inflatable zorb balls. Release them simultaneously down a gentle slope. Ask them to predict who reaches the bottom first. Every intuition says "the heavier one." The answer — for ideal rolling without slipping — is that they arrive together, because moment-of-inertia and mass-to-weight ratios cancel exactly the way they do in free fall. Then race a hollow ball against a solid ball of equal mass and diameter. The solid ball wins, reliably, because of the factor (2/5) vs. (2/3) in the moment-of-inertia coefficient. This one demonstration is worth three lecture hours.

Part VIII. The Capstone — Design Your Own Ride

This is the payoff. Every student who finishes Physics 101 designs their own ride. The project uses the real engineering standard (ASTM F2291) as the rulebook and the real insurance-tier structure as the threshold to stay under. The whole thing is a caper. The math is the lock pick.

The setup

ASTM International publishes F2291, Standard Practice for Design of Amusement Rides and Devices, which is the design standard used by essentially every modern ride manufacturer and inspected against in 44 U.S. states. F2291 is the document that tells you what G-forces a ride is allowed to impose on a rider, how long each G-force can last, what restraint system is required for each G-force envelope, and how the fatigue life of the primary structure must be calculated.

The student's job is to design a new ride that (a) does something cool, (b) stays strictly within the F2291 limits, and (c) does not tip the ride into the next insurance tier. If they succeed, the ride could, in principle, be built.

The 2006 edition of F2291 is in the public domain and freely readable at the Internet Archive: archive.org/details/gov.law.astm.f2291.2006. That is the text the student works from. Current editions require a paid ASTM subscription; the 2006 version is fully adequate for this project.

The rulebook

F2291 establishes a concept called the "Restraint Rose" (also called the Acceleration Envelope). For every direction of acceleration the rider might experience — forward, backward, left, right, up, down, and every combination — the standard specifies a maximum permissible acceleration as a function of duration. Short bursts of high acceleration are allowed; sustained high acceleration is not. For the direction the body tolerates worst (negative vertical, which pulls blood toward the head), sustained accelerations above about 2 G are generally not permitted. For the direction the body tolerates best (positive vertical, pressing the rider into the seat), short spikes up to 4–6 G are permitted, and some rides briefly hit higher values under heavily restrained conditions.

F2291 also defines restraint classes. A "Class 1" restraint is no restraint at all (a carousel horse — the rider is free to get off). A "Class 5" restraint is a full over-the-shoulder harness with a supplemental belt. The class required for your ride depends on where in the acceleration envelope your ride lives.

The design tiers (insurance premium framing)

Real event-insurance premiums and the coverage required by venues scale with the risk profile of the activity. For the purposes of this project we simplify that reality into three tiers. The game is to pick your tier and then stay just under the limit.

Tier

Peak G (any direction, ≥ 0.5s)

Required Restraint Class

Insurance Posture

Tier 1: Family / Mild

≤ 1.5 G

Class 1 or 2 (lap bar, no harness)

Lowest premium. Standard family-event policy. Covers a kiddie coaster, a carousel, a slow Ferris wheel, a mild swing.

Tier 2: Thrill

1.5 – 3.5 G

Class 3 (lap bar + secondary redundant latch)

Medium premium. Covers a typical adult Ferris wheel at high rpm, a Scrambler, a mid-size coaster, a drop tower with rapid deceleration.

Tier 3: Extreme (maximum permitted by F2291)

Up to ~6 G brief, ~4 G sustained

Class 4 or 5 (over-the-shoulder harness)

Highest premium. Covers a launch coaster, a high-G drop tower, a Gravitron. Most expensive event policy tier.

The assignment (student-facing language)

The project prompt

You have been hired as a junior ride engineer at a small carnival operator. The company wants to introduce a new ride next season and has asked you for a design brief. Your job is to design a ride that meets three requirements:

1. It does something interesting — it must demonstrate at least two physics concepts from University Physics Volume 1. Name the chapters.

2. It must stay strictly within ASTM F2291 acceleration and restraint requirements at your chosen tier.

3. It must stay as close to the tier limit as possible without exceeding it. Staying barely under the limit is good engineering — you are delivering maximum thrill for minimum restraint.

You will submit: (a) a one-page description of the ride's geometry and motion, with rough sketches, (b) a numerical acceleration profile showing peak G and duration at the most extreme moment of the ride, (c) a restraint-class justification, (d) the chapters of University Physics Volume 1 that your ride demonstrates, and (e) a short paragraph explaining why your ride falls into the tier it does and not the tier above.

Pencil and paper, not software

The students do this calculation on paper. No CAD. No simulation. Newton did not have Solidworks, and Leibniz did not have MATLAB. What the students have is a calculator, a piece of graph paper, and the OpenStax textbook. If they can get the acceleration profile right with those tools, they have understood the physics.

The "malicious compliance" angle makes this fun. Students are explicitly told: the goal is to stay as close to the F2291 limit as possible without crossing it. Your ride should deliver exactly 5.9 G for exactly 0.4 seconds, not 4 G for 0.4 seconds. The whole exercise is about calibration — if you do not know how to calculate the peak G precisely, you will either come in too low (boring) or too high (kills a rider). Precision is the point.

Integrating with Realms of Redemption (optional)

For students who have been playing the Realms of Redemption Tesla/Topsy campaign, a crossover version of this assignment is available. Rather than design a ride for a generic modern carnival, design an early-1900s mechanical-suit vehicle capable of transporting Topsy (weight: approximately 4 tons) out of the circus grounds under a G-force budget that protects the elephant from injury. Same physics, different framing. The vehicle's peak deceleration during evasive maneuvers must stay under an elephant-safe envelope (elephant tolerance is substantially lower than human tolerance; cap at about 1.5 G). This is a harder problem than the human-rider version because the restraint options are limited and the mass is enormous.

Grading rubric

Component

Weight

What "Excellent" Looks Like

Physics accuracy

30%

All equations correctly applied. Peak G, duration, and restraint class calculated from first principles. Units consistent.

Tier calibration

25%

Peak G is within 0.2 G of the tier ceiling. No calculation error that would push the ride over the line in real construction.

Chapter mapping

15%

At least two OpenStax Vol. 1 chapters identified with specific equations cited and applied.

Restraint justification

15%

Correct restraint class chosen. Reasoning written out. Secondary latching or redundancy considered for higher tiers.

Design creativity

10%

The ride is genuinely new (not a clone of an existing ride). The motion profile is interesting.

Presentation

5%

Sketches legible. Calculations clearly laid out. Final brief fits on two pages.

Faculty notes

When we piloted this assignment, the three most common student failures were: (1) assuming G-force is constant throughout the ride when it is actually a profile over time; (2) forgetting to include the 1 G of gravity as part of the total apparent weight, so the students calculated only the additional acceleration from the ride's motion and missed the full value; (3) picking a tier without checking that their numerical result actually fell inside that tier — they declared Tier 2 but the calculation showed Tier 3.

Each of those failures is an opportunity to teach something foundational. We do not mark them down for the first attempt; we send them back with a note to recheck.

The best student submissions we have seen combined a novel mechanical concept (for example, a pendulum that swings inside another pendulum, producing a compound oscillation the rider experiences as an unpredictable sway) with a careful acceleration analysis that demonstrated they understood the calculation. Several of those ideas were, in fact, realizable — not necessarily economically, but mechanically.

Part IX. Things You Might Not Have Thought Of

A brainstorm section. These are the items that rarely make it into a first-draft event plan but consistently turn out to matter. Treat this as a checklist to read once, a week before the event, with a pen in hand.

1. The H-2B visa problem is bigger than you think

The traveling-carnival industry depends on seasonal H-2B workers. Most of those workers cannot be cleared through a facility background check in the normal timeframe. Plan for a mostly-U.S.-citizen crew on event day, or plan for the ride crew to stay in a "vendor zone" outside the inner perimeter while facility staff handle the front-of-house. Start the background-check paperwork 60 days before the event at minimum. Longer is better.

2. Count time is not a suggestion

Every facility has count times. Typically 4–6 per day. Rides stop during count. The operator's crew must know this before they arrive, and the day-of-event schedule must show count windows as hard-stop blocks, not as flex time. A carnival operator who has not worked a corrections event before will not naturally build for this — you have to be the one who tells them.

3. Wind is more restrictive than you expect

Inflatables must come down at 15 mph sustained wind. That is a moderate breeze. In open-yard environments — flat ground, no wind break — you will hit 15 mph more often than you think, especially in spring and fall. Have a weather-watcher role on the day-of-event staff list, with a published decision threshold. Do not let "but the students are excited" override the wind limit.

4. Three-phase power is an electrical-engineering lesson waiting to happen

Most mid-size rides need 208V or 480V three-phase. Your facility either has it (industrial kitchen, laundry, shop) or it does not. If it does not, the ride arrives with a diesel generator. Either way, the power-distribution setup — cables being run, grounds being bonded, phase rotation being checked — is one of the most vivid electrical engineering demonstrations available. Pair it with the diesel program at the partner facility and you have an interdisciplinary lab.

5. Magnetic eddy brakes are the bridge to Physics 102

Nearly every modern drop tower and many newer coasters decelerate using eddy-current magnetic brakes — no mechanical contact, no wear surfaces, pure induced-current physics. That is Faraday's law (Chapter 32 of University Physics Vol. 2, and the subject of our AC/DC NotebookLM episode). If you can arrange a drop tower specifically, you get to teach Chapter 3 (free fall) and Chapter 32 (eddy-current induction) on the same ride.

6. Concessions are chemistry labs

If you bring a cotton-candy machine, a funnel-cake fryer, or a kettle-corn popper to the event, you have also brought demonstrations of phase changes, the Maillard reaction, caramelization, and heat transfer. A future CM-Tech chemistry textbooklet could build itself around carnival concessions. Cotton candy in particular is extraordinary: sugar heated to about 160°C, spun through tiny holes, cooled in flight by a factor of two in milliseconds, and arriving as solid fibers. Every step is a chemistry lesson.

7. The Topsy/Tesla campaign becomes a live-action extension

Our Realms of Redemption Tesla and Topsy campaign ends with a heist: the players extract an elephant from a circus grounds using only early-1900s technology. A live amusement event on a facility yard is, structurally, the mirror image of that scenario. For students who have played the campaign, the bridge is natural: the same characters who designed a rescue vehicle for Topsy can now design a ride using ASTM F2291 for modern humans. Use the capstone project's "RoR crossover" option described in Part VIII.

8. Accelerometer worksheets are free

Every published Physics Day at a major park includes accelerometer worksheets — cheap printed worksheets that let students record apparent weight changes at specific moments of the ride. Ann-Marie Pendrill has adapted these for students of every age. You can hand them out on event day with no facility-security concerns (they are just paper with a weight-sensing insert or a printed G-force estimation procedure). The student textbooklet will contain a version of this adapted for our audience.

9. Theta Tau chapter materials

CM-Tech has reached out to Theta Tau (the co-educational professional engineering fraternity) about establishing a student chapter. Documenting an amusement-ride event with engineering guest lectures — while respecting learner anonymity — gives the chapter application a vivid, concrete activity to point to. Theta Tau national office material mentions community-facing engineering events as a chapter-profile feature. This fits.

10. Family Day is the natural combo event

Most correctional facilities already host a Family Day or Visitor Day each year. The infrastructure — the screening process, the visiting-room setup, the food service, the staff overtime — already exists. Piggybacking the ride event onto Family Day roughly halves the logistical lift. It also means the students' children, parents, and partners get to experience the rides alongside the students, which is a pedagogical bonus (the physics of a Ferris wheel does not change when your daughter is next to you; the memory of it, however, does).

11. Name the ride-company sponsor on all course materials

If a carnival company agrees to a reduced-rate or sponsored arrangement, offer them acknowledgement on the front matter of the student textbooklet and on the course description. "This event was made possible by a partnership with [Company Name]" costs us nothing and gives them a genuine reason to continue the partnership next year. The OABA's Jamboree language ("member companies that support education in their communities") fits neatly here.

12. Monday count-time interruption protocol

The most common avoidable embarrassment we have heard of is a ride still running when count starts. Run a dry-run the day before: have the ride operate for a full cycle, then have the facility call count over the radio, and measure how long it takes for the ride to come to full stop with no riders. That number goes on the day-of schedule as the "count buffer" — the ride stops operating that many minutes before count. No exceptions.

13. Post-event interviews and student writing

A ride event is an extraordinary writing prompt. Ask each student to write a one-page reflection the following week: what did you feel on the ride, what equation in University Physics Volume 1 describes that feeling, and what surprised you. Those reflections — anonymized — can become source material for future editions of The Physics of Wheeee student textbooklet. We learn from them as much as the students learn from us.

14. NotebookLM episode tie-ins

Our Physics of Wheeee NotebookLM series can include a pre-event episode ("What to feel on a Ferris wheel") and a post-event episode ("What was that Scrambler actually doing?") that reinforce the physical experience with audio content students can listen to on Edovo tablets. This turns a one-day event into a multi-week learning arc.

15. The Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday philosophy scales

If one facility event works, the same Monday–Tuesday–Wednesday logic applies to dozens of facilities across the country. A carnival company with 225 rides on a route from Florida to New York passes within 200 miles of roughly 40 federal and state correctional facilities along the way. If we can standardize the facility-event package — insurance, background checks, site requirements, schedule — we can make the second, third, and fourth events dramatically easier than the first. Pilot one. Document everything. Template everything. The ambition is a CM-Tech "Physics Day on the Yard" as a recurring annual event at every partner facility.

16. The sponsor-naming for each ride does double duty

If multiple carnival companies each donate one ride, each can be named on the specific ride they donated. This lets the operator's crew take pride in their specific contribution and gives the operator a photo for their own marketing — a photo of their ride being enjoyed by incarcerated students with an educational mission plaque next to it. Several operators will value that image.

17. Document, document, document

The closing theme. Every file, every photo, every signed log, every email — it all goes into the event archive. Three years minimum retention. Insurance adjusters appear years after the event; memories fade; staff turn over. The documentation is what survives.

Part X. Further Reading and Resources

Everything else — books, papers, standards, workbooks, trade bodies, certification programs. Bookmark what is useful, ignore what is not.

The core textbook (big book)

OpenStax, University Physics Volume 1 — the "big book" our Physics 101 course sits on top of. Free, open-license, PDF and HTML. openstax.org/details/books/university-physics-volume-1. Volumes 2 and 3 cover electromagnetism and modern physics.

Amusement-physics textbooks and pedagogy

Ann-Marie Pendrill, Physics for the Whole Body in Playgrounds and Amusement Parks (AIP Publishing, 2021). The authoritative modern reference. Covers playground physics as well as rides. Pendrill's articles at tivoli.fysik.org/english/articles/ are free and extensive.

Carolyn Sumners and Howard Jones, "Roller Coaster Science," Science and Children, 1983. The foundational U.S.-side paper on amusement-park physics pedagogy.

Jearl Walker, "Thinking about physics while scared to death on a falling roller coaster," Scientific American, October 1983. Classic popular-science essay.

Nathan A. Unterman, Amusement Park Physics: A Teacher's Guide (J. Weston Walch, 1990; later editions available). A practical teacher-facing guidebook.

Thrill-engineering and ride-design

Brendan Walker, "The Taxonomy of Thrill." Walker is an industrial and "thrill" engineer at Middlesex University. His writing covers G-force, jerk, and jounce as the physiological signals that make a ride feel exciting or terrifying. Several of his papers and talks are accessible through Middlesex's publication portal and through his personal website.

Werner Stengel Engineering, the German firm responsible for designing more than 650 roller coasters worldwide, maintains limited public-facing writing at rcsengineering.com. For students interested in ride design as a career, Stengel is a reference point.

Free student workbooks

The Physics Classroom, "Roller Coaster Physics Toolkit" — probably the single most useful free classroom resource in this space, with animations and worksheets. physicsclassroom.com/Teacher-Toolkits/Roller-Coasters.

Utah State University Physics Day at Lagoon — a very thorough bibliography and collection of worksheets at physics.usu.edu/ldm/LagoonWorksheets/.

Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags Great America Physics Days — each publishes a free workbook through the parks' education pages. Search "[park name] Physics Day workbook" each spring. Cedar Point's "Math, Science, and Physics Week" has similar materials at cedarpoint.com/groups/math-science-physics-week.

California's Great America Education Days: cagreatamerica.com/groups/education-days. Valleyfair Education Days: valleyfair.com/groups/education-days.

TeachEngineering (University of Colorado) — "Roller Coaster Forces" and related curriculum units. teachengineering.org.

Standards and regulatory

ASTM International, Committee F24 (Amusement Rides and Devices), is the body that develops the design and operation standards. Index of standards: astm.org/committee-f24.

• ASTM F2291 — Design of Amusement Rides and Devices. The rulebook for the capstone. 2006 edition free at archive.org/details/gov.law.astm.f2291.2006.

• ASTM F2137 — Standard Practice for Measuring the Dynamic Characteristics of Amusement Rides and Devices. Defines the SARC (Standard Amusement Ride Characterization) test.

• ASTM F770 — Operation Procedures for Amusement Rides and Devices.

• ASTM F1193 — Quality, Manufacture, and Construction of Amusement Rides and Devices.

• ASTM F2974 — Auditing Amusement Rides and Devices.

• ASTM F747 — Terminology Relating to Amusement Rides and Devices.

A detailed technical discussion of F2291's acceleration limits (restraint rose mechanics) by the German engineering firm VDV Freizeittechnologie is at vdv-freizeittechnologie.de — useful for the capstone faculty preparation.

Trade bodies and certification

Outdoor Amusement Business Association (OABA) — industry trade body, member directory, Jamboree fundraiser program. oaba.org. Phone: 407-848-4958.

National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials (NAARSO) — ride-inspector certification (Levels I, II, III), annual safety seminar. naarso.com.

Amusement Industry Manufacturers and Suppliers International (AIMS) — the other main inspector-certification pathway, with broader scope including manufacturer-side training. aimsintl.org.

International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) — the global industry association, largest annual trade show in Orlando each November. iaapa.org.

Industry route-tracking and directories

CarnivalWarehouse.com Carnival Routes and Schedules tracker: carnivalwarehouse.com/tracker/routes.

Carnival Midways independent directory: carnivalmidways.com.

Insurance-side references

• ACORD 25 — the standardized Certificate of Insurance form. Every COI you receive should be on ACORD 25. Look for this form number on the document.

• "Additional Insured" endorsement CG 20 26 — the standard ISO endorsement that adds a third party as additional insured on a CGL policy. Useful terminology when talking to a broker.

• "Primary and Noncontributory" endorsement CG 20 01 — makes your policy pay first in a claim. Almost always required by venues.

• "Waiver of Subrogation" endorsement CG 24 04 — stops your insurer from going after the venue after paying a claim. Also almost always required.

CM-Tech internal materials this guide references

• The Physics of Wheeee — the student textbooklet companion to this practitioner guide, also a companion to OpenStax University Physics Vol. 1.

• The Physics of Boing — companion textbooklet on waves and oscillations (OpenStax Vol. 1, Ch. 15 and 16).

• The AC/DC NotebookLM episode on electricity and power conversion — ties in with the three-phase power and induction-motor content from Part VI.

• The "Electron Behavior Through Materials" NotebookLM episode — ties in with the magnetic eddy brake discussion.

• Realms of Redemption tabletop campaign system; Tesla/Topsy elephant-rescue campaign. See Part VIII for the capstone crossover assignment.

• The CMTech Greek Life Guide — referenced in Part VI's Theta Tau callout.

Appendices

Appendix A. Outreach Email Templates

Template 1. To a carnival operator (cold outreach)

Subject: Nonprofit physics program — Monday/Tuesday ride rental inquiry for a facility event

Dear [Name or Team],

My name is [your name] and I work with the Cade Moore Polytechnic Institute, a board-governed nonprofit that delivers STEM education inside U.S. correctional facilities. We reach incarcerated students through the Edovo tablet platform and through the Prison Library Project — together about 75% of the U.S. prison population.

We are planning a Physics 101 capstone event at [facility name], in [city, state], on or around [month, year]. The event will combine a short ride experience with a classroom session taught by the ride crew on the mechanical, electrical, and safety systems involved — an educational multiplier that matters to us.

We would like to explore bringing one to three rides on site. We understand Monday through Wednesday tends to be a quieter window between your fair bookings, and we are flexible on date within that window. Because CM-Tech is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, any reduction from your standard rate can be structured as either a reduced-rate invoice or as an in-kind donation with a matching donation letter — whichever is friendlier to your accounting.

Could we set up a 15-minute call this or next week to discuss feasibility, routes, and rates? I can be reached at [phone] or [email].

Thank you for considering this. Our students will remember it.

Best regards,

[Your name]

[Title], CM-Tech

Template 2. To a carnival operator (follow-up, with specifics)

Subject: Follow-up on [month] ride rental for CM-Tech Physics 101 event

Dear [Name],

Thank you for the call on [date]. Per our discussion, here are the specifics we are working with:

• Event date: [date] (primary); [backup date] if weather moves us.

• Location: [facility name and address].

• Rides of interest: [specific rides discussed].

• Expected total ridership: [number] students plus approximately [number] staff and visiting family members.

• Site surface: [concrete/asphalt/packed gravel, etc.].

• Power available: [specify what is on site, or note that a generator will be required].

• Background-check deadline: [60 days before event]; please send full crew roster by [date].

We are preparing to sign the contract once we have confirmed your preferred rate structure (reduced-rate invoice vs. full-rate with in-kind donation letter). Our insurance broker will handle the event liability policy and will name [operator legal entity] and [facility legal entity] as additional insureds on our policy. Could you confirm that your CGL policy will similarly name CM-Tech and [facility legal entity] as additional insureds, and send a sample COI for our file?

Looking forward to building this with you.

[Your name]

Template 3. To an insurance broker

Subject: Request for quote — Special Event Liability for amusement rides at correctional facility

Hi [Broker],

We are seeking a Special Event Liability policy for a one-day educational event on [date] at [facility name, city, state]. Details:

• Event type: educational physics event with amusement rides.

• Rides on site: [list — e.g., one Ferris wheel, one Scrambler, one inflatable obstacle course].

• Expected attendance: [number].

• Alcohol: none.

• Food service: [describe — outside caterer, facility kitchen, none].

• On-site medical: licensed EMT or ambulance scheduled to be on-site for the full ride window (medical-standby contract available on request).

• Ride operator: [name of carnival company]. Their CGL policy will name CM-Tech and the facility as additional insureds. COI on request.

• All rides will carry current state or NAARSO inspection certificates at event time.

• Physical barriers will be in place around every ride's moving envelope. ASTM-compliant warning signs will be posted at each ride entrance.

Required coverage:

• $1M per-occurrence / $2M aggregate general liability (or higher if the venue requires).

• Additional insured endorsement naming [facility legal entity] and [ride operator legal entity].

• Primary and noncontributory endorsement.

• Waiver of subrogation.

• Host liquor liability (included even though no alcohol is served).

Please advise on deductible options — we are open to a higher deductible (up to $5,000) in exchange for premium reduction.

Thank you.

[Your name]

[Title], CM-Tech

Appendix B. Pre-Event Documentation Checklist

Print this page. Walk through it the morning of the event. Check each box. File it.

Insurance and contracts

• Event holder COI on file, naming facility and operator as additional insureds.

• Operator CGL COI on file, naming facility and CM-Tech as additional insureds.

• Medical-standby contract signed.

• Facility event agreement signed by warden or designee.

• Operator contract signed.

• Weather-cancellation clause confirmed in operator contract.

Ride-specific

• Current state or NAARSO inspection certificate on file for each ride.

• Manufacturer ID plate photographed for each ride.

• Pre-operation inspection completed by operator and signed off by operator's safety officer.

• Power bonded to ground at generator (verified by operator with clamp meter or equivalent).

• Barriers in place around every ride's moving envelope — photographed.

• Warning signs legible at every ride entrance — photographed.

• Height-restriction sign in place where applicable — photographed.

Personnel

• Operator crew list on file with facility security office.

• All operator crew members cleared through facility background-check process.

• CM-Tech staff assignments posted (queue manager, medical liaison, weather watcher, count-time liaison).

• Facility event liaison identified and reachable by radio.

• EMT or ambulance on-site and checked in.

Schedule

• Count-time windows published and communicated to operator crew.

• Count buffer confirmed (how many minutes before count the ride stops operating).

• Weather forecast checked this morning; wind, precipitation, and lightning forecast logged.

• Decision thresholds published (wind cutoff for inflatables, lightning cutoff for all rides).

Documentation captured

• Photos: setup, barriers, signage, personnel, crowd — all timestamped.

• Staffing log time-stamped at each count.

• Weather log captured at event start, midpoint, and end.

• Incident report forms available at each ride station (blank copies).

Appendix C. Full OpenStax Chapter Mapping Matrix

For faculty use. This is the expanded version of the matrix in Part VII. Each chapter of OpenStax University Physics Volume 1 is mapped to the rides and demonstrations that illustrate it best.

OpenStax Vol. 1 Chapter

Topic

Best-Fit Rides / Demonstrations

Ch. 1

Units and Measurement

Accelerometer calibration on any ride; measuring the Ferris wheel diameter and period with a stopwatch and a long tape measure.

Ch. 2

Vectors

Compound motion on the Scrambler (superposition of two angular velocities); net-acceleration vector on a banked turn of a coaster.

Ch. 3

Motion Along a Straight Line

Drop tower (free fall with deceleration); straight-track portion of any coaster.

Ch. 4

Motion in Two and Three Dimensions

Ferris wheel (2D circular); mini-golf putts (2D projectile on a ramp feature); carousel horses (2D circular).

Ch. 5

Newton's Laws of Motion

All rides — every ride is an opportunity to draw a free-body diagram for the rider.

Ch. 6

Applications of Newton's Laws (friction, drag, circular motion)

Gravitron (friction against wall); Ring of Fire (minimum loop speed); swing ride (conical pendulum); banked turns on any coaster.

Ch. 7

Work and Kinetic Energy

Coaster lift hill (work done by lift motor); bumper-car acceleration from rest.

Ch. 8

Potential Energy and Conservation of Energy

Coaster (PE to KE conversion through every hill and drop); pirate ship (PE-KE exchange at each swing); drop tower (PE to KE and back via brake).

Ch. 9

Linear Momentum and Collisions

Bumper cars (elastic and inelastic collisions); portable bumper cars; any collision-based carnival game (Whac-A-Mole with a twist).

Ch. 10

Fixed-Axis Rotation

Carousel (rigid rotation); Scrambler (compound rotation); Round-Up.

Ch. 11

Angular Momentum

Scrambler (angular-momentum conservation of the rotating tubs); mechanical bull (rider's torque-angular-impulse balance).

Ch. 12

Static Equilibrium and Elasticity

Rock climbing wall (static balance at each hold); bounce house wall deformation (elastic modulus); Ferris wheel support tower analysis.

Ch. 13

Gravitation

Drop tower as a local experiment in g = 9.8 m/s²; comparison with theoretical gravitational acceleration at Earth's surface.

Ch. 14

Fluid Mechanics

Water slide (Bernoulli's principle at channel entry); cotton-candy machine (fluid dynamics of molten sugar).

Ch. 15

Oscillations

Pirate ship (physical pendulum); swing ride (conical pendulum); Euro Bungee (non-linear oscillator).

Ch. 16

Waves

Sound waves from the midway speakers; standing waves on long ride-control cables (observable by eye when slack); carnival music pitch Doppler-shifted by a moving carousel.

Appendix D. Signage and Warning Template

The operator provides mandatory warning signage. CM-Tech supplements with educational and administrative signage. Sample text for the educational signage follows; adapt to the specific event.

At each ride entrance — educational plaque

[Ride Name]: The Physics You Will Feel

This ride demonstrates [physics concept] from OpenStax University Physics Volume 1, Chapter [N].

When you ride, pay attention to: [specific sensation to notice — e.g., "the way you feel heavier at the bottom of the loop and lighter at the top"].

Peak acceleration: approximately [value] G.

Rotational speed: approximately [value] rpm.

Take your accelerometer worksheet with you.

At the event perimeter — administrative plaque

CM-Tech Physics 101 Capstone Event

This event is made possible by a partnership between the Cade Moore Polytechnic Institute, [facility name], and [carnival operator name]. The rides on site are supplied by [operator], who also provides the technical crew teaching today's guest lectures.

This event supports OpenStax University Physics Volume 1 and the CM-Tech textbooklet The Physics of Wheeee.

All rides are operated by the supplying carnival company. CM-Tech and facility staff handle event administration, queue management, and educational programming.

Current state or NAARSO inspection certificates for all rides on site are available on request from the event administrator.

At each ride — warning (supplement to operator-provided signage)

Safety first. Physics second.

Read the posted height, health, and behavior restrictions before boarding.

If any of the health restrictions apply to you, do not ride. Instead, stand at the observation line and watch — the ride looks as impressive from outside as it feels from inside.

Follow every instruction from the ride operator. If you feel unsafe at any time, call out — the ride can be stopped.

Stay behind the marked barriers until the operator signals you to board.

A Closing Note

This document will be out of date the moment it is printed. Carnival companies merge, websites move, insurance products change, and ASTM publishes revised editions of F2291 every few years. Treat the specific vendor names, phone numbers, URLs, and dollar figures as starting points for a conversation, not as final answers.

The underlying logic of the project, however, is durable: amusement-park rides are classical mechanics made visible, the marginal cost of a carnival's Monday afternoon is dramatically lower than their Saturday afternoon, and incarcerated students who ride a Ferris wheel while holding an accelerometer worksheet will remember Chapter 6 of University Physics Volume 1 for the rest of their lives in a way that no textbook-only exposure can achieve.

Go run an event. Document it completely. Send us what you learned. The next edition of this guide will be built from your notes.

— The CM-Tech Team