The first amusement park roller coaster opened at New York’s Coney Island in 1884. Known as the Switchback Railway, the ride used gravity to send daredevils along 600 feet of dips and inclines at a blistering 6 miles per hour. Today, following more than a century’s worth of efforts to supply ever more dramatic spikes in adrenaline, roller coasters can reach speeds of more than 100 miles per hour and can feature drops of hundreds of feet, as well as loops, spins, back flips, and corkscrew turns.
