CLICK HERE FOR THE COASTER CREATOR GAME
Directions: As a part of your final physics evaluation, you will put some of the concepts you learned in action. In teams of maximum 4 members, you will build a Roller Coaster which will compete with the roller coasters other teams build. The fastest and safest Roller Coaster will win.
Directions: As a part of your final physics evaluation, you will put some of the concepts you learned in action. In teams of maximum 4 members, you will build a Roller Coaster which will compete with the roller coasters other teams build. The fastest and safest Roller Coaster will win.
DUE DATE: Monday June 13th, 2011
THIS PROJECT WILL BE 60% OF YOUR EXAM GRADE.
1. Construct a roller coaster, with a minimum of one hill and one loop, using any readily available material, which you think will provide a “slippery” surface. A standard glass marble will be used as your coaster car. Total running length of the coaster track must be 4.0 meters.
2. Take one square of single-ply toilet tissue. Stretch it until it is taut and fasten it securely to the end of your roller coaster.
3. Test the roller coaster for speed and safety. The marble should reach the end of the track as quickly as possible, without breaking the toilet tissue.
a) Position your marble at the top of your roller coaster.
b) Allow it to roll down the hill without pushing it.
c) Begin timing on a stopwatch when the marble starts rolling.
d) Stop the watch when the marble reaches the tissue.
e) Record the elapsed time, to the nearest 0.1 second, on the appropriate Data Collection Page. (scroll down)
f) Indicate whether the tissue was broken.
g) Conduct several speed trials, to see if the times are approximately the same and if the tissue is always broken or unbroken.
b) Allow it to roll down the hill without pushing it.
c) Begin timing on a stopwatch when the marble starts rolling.
d) Stop the watch when the marble reaches the tissue.
e) Record the elapsed time, to the nearest 0.1 second, on the appropriate Data Collection Page. (scroll down)
f) Indicate whether the tissue was broken.
g) Conduct several speed trials, to see if the times are approximately the same and if the tissue is always broken or unbroken.
4. If your results are unsatisfactory for any reason, such as, the tissue is broken, or the marble doesn’t travel around the loop, you may wish to experiment with the path of the roller coaster track.
a) Consider the number, height, and shape of the hills and loops. For further investigation using virtual roller coasters, click here.
b) If the tissue is broken, how can the marble touch it with less force?
c) Explore the relationship between the height of a hill and the height of a loop following it. Does the marble acquire enough speed from its movement down the hill to enable it to travel around the loop? If not, how can the speed be increased?
b) If the tissue is broken, how can the marble touch it with less force?
c) Explore the relationship between the height of a hill and the height of a loop following it. Does the marble acquire enough speed from its movement down the hill to enable it to travel around the loop? If not, how can the speed be increased?
6. Participate in the competition with your classmates to determine the fastest, but safest, roller coaster.
a) Conduct five trials with your roller coaster.
c) The best roller coaster will have the shortest elapsed time, without breaking the tissue.
c) The best roller coaster will have the shortest elapsed time, without breaking the tissue.
6. You will hand in a written report with the following information:
a) Produce a scale drawing of your completed roller coaster, so that it can be duplicated in the future. Include information about your construction material and track design.
b) The Data Collection Page you used for your trials.
c) Calculations and result of the total potential energy at the beginning of your roller coaster.
-- OPTIONAL –
You can do this to do trials with different materials to see how slippery they are.
2. Construct your roller coaster, according to the specifications below. See diagram.
a) The coaster has exactly one hill.
b) Height of the hill (h) is 0.5 meters.
c) Midpoint height of the hill (at 0.5 meters of horizontal distance) is 20 centimeters.
d) Total horizontal length of the hill (l) is 1.0 meter.
e) There is an additional 1.0 meter of level track after the hill.
b) Height of the hill (h) is 0.5 meters.
c) Midpoint height of the hill (at 0.5 meters of horizontal distance) is 20 centimeters.
d) Total horizontal length of the hill (l) is 1.0 meter.
e) There is an additional 1.0 meter of level track after the hill.
3. Conduct ten speed trials, according to the procedure below.
a) Position your marble at the top of your roller coaster.
b) Allow it to roll down the hill without pushing it.
c) Begin timing on a stopwatch when the marble starts rolling.
d) Stop the watch when it reaches the end of the level track.
e) Record the elapsed time, to the nearest 0.1 second on the appropriate Data Collection Page.
f) Compute the speed (rate) the marble traveled, using the formula:
rate = distance / time. Record your data on the Data Collection Page.
g) Repeat steps a through f, for the remaining nine trials.
h) Compute and record the average speed for your coaster.
b) Allow it to roll down the hill without pushing it.
c) Begin timing on a stopwatch when the marble starts rolling.
d) Stop the watch when it reaches the end of the level track.
e) Record the elapsed time, to the nearest 0.1 second on the appropriate Data Collection Page.
f) Compute the speed (rate) the marble traveled, using the formula:
rate = distance / time. Record your data on the Data Collection Page.
g) Repeat steps a through f, for the remaining nine trials.
h) Compute and record the average speed for your coaster.
4. Data Analysis: Examine the data posted on the project web page, collected from all of the participants, by clicking on Project Data in the navigation bar. Look for similarities and differences in the results. What could account for the similarities? For the differences? Which material appears to be the most slippery?
5. Formulate a written hypothesis describing the construction material and track design to use for the fastest roller coaster. Justify your hypothesis based upon your data analysis. If you are participating in the competition portion of the project, you will build your coaster using this material and track design.
Data Collection Page
Team Name:
Team names and list numbers:
Describe the materials that you used for your roller coaster.
Describe the design of your track.
Trial 1 | Trial 2 | Trial 3 | Trial 4 | Trial 5 | |
Elapsed Time In sec. | |||||
Speed (m/s) | |||||
Did the tissue break? |
Average Speed:
No comments:
Post a Comment