Marble Roller Coaster Lab

Marble Roller Coaster Lab (Styrofoam) Roller Coaster Name: Your Name: Team members:

Purpose: Your goal is to design and build the wildest roller coaster ride that will deliver a marble safely to the end. You must at least demonstrate three successful consecutive runs.

Criteria: Your roller coaster should have at least

 2 hills, 2 turns and 1 vertical loop (extra credit for extra loops, hills or turns)

Materials:

 6 ft x 2 length of insulation tubing (Home Depot item # OEP11838, 1-1/8” x 3/8” OR OES7838, 7/8” x 3/8”. Available in the plumbing aisle)  scissors  tooth picks  glue & tape  support material like wood sticks or paper cups  standard size poster board  marble  stop watch & ruler (supplied)

Procedure: You and your team will design your roller coaster and must submit your design first for approval before starting your construction. The poster board will serve as a base and the foam tubing will serve as the track. These can be cut to fit your design. Your coaster needs to be designed and constructed with the criteria mentioned above. You will need to make Potential energy and Kinetic energy estimates. For this you need to measure the height of the roller coaster from where the marble starts to the base where the marble ends its trip. You also need to estimate the velocity of the marble as it rolls off at the end. The entire group must make the demonstration in front of the class and also speak on their project for 5 minutes. You will talk about the history and physics of roller coasters, and your team’s experience in building it. Your roller coaster must have a theme and the class will vote for the most decorated roller coaster, which will get a bonus of 5 points.

Rubric: No loop, No Hill, No turn: No grade

2 Hills 2 Turns 1 loop - 45 pts 2 Hills 1 Turn 1 loop - 40 pts 1 Hill 2 turns 1 loop - 35 pts 1 hill 1 turn 1 loop - 30 pts 0 hill 1 turn 1 loop - 25 pts 1 hill 0 turn 1 loop - 20 pts ------0 loop No points Workmanship 10 pts Presentation 10 pts Calculations 20 pts Conclusions 10 pts Theme & Decoration 5 pts Calculations:

Mass of marble (kg) = m =

Track Height (m) = h =

Horizontal Distance traveled (m) = dx

Height of the table (m) = dy 2dy Time t (sec) = g

Velocity (m/sec) v = dx / t =

Potential Energy (Joule) = m.g.h =

Kinetic Energy (Joule) = ½ m.v2 =

Energy Lost (P.E–K.E) =

%Efficiency = (K.E/P.E) x 100

Conclusion:

1. When was the first roller coaster made?

2. Which is the world’s highest coaster?

3. What do you think happened to the energy lost during the coaster ride

4. Identify all the forces acting on a passenger while going through a loop.

5. What scientific laws & facts are being demonstrated during the marble ride? Roller Coaster Project Rubric Looking For… Way! Part Way No Way Scoring

Missing major Physics, Well presented, Reading from parts of History, covers the history, paper, some parts presentation, Experience physics and team missing, lacking laughing, or /7 Presentation experience. A seriousness while making a joke powerpoint or poster Formal presentation presenting of the also shown. Confident & Coherent presentation /3 Has all the Missing some of Missing a loop. Features appropriate number the requisite Trials not Roller Coaster of hills, loops and/or features. 2 successful turns. 3 successful successful trials in most of the /40 trials in a row a row time Splinters, lacking Workmanship Neat finish, painted paint or finish, No theme, /10 Workmanship & and well decorated. wobbly. Theme is Structure Theme Has a well defined Theme not apparent or unstable /5 theme. silly or unappealing Calculations All parameters noted Parameters not /20 accurately. Some calculations noted correctly. Calculations Calculations done done wrong. Large errors in correctly. calculations

Conclusions /10 All questions Some questions Answers wrong Conclusions answered fully and answered correctly or show lack of correctly or partial answers understanding

Effective Teamwork Team has worked Some team Documented well together to Most on the members worked produce an effective work has been harder than others Teamwork and strong product, done by one in completing the with equal person project distribution of tasks /5