Do you love roller
coasters?!
Now you can create your own with:
Now you can create your own with:
The Foam Marble Roller Coaster!
Materials: 1-3 marbles,
foam pipe insulation, duct tape, cups (optional, to catch marbles)
Procedure: This
project is all about experimenting!
1: Separate the
foam pipe insulation into two pieces length wise as seen in this picture:
2. To make your roller coaster longer, tape the ends of two lengths of the pipe using duct tape and try to make the transition as smooth as possible. Also, use the tape for enforcing the structure of the coaster throughout.
3. Now it’s your turn to do whatever you want! Experiment with the pipes. See what ways you can shape them to create the coolest, fastest, roller
coaster. Have a competition
with your friends to see who can build the coolest one!
The Science
Behind It!
Every kid knows that if you put a marble at the bottom of the
roller coaster it isn't possible for it to go up. This intuition is backed up
by science.
When an object has height, it possesses something called potential
energy. Potential energy is represented by the mass times gravity times the
height of the object (mgh).
When the marble is let go from the top of the roller coaster, it converts its potential energy into kinetic energy.
Kinetic energy is the energy released when the object is moving. Kinetic energy
is represented by the one half times mass times velocity squared (1/2m(v^2).
You
can use this information, for example, when you are creating loops along your roller coaster! For the marble to have enough kinetic energy to go through the loop, it must first start off with enough potential energy, or enough height.
For more information, visit: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Phys_p037.shtml#procedure
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