Roller Coaster Project Blog

Summary:

       In order to successfully complete this project, you must have designed (and sketched) a roller coaster made of pretty common materials (a marble, insulation tubing, tape, popsicle sticks, straws, etc.). In addition, you had to create a timeline (which is the presentation) of your roller coaster along with an analysis. The analysis consisted of questions revolving around physics (force, velocity, acceleration, energy, etc.). Through this project I learned that the only real way to generate enough force to move a roller coaster (through the whole course) that is only pushed by gravity is by beginning with a big drop. On top of this, it is impossible for the height of the hill to be greater than the height at which the marble is initially placed. Due to how it is impossible for the marble to generate enough energy to be able to go up something larger than which originally placed. This is because the amount of potential energy at the top of the hill is greater than at the start. Thus, going down a smaller drop will not have enough energy to go up the hill (because the hill requires more energy than the marble has going down from the starting position. Moreover, as a marble passes through a loop, the potential energy and speed decrease as it goes upwards through the loop. However, as it goes down the loop, the kinetic energy increases, causing the potential energy to decrease due to gravity. Lastly, gravity is what makes the marble drop at a specific speed. At the top of the roller coaster, the force of gravity continues to pull the marble down. Friction slows down the marble. As the marble travels through the roller coaster, friction is the opposing force that slows down the marble.
     
Backward-Looking:

       What I knew about the subject before we started is that energy is what allows us and other objects to move. I also knew that gravity is what causes objects in the air to go down. For example, when shooting a basketball, the ball will eventually dip and does not stay at the same height (or continue upward). The process that my group went through to produce this piece is first brainstorming possible ideas for a roller coaster. We then picked the most promising solution and sketched it along with eventually building it. After, we added decorations and calculated the physics of our coaster. Lastly, we created a timeline and communicated it by presenting it to the class. I have not done work similar to this in the past that involved physics. The ways that I think that I can improve at this type of work is by adding the different parts of calculations with the final total. For example, when calculating speed, rather than just putting 2 m/s, I would also put next to it, 4 meters in two seconds. This is due to how it will allow me to remember how I got that number and will help to ensure that my calculations are correct.

Inward-Looking:

       I feel pretty good about this project. This is because we gave a lot of effort when completing it and thought about what we did before doing it. The parts of it that I like are the turn of our roller coaster. This is because, not only does the marble change direction, but it also does spins a bit to (it almost goes upside down) which I think is pretty cool. What I dislike about our coaster is that it does not work 100% of the time. It works most of the time, but not every time, which kind of gets me a bit frustrated. What I enjoy about this project is that our presentation is very good and clean. In addition, the information displayed actually makes sense and is not just something that we wrote up in 3 minutes.

Outward-Looking:

       If I were a teacher, the comments that I would make about this piece would be that, "I like the presentation. Although, the roller coaster could have dealt with more decoration and should have been tested more. This is to ensure that it has an 100% success rate." Thus, the grade that I would give this project is a B+ to an A. This is because of how we did well on one of the biggest parts of the project according to our teacher. Which was the presentation and physics calculations. However, as mentioned above, our coaster itself could have been made a bit better. What I mean by this is that we could have added more things to it that would make it run more smoothly and work like how we envisioned. Along with this, we could have added more decorations because our current coaster, does not really display a theme. One thing that I would like people to notice about our project is that our physics totals have the different numbers that went into that total right next to it.

Forward-Looking:

       What I would I would change if I had the chance to due this piece again is our coaster itself. I would add more decorations so that a theme can be easily identified. I will also add more support systems so that it will stay stable and run through the entire course every single time. I would do this because I feel that the appearance and performance of our coaster is what really let the project down. One goal I would like to set for myself next time is to try and be more attentive during the entire project. As during the project, there were countless times when I got distracted and began to look at others projects. One thing that I would like more help with is building things. This is because I am not the best at it and tend to make things very messy.