Roller Coaster Physics (2/5 - 2/9)

https://goo.gl/UhrJeb

Summary:

     Roller coasters are a form of amusement that send people in a cart through several twists, turns and inversions which are built with light rails. Roller coasters utilize several properties of physics in order to work. Motion is what makes the cart move. Kinetic energy determines the energy while the cart is in motion and potential energy determines the energy that the object stores. Acceleration makes the cart gain velocity so it can gain enough speed to go over loops. Force determines what stops the cart (gravity, friction, air resistance, etc.) or makes it accelerate. Finally, Newton's three laws help determine the forces that would stop the cart from being in inertia, the force of the cart, and where and how the cart's equal and opposite reaction would be exerted.

SP2 - Developing and Using Models:

     This week I developed and tested a model to see how the roller coaster that we made a prototype of with a drawing would function. The materials that we made the roller coaster with was a 4x6 wooden board, 2 dowels, 10 ft (3.05 m), masking tape, hot glue and a marble as the cart. Our roller coaster consisted of a 4 ft. drop which would transition into a loop. That loop would then transition into a corkscrew which was a 360° turn sideways and would then go in a straight line for 3 ft. before stopping. By creating this roller coaster, we created a model of a roller coaster which helped us measure vector and scalar quantities in a realistic point of view (modeling a roller coaster). After successfully testing out the roller coaster, we were able to find it's average velocity, acceleration, kinetic energy and potential energy.