The Coaster is Finished

For a visual example go to the following link: Energy for a Rollercoaster

         What we did was design a roller coaster using construction paper and tape. We did some research and found a model on youtube, Paper Roller Coaster. Our roller coaster is modeled after this one. Making the ramp was fairly simple but we ran into difficulties when we came to the loop. We came to the question of how we would get the right shape for the loop to work. Our teacher, Ara, came around and looked at the video listed above and noticed that the design of the loop was sort of like snake scales, smaller pieces connected by tape. After we fixed that problem the loop worked fairly consistently. We finished the design and started gathering data. The internet was used to help us figure out what type of energy is being used to keep the marble in motion. The link under that last picture shows the best example of potential and kinetic energy.
Here are a few observations we made:

• The weight of the marble did matter
• The coster was not always consistent

     We found later that first drop was the most significant part in the roller coaster not being consistent. We could not figure it out because that was one of the pieces that did not move. We are still not sure why but for the most part it worked.
     Our Roller coaster is now up and running.