Marble Roller Coaster Background Research

Plan your 60 minute lesson in science with helpful tips from kara nelson.

Marble roller coaster background research.

Your roller coaster cannot be prefabricated or from a kit. They re miniature versions of the types of roller coasters you d find at amusement parks and they include twists turns and loops. In this lesson students will prepare to construct a marble roller coaster by completing background research on roller coasters. Building a simple marble run or tube based coaster is only the beginning.

Get hands on exploring what kinds of loops are possible how energy changes during a ride and how the laws of motion come into play. If it s too flexible then it s hard for the loop to keep its shape. With a roller coaster this is acheived by pulling the train up a lift hill to the coaster s highest point. A marble travelling forward will continue moving in that direction because of it s momentum.

Your roller coaster will transport a marble that you supply you can use any model or size marble. Research design and build a roller coaster. Background and bibliography the purpose of the project is to find the lowest possible height for the hill so all of the marbles can complete the loop. It must have at least 2 hills including the starting point one loop cannot have a top and must be free standing.

Potential energy is gathered by an object as it moves upwards or away from the earth. This is a good opportunity to explain the negative effects of momentum. Marble roller coasters are science based interactive toys that work on the principles of physics particularly changing potential energy into kinetic energy. Gravitational potential energy is the energy an object has stored because of.

The foam pipe insulation needs to be the stiff kind. The marble rolls because it has gravitational potential energy. Because some energy is always lost to friction your initial hill. You ll build a roller coaster track for marbles using foam pipe insulation and masking tape and see how much of an initial drop is required to get the marble to loop the loop it s a great way to learn about how stored energy potential energy is converted into the energy of motion kinetic energy.

If you followed the guidelines discussed in the background section you should have been able to design a working roller coaster. If a curved track is not banked the marble may fly off of the edge of the track. Roller coasters and marble runs offer an engaging platform for invention engineering and physics based investigation.