Marble Roller Coaster Kinetic Energy

Students explore our obsession with roller coasters since their introduction in the 17th century.

Marble roller coaster kinetic energy.

Avoid sharp corners or your roller coaster car your marble might crash and come to an abrupt stop. When an object like a marble or a roller coaster car is at the top of a high hill it has lots of potential energy that is energy that comes from its position. Real roller coasters use a motor to pull cars up a hill at the beginning of the ride. Kinetic energy friction.

This unit introduces potential energy and kinetic energy. In an isolated system such as the roller coaster the total energy remains constant. You ll build a roller coaster track for marbles using foam pipe insulation and masking tape and see how much the marble s potential energy at the beginning of the track is converted to kinetic energy at various points along the track. Demo a marble run.

Background roller coasters rely on two types of energy to operate. Why we love roller coasters. When the marble starts rolling down this potential energy is converted into kinetic energy. A marble at the top of the track has potential energy.

Build your own marble roller coaster in this project and find out. The marble picks up speed as it goes downhill. I often see students wistfully creating awesome looking features that don t work because they do not account for how much energy the marble has. Start the coaster high and test regularly.

After the cars have reached their highest point and they begin their rapid journey downwards the potential energy is converted back into kinetic energy. Abstract if you d like to investigate the physics of amusement park rides then this project is for you. When the marble rolls down the track the potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy. For example a coaster could go between three levels a desk a chair and the floor.

Converting potential energy to kinetic energy have multiple groups work together to build a single larger roller coaster. A roller coaster demonstrates kinetic energy and potential energy. Marbles have a limited amount of energy so encourage the students to plan their roller coaster according to how much energy the marble has. The bigger the drop in height the faster the roller coaster will go.

The energy used to pull the coaster up is stored in the cars as potential energy. You should have been able to design a working roller. Gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy. This energy comes from the force of gravity which can pull the object down to the ground.

Energy systems are explained using focus words including momentum velocity acceleration inertia friction and gravity.