Science of the Amusement Park

Teacher: Cathy McQuone Dec96 Issue

Using several activities involving a foam insulation tube, masking tape and a marble, students explored Newton's laws of motion, forces, and speed, etc. The final project was to build a roller coaster with at least one loop, one hill, one curve. The marble had to stop slowly at the end. Besides applying their knowledge in a hand-on project, the students had FUN!

FIRST PLACE DESIGN WINNERS

Sidney T. Merrett C. Stephen H. Peter D.

Our track started high in the air and continued into a loop, then went over and down a hill. As it went down the hill it curved and hit a spinner which knocked down a long line of dominoes. It came to a slow stop at the end when it was padded with a wad of tape. We had a little problem with the marble jumping the hill.The problem was that the tape created a bump which caused the marble to jump the track. We took some of the tape off so it would be smooth and would not jump off. After we fixed the problem our coaster worked fine and it was a big success. Peter brought in the dominoes,track, and spinner. This was a big help and preplanning allowed us to complete the track within the time limit.

We had a blast constructing our roller coaster and doing this project. It was easier to understand all the concepts of roller coasters having to construct it ourselves. Hands on activities help us to understand what problems you would come across if you were actually constructing a roller coaster. It was a wonderful way to learn the science of the Amusement Park. We hope to have activities like this in the future.

SECOND PLACE DESIGN WINNERS

Jennifer D., Mike C, Courtney L.,Jason Z.

We thought this was a very fun project. We learned how the rollercoaster really works and how everything needs to be perfect for it to work. It took alot of team work and patience to create our rollercoaster.A main feature on our rollercoaster is that the marble hits a lever and tranfers the momentum so that the levers slams into a balloon and pops it.

 

THIRD PLACE DESIGN WINNERS

Hyatt H Greg R John Z Meridith M

We used old toys, toliet paper rolls, and other materials on our coaster. We also out did the requirements that we needed too. This project was a lot of fun!

FOURTH PLACE DESIGN WINNERS

Matt H., Elizabeth N., Abby R., Nick W.

 

In designing our coaster the special features that our team came up with is Tunnels, Turns, Spirals, and Loops. The hardest thing for our team to get right was probably the turn with the hill, because the gravity didn't pull the marble down far enough towards the track.

 

The most exciting feature that a park visitor would enjoy would be the spiral loop with the twisting upside down turn.

 

If we had an unlimited budget we would add a feature that when the roller coaster stopped it would go backwards through the whole thing again and just some more scary features and a lift for people so they won't have to walk so far.

OTHER WORKING ROLLER COASTERS

Lindsay M,Melissa B.

What we learned is that the rollercoaster is harder than it looks.

 

 

 

Billy T., Abena A., Charlie D.

 

Team 3 found this project to be fun and different. We encountered problems when our hill was too steep and the marble kept ramping off of the coaster. If we had a little more space, we would have made the roller coaster a little longer and put in more hills and curves.

 

 

 

 

Kendrah G., Suzanne C., Carolyn C.

 

We thought this was the coolest lab yet! This was alot harder than we thought it would be. We kept having the marble jump the track, so we put sticky tape at the beginning to slow it down. We also added a tunnel at the end to keep it on the track. All it took was patience and imagination.We think the loop is the most exciting part of the coaster at an amusement park.

Dre C. , Arrie F. , Laurel H. , Dustin S.

 

This lab was extremely fun and exciting. The intense feeling of longing for the ball to succeed to the finish just about gave us heart attacks! This experiment/lab allowed us to realize exactly WHAT kinetic and potential energy is and how it and other forces effect us in everything we do. Thank you Ms. Mc Quone, we wish you a happy holiday ! ! !

Team 4: Jack C., Dixon C., Bobby A., Tiffany D.

 

This lab was one of the best we have had all year. It was challengeing but fun at the same time. Everyone in our team liked it. But what made it especially neat was the fact that our team got an A on the exam.

Anthony I. Ladell B. Latonya F. Kristen P.

Our group worked well together to get our roller coaster finished in the amount of time we were given. We used half cups to provide for us tunnels and obstacles. We also made two loops out of the tubes of our roller coaster. We had LOTS of FUN!!!!!!!.

Joseph L Lauren W Jennifer S Melanie M

Our group really enjoyed this activity. It taught us it is very hard to make a roller coaster. This lab was really FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Katie H. Chris T. Justin W. Joseph A.

This was a fun project to work on. Our group added some tubes, loops, and some very extreme turns. It took us about ten tries before the coaster worked without "killing the passengers". Overall our whole team worked together and had a great time during this activity!!!

Drew G. David K. Ryan M.

We thought that this lab/exam was a very fun one to do because of the simplicity of the idea. We found out later that it was harder than we expected, but still fun. We tried our best to keep the marble on the inside

of the coaster, and in the end we found out we were very successful in

our work. The ending speed was 126.6 centimeters per second.

Mary E, James S, Megan P

This took alot more skill than we thought it would. It was complicated working out the double loop, but this was a fun exam. It was worth it when it was done.

Gabrielle , Stephanie, Rory

This was a very fun and interesting project. It was also somewhat easy. We would love to do something like this again.

Tracey R., Lucie P., Claire V., Claire W.

We got our idea to do Christmas lights because, of course, it's Christmas. We really loved doing this lab because its really exciting to build a roller coaster and also learn all the aspects of how a roller coaster works. I guess that's Science for ya. The speed is 122.5 cm/sec.

Kathryn, Erin, Erika, Emily

During the process of building the roller coaster our team had allot of panic running through them. At first the coaster worked fine and then it failed. One of the group members came up with an idea that we did at the last few minutes left.