Roller Coaster Project Blog

Summary:
Have you ever been to amusement park?  Well have you ever wanted to bring the amusement park to you? The Roller Coaster Project did just that. We learned the key aspects of a rollercoaster like acceleration at the right times things that give thrill factors like hills, turns, and loops. It is all there when designing a roller coaster. Durning this project I was tested with the consistant changes in the build, working with the different aspects of the challenge and of course gravity and the physics behind an actual rollercoaster.
What problems did you encounter while you were working on this piece? How did you solve them?:
Some problems we faced were that since our material was not as secure as something like metal it would tilt and mess up between days. We would have to rework and retape things a lot because it would dry of be knocked out of place. How we fixed this was just a lot of testing slight tweaks and reworks from what we already knew about a working roller coaster.
What does this piece reveal about you as a learner?:
This piece taught me I am good when I can see whats going on. I don't have to be the one to drop the marble but if I see the movement of it around our track I can learn to understand its patterns better that way rather than just in its number forms. Seeing consistent patterns with something you just learn the basics of how things function better.
In what ways did your work meet the standards for this assignment? In what ways did it not meet those standards? :
Our project had the basics. It had the complete Design Brief and of course this sutori. The build of the roller coaster was quite good as well but I think that we could have done better in some other departments. For example we should have labelled the build for the different aspects in it. We also could have worked harder on making the theme more clear and easier to detect. Overall I think we did quite well but if we had more time we could really push this to the next level.
One thing I would like to improve upon is ... :
I really wish we could have labelled the pieces of the coaster according to the questions. I really think I would feel more confident with the work if we had gotten this piece done. Also finishing the design of the the snake like build would have been nice too but was not as important to me.

Roller Coaster Build

http://www.dailyrepublic.com/files/2016/01/roller-coaster-tour-2-1024x697.jpg

Summary: Have you ever built a roller coaster? Chances are no but most of us have made our own race tracks or maybe roller coaster out of materials we have at home. Now a childhood pass time is connected to science and more specifically the science of motion. Roller Coaster are all powered by motion. It would be no fun it the carts never moved. What makes things move? Well lets start with some types of energy. Kinetic Energy is the energy of motion. You would think a roller coaster only needs Kinetic Energy but that is not the cause. Energy has to come from somewhere which is were we get Potential Energy. So when your cart is hanging  right over a great slope your cart has a lot of potential for energy if it is pushed forward. Potential Energy is converted into Kinetic Energy letting you have fun on a roller coaster.

S&EP: Using Models:
Since I can't make a life size rollercoaster to ride around in lets scale it down. What do you need to make a small roller coaster? Well you could use simple materials such a a marble as your cart, tubing, tape, and something like dowels and cardboard to help secure it. Now the tubing can't just be placed in any form if you have your track flat on the ground and then expect your marble to get over a giant hill it won't work. But why? Well for something to have any energy it must either have Kinetic Energy or Potential Energy. If the marble is just sitting on the track with no force being applied to it it will not move. This is due to Newtons law. An object in motion will stay in motion. An object not in motion will not move. You see to make your track work you need to create a situation where you keep speed until you want the marble to stop.

XCC: Structure and Function:
The first step to making your mini coaster work is by looking at examples of what has already been done. Roller coaster usually start of a position really high. This is to gain that Potential Energy that is all important. Then once you release your marble you will see if you created a hill it will speed down it. Now how do we continue this track of speed. This is where all the twist and turn come in. If you want the marble to keep its movement you can make something like a hill. It will go a bit slower on the way up but on the way up the amount of energy it takes to go us will be put back into going back down. You could use this new energy to make a loop or sharp turn. Slowly the marble will come to a stop once it has lost all the Kinetic Energy in it. This is ok all rides need to end at some point but depending on the structure of your build and how you lay it out and make sure you keep that kinetic energy going you can keep your coaster moving for a while

Potential Vs Kintetic

Summary: Kinetic Vs Potential. Which one of these images do you think is Kinetic? Which one is Potential. To figure this out you need so definitions. Kinetic Energy is the Energy of Motion. Kinetic Energy is things that move like the arrow flying through the air. Potential Energy is the Energy of Possible Energy. Would you believe me if I told you that an arrow that has not been released yet like in the left image also has energy. That arrow has the potential to have a lot of energy on release. That every don't just appear when you let go but it is stored up to be used while you pull back the string of the bow. Potential Energy is converted into Kinetic when you let go of the string or when motion is added.

S&EP:  Conducting Investigation:
 This week we used Gizmo to test Potential Energy. What was observed from the interactive is that the higher the ball or any object goes up on shelves or at different equal heights the ball or object will have a potential energy at about a perfect ratio. If on the first self the potential energy is 1 then you could expect that when you get to shelf 2 it will be 2 and so on a so forth. If you are working with even things since gravity is not going to suddenly change on Earth you can expect predictability.

XCC: Cause and Effect:
Newton basically invented this idea so it's unavoidable to avoid this great man when it comes to physics. Everyone knows the classic. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. To help you understand this better let me explain with the trampoline example. When you jump on a trampoline you always expect to be landed back up for every time you go down, but why? This comes from your understanding or this law of physics. You came down on the trampoline with lets say a bounce of 5 meters per second. Based on what Newton has proven you know that once you hit the trampoline the trampoline will take that force and use it to bounce you all the way back up. That's Cause and Effect baby!