Bryan Tharpe Ivan Geigerman Brett Gibson Bart Ring

The Team Design Construction Modification Construction

Introduction Our project was to design a roller coaster with a 15 second run time. All of the parts were bought from Home Depot for around $30. The marbles were the only free item.

Overview The plan of the roller coaster was somewhat simple. It consisted of dropping a marble through the opening and attempting a 15 second run. Several different designs had to be tested before a successful run. The ball travels down the tube in a rotational pattern and finishes at the bottom of the tube.

Construction

Energy Involved The potential energy at the beginning is found. Once the ball reaches the bottom, the friction force and final kinetic energy are calculated.

Conclusion It took about five hours for the finished product to be complete. A few problems occurred while designing the project. The ball wouldn’t make it to the bottom. It would finish much sooner than 15 seconds. Thankfully only a few arguments and fist fights transpired.