Fall 2008 EF 151 final team Project Will McAlexander Jimmy Erickson Chris Epley

The Team Will Jimmy Chris

The Setup The box that was the frame for the system is approximately a cube with each side being ~16.5 in (.42 m). The plastic tube that makes up most of the track is approximately 20 feet long.

Internal Energy The starting position of the ball is roughly .5 meters Therefore, by the equation for gravitational potential energy : PEgrav = mgh m=~.25 gram g= 9.81 m/s^2 h =~.5 meters So: PEgrav = .25 x 9.81 x .5 = 1.23 Joules

Design/Construction Problems The biggest problem by far was crinkles in the tubing Next was an unstable box We rebuilt the box from scratch since the original one was so unstable The conflicting times that the team members were available was another big problem.

Conclusion While everything looked easy on paper, the actual building process was impeded by a variety of things. Personal Skill Quality/Availability of Materials, Tools, and Time In the end, even the most simplistic of designs turn out to have a lot of hidden errors and problems.