A Rollercoaster story

...story written by Joel Ketner

Have you ever built a rollercoaster?  We built roller coasters for this project.  We built it out of tape, straws, paper and toothpicks.  We were trying to make the slowest rollercoaster of the class.  We were doing this to learn about potential and kinetic energy.  This paper is going to show how we made the roller coasters.

       We started by making a blueprint and estimating how many materials we would use.  Then we got a cardboard base and started building.  We had to make the starting point 12 inches off the ground.  We tried to make the angle as shallow as we could with out the marble getting stuck.  I think we used over 10 feet of tape.   In some places there was so much tape we couldn’t see the paper under it.

       On race day we all went up to the D.C. with our roller coasters.  Each group raced 3 times.  Then Mrs. Christiensen took our slowest time and compared it to the other group’s times.  Then we had all the groups race at the same time.  My group didn’t win either time.

       I had fun doing this project even though we didn’t win.  And I did learn about potential and kinetic energy.  Potential energy is stored up energy.  Kinetic energy is energy that a body gets because of its motion.

To see a video of the process click on the following link.  You will need quicktime to play it.

Rollercoaster Video

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