Math In Creating A Marble Roller Coaster

Using only these materials and tape each group had to create a roller coaster that included one loop.

Math in creating a marble roller coaster.

Let s begin by measuring the speed your marble can attain. I used this marble roller coaster activity to kick off our discussion of kinetic and potential energy in physical science. You ll be creating a homemade marble run and exploring what happens to the marble as you make changes to the track. Each group received one six foot piece of tubing and one marble.

Ngss k ps2 2 follow our science for kids pinterest board. Rolling downhill later in this activity you will make roller coasters for marbles out of foam pipe insu lation. Your marble must not fall off until it gets to the end of the track. You may tape your run to furniture.

The mathematics of. You may only use the materials provided. You ll need two lengths of pipe each about 1 8 meters long some tape a calculator a stopwatch and measuring. This activity gives students hands on experience with several mathematical and physical concepts in the development of a safe roller coaster.

Your marble must land in the cup at the end of the run. Just like the cars on a real roller coaster the marble has potential energy when it is at the top of the hill. It s similar to how a roller coaster works this activity correlates with next generation science standards kindergarten. Build your own marble roller coaster in this project and find out.

The roller coaster starts with an initial drop usually a very high hill so the coaster gains enough speed. This enables the marble to continue rolling when it comes to the smaller hills. To keep roller coasters on the track make sure to do the math. The energy becomes kinetic energy when the marble rolls down the hill.

Background roller coasters rely on two types of energy to operate.