Investigating Energy: Marble Coasters

Investigating Energy – How is speed related to the amount of energy in an object?

Materials:

• Marble (or other tiny, heavy ball)
• Roller coaster track building materials
  • Paper rolls
  • Cardboard
  • Paper plates
  • Pool noodles / insulation tubing
  • PVC pipes
  • Or anything that comes from your recycling bin works!
• Tape (masking tape works best) — limited tape per challenge
• Scissors
• Cup to place at end of roller coaster to catch marble
• Engineering Design Steps — Google Slides
• Paper (or use the sample planning sheet on page 3)
• Pencil

What to do:

• Use the Engineering Design steps to plan, build, test and revise your roller coaster as you try out the three challenges below.
• Here is a video of the Superman roller coaster at Six Flags.
  • Watch the video (this was taken from the front sea
  • What do you notice about the hills and curves of this coaster
• Challenge #1: Create a track with two hills.
  • Draw your plan on a piece of paper, labeling the materials you will use.
  • Use any materials that you have to create your roller coaster.
  • You are limited to 2 feet of tape.
• Challenge #2: Add another hill to make three hills on your roller coaster.
  • Add onto your original plan and label any additional materials
  • Use any materials that you have to create your roller coaster.
  • You are limited to 1 extra foot of tape.
• Challenge #3: Add a corkscrew or loop to your coaster.
  • Use any materials that you have to create your roller coaster.
  • You are limited to 2 more feet of tape.

What happened?

• What did you discover as you tried to build your roller coaster?
• Did it matter how tall each of your hills were?
• What did you have to change as you tested your track?
• What was a challenge?
• What did you notice about the speed of your marble?
• If your marble got stuck, how did you fix it?

Continue to refine your roller coaster

• Modify your roller coaster to add new elements or make it smoother
• Take a picture or video of your coaster and share it with your class!

Roller Coaster Planning:  Draw your roller coaster and add onto it as you move through each challenge.  Label your materials.  Draw it on a separate sheet of paper for more space.