It's About Time: Communication Sample


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Transportation

Table of Contents

Activity Page 1

Activity Page 2

Activity Page 3

CHAPTER 1: DRIVING THE ROADS: Page 2
FOR YOU TO DO 1. Start the car moving by letting it roll down a ramp. You can control its speed by starting it at various distances up the ramp, or by changing the slope of the ramp. 2. Use a photogate or sonic ranger to measure the car's speed at the moment it gets to the bottom of the ramp. This is the speed the car is traveling at the moment the stopping process begins. This is called the initial speed.
Orient the ramp on the floor so as not to obstruct traffic flow especially to emergency exits If you are setting the ramp up on the table, provide some means to conytain the cart and prevent it fromflying from the table
3. Find the distance the car travels from the bottom of the ramp to the point where it stops. This is the stopping distance.

4. Do at least 10 trials with the car going at different speeds and measure the corresponding stopping distances. a) Record your data in a chart like the one below.

5. One way to display data is on a graph. In this activity you are interested in seeing how the stopping distance relates to the initial speed. Place the initial speed on the horizontal axis and the stopping distance on the vertical axis. a) Plot a graph of your data in your log. b) How does the stopping distance change with initial speed? c) What kind of relationship does your graph show? 6. Select two values of speed from your graph, with one value just double the other. When the speed of the car doubles, what happens to the stopping distance? a) What is the effect of doubling speed on distance traveled during response time? (Refer to Activity Two.) b) What is the effect of doubling speed on distance traveled during stopping? 7. Compare two stopping distances for which the second speed is three times as fast. a) What is the effect of tripling the speed on the distance traveled during stopping? b) Predict how going four times as fast will affect stopping distance.