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| Chapter 4: Thrills and Chills |
| Activity Summaries |
Physics Principles |
Activity 1: The Big Thrill
Students create sketches of a roller coaster from two perspectives. They then experience the kinesthetic feel of a roller coaster while in a chair. To better describe roller coasters, they learn about velocity and acceleration including how to measure velocity with a stopwatch, ruler and photogates. Finally, they learn to calculate acceleration. |
- Displacement
- Velocity
- Acceleration
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Activity 2: What Goes Up and What Comes Down
Through an inquiry activity, students investigate the relationship between the angle of an incline and the final speed of a steel ball descending that incline. From this activity and the follow-up analysis, students arrive at the principle of the conservation of mechanical energy. |
- Gravitational potential energy
- Kinetic energy
- Conservation of energy
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Activity 3: More Energy
Students explore a pop-up toy by investigating the compression of a spring and the height that the toy rises. This extends the concept of the conservation of energy to include the potential energy of a spring. On the roller coaster, the energy is not supplied by a spring but by an electrical motor that lifts the coaster to its highest point. |
- Spring potential energy
- Conservation of energy
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Activity 4: Your “At Rest” Weight
Students first learn how to distinguish mass from weight. They then explore the behavior of springs and Hooke’s Law with a graphical analysis of the effect of force on the stretch of a spring. From an understanding of Hooke’s Law, students can explain how a spring scale measures weight. |
- Mass
- Weight
- Hooke’s Law
- Springs as scales to measure weight
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Activity 5: Weight on a Roller Coaster
Students analyze how weight changes in an ascending and descending elevator. The application of Newton’s First and Second Laws of Motion can explain why the apparent change takes place as the elevator accelerates. The use of force vectors help to make sense of the elevator as a “cheap” roller coaster ride |
- Force vectors
- Weight changes during acceleration
- Newton’s First Law
of Motion
- Newton’s Second Law of Motion
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Activity 6: On the Curves
Students investigate circular motion. The analysis of centripetal forces and accelerations are applied to roller coaster design as students calculate the required centripetal forces for horizontal and vertical curves on the coaster. Students first become aware of some of the safety features required in roller coasters. |
- Circular motion
- Centripetal acceleration
- Centripetal forces
- Normal forces
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Activity 7: Getting Work Done
To get the roller coaster started, work must be done to provide the coaster with gravitational potential energy. Students investigate the relationship between work, force, and displacement as they drag carts up different inclines. The work-energy theorem is then stated as a way to tie together this activity with the concept of the conservation of mechanical energy in earlier activities. Students also calculate the power required for a roller coaster as it ascends a hill. |
- Conservation of energy
- Work
- Power
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Activity 8: Vectors and Scalars
Students view a roller coaster as both an energy ride and as a force ride. The thrills of the roller coaster come from the accelerations. Energy as a scalar quantity cannot adequately describe the accelerations and students are introduced to vector addition to better appreciate how forces contribute to roller coaster fun. |
- Scalars
- Vectors
- Vector addition
- Energy as a scalar
- Force as a vector
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Activity 9: Safety is Required but Thrills are Desired
Students investigate what may happen to passengers and the roller coaster if accelerations are too large. This leads to explorations of safety aspects of the roller coaster design including forces on the wheels, on the tracks and the need for strong materials. Students also discuss psychological means of making the roller coaster appear less safe and more fun. |
- Circular motion
- Centripetal acceleration
- “g” forces
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