Group 1 :Jenna Richardson

Joe Rungee Mike Nguyen

Jimmy Bogosian

Carrera Rollercoaster

Group Members

Materials UsedDevice constructed of mostly wood, plastic, and duct tape.

Materials utilized:• Racecar track with car• Spring• Marble• Mousetrap• Cut up plastic coke bottle• String and safety pin• Wood base and side• Duct tapes• Funnels and tubes

Estimated cost of all materials was around $20

• A racecar runs a track and hits a metal pin holding the lever down with a spring compressed underneath the lever. When the metal pin is removed, the spring decompresses and move the lever upward and hits the marble. Then the marble makes it way downward through different obstacles, and hit the mouse trap at the end. The mousetrap is attached to a string which pulls a safety pin which is holding a banner in place. Safety pin is released, banner rolls down and is displayed.

The Process

Energy Conservation/Calculations

•Racecar starts with potential energy ,which is conserved by rotational energy once car goes through loop.•( mgh=½mv² ) ( ½mv^2=½IW² )

•Elastic energy is transferred to potential, then kinetic when spring releases lever and marble goes down track. (½kX²=mgh) (mgh=½mv²)

•The kinetic energy used when marble hits mousetrap is conserved by elastic energy when mousetrap is set off. (½mv²=½kX²)

The Machine

Challenges/Conclusions

*Getting the car to start at right height to make it around the loop and hit the metal pin with a great enough force to set off the lever/spring.*Getting marble to hit mousetrap dead on.*Creativity was the key in designing the project and planning out how it would work.*The construction part was challenging and fun.*Helped us apply physics to real world applications and see how things work.