Jose Gallardo

Mr. Qian
HPhysics, Period 5
13 March 2016
Roller Coaster Marbles Lab Report
The purpose of the project Roller Coaster Marbles is to determine the minimum height at
which a marble will be able to loop-the-loops of a fixed size successfully. The Physics theorem
involved in the project is energy transformation or conservation of energy. At the starting point
of the loop the marble has potential energy. That energy converts to kinetic energy as the marble
rolls down the foam pipe insulation. When the marble begins looping a loop of fixed size it loses
some kinetic energy, but gains potential energy. When the marble finishes looping the loop it
gains kinetic energy, but loses potential energy. Gravity or gravitational force is the force that
enables the marble to finish the loops and gain velocity. Velocity is also affected by potential and
kinetic energy which is the cause and effect. The foam pipe insulation is the resisting force or
friction on the marble. The foam pipe insulation slows down the marble so enough velocity is
needed for the marble to loop-the-loop. The amount of potential energy is determined by the
slope of the roller coaster. That is the slope of the starting point of the roller coaster, the rise is
the height of the starting point from the first loop and the run is the displacement from the
starting point. When the marble runs down the foam pipe insulation some of the energy that the
marble uses to move is lost by friction, gravitational force, and heat. Therefore, energy is neither
destroyed nor created, but it is converted into other energy types.
The roller coaster that my group made succeeded nine out of ten times. The fourth test
failed because the starting point and the loops were not aligned. The most difficult part of
constructing the roller coaster is making the marble loop the third loop. I learned that the reason
why the marble did not loop the third loop is that there was not enough height so the marble did
not have the kinetic and potential energy to loop the third loop. Once the first loop was made
higher the marble had a lot of velocity. I have to make the starting point of my groups roller
coaster about 60 inches in order for the marble to loop-the-loop. The smaller the marble the
faster it can loop-the-loop without fail, but as the size increases so does the mass of the marble.
The gravitational force has a greater effect on the marbles with greater mass so there is less
potential and kinetic energy to loop-the-loop. When the loop diameter increases the height must
increase because more potential energy is needed to convert into kinetic energy in order for the
marble to loop-the-loop. When the loop diameter decreases the height is may be lowered since
less potential and kinetic energy is needed. My groups roller coaster is stabilized by some
wooden sticks and a support like small wooden table to keep the roller coaster from wobbling.
The stabilizing of the roller coaster enables the starting point height to be lowered since the
marble loses less energy in moving the roller coaster. If the slope is too small the marble will not
have enough potential energy and a high slope may slow down the marble and also not have
enough potential energy. Therefore, a roller coaster must have a fixed sized slope.
We communicated ideas by adopting a friends idea to help support our tubes and to
make sure our marble didnt fall off at the starting point. My partner and I both took action by
taking an extra step and challenging our own abilities by adding a third loop. Along with helping
other groups if needed. We also recognized how much effort our classmates took in making their
spectacular roller coasters and weighed our perspectives with their creativity, so my partner and I
thought it would be great too use our extra time to make some adjustments.