Physics Experiment #2
In science, after playing with speed, and exceleration on flat surfaces, we decided to experiment with speed on ramps and inclines. We (Tati Tatzo John, and I) were able to use tables, plastic track, string, and pretty much any other supplies we had acess to. We first started out by seeing how far we could get a little matchbx car to jump a gap between two of the tables. After experimenting with that for a day or two we kind of got sick of the idea and felt like we weren’t changenging ourselves enough. Then we sat down as a group and brainstormed other ideas that we could do for an experiment. Then we got the idea of making an ongoing track. Our idea was to make a cicular track that a car can rotate around without stopping. Our exacution plan was to use ramps and inclines to make that happen. Oringanally we started making this track on tables. That was not working very well because it was very hard to get the track straight without the car flying out of it. Our first solution was duct tape. We tried to tape down the tracks so that they wouldn’t turn sideways. This worked, up until we had to take it down at the end of class. A week later, after our trip to San Francisco, we decided to try what the other groups were doing, using sting to hang the track. This made the track bouncy and more able to go over the next ramp. I had abetter feeling that this was going to work. We discovered that the effect of building the track on the cieling wasn’t a lot different than on the table. The problem wasn’t even that it was in the air or not, it was the fact that we were using the kind of track that we had to make a circle. We wanted the track to stay straight, but it was curving horizontal.
So, after talking to Carwai about it we decided to give up on the idea. It might have been able to work if we used a different kind of track like the little wooden train tracks or something less flexible. Even though it didn’t exactly work, I think that we all learned a lot trying this experiment. I’m glad that we didn’t stay with the jumping distance idea. We were only working on it for not even helf a period and already almost finished the experiment. I think it was smart trying more than three different ways of making the experiment. We figured out what we needed to do and accomplished it, even if if didn’t work.
Now looking back at it, I wish we tested the cars or marbles on the actual track more. I think that we were so focused on making the track straight that we didn’t think of using the car or marble to help us see what we needed to fix on the track. As we tried to plan out our first experiment we realized that we were on our way to turning this experiment into a ruth goldberg machine. We were trying to think of ways to keep the car going on the track by using rubber bands or other objects that would keep the car in motion. I think that this was a perfect experiment for before the ruth goldberg machine experiments.Now that we know more how inclines effect the speen and acceleration of the car we could possibly use it in our machines.
I really enjoyed doing this experiment. Although it was frusterating having to start our experiment over again multiple times, I think that it was worth trying it. I know our question was not impossible and with different suplies, we might be able to accomplish making an ongoing track.
1 year ago