Roller Coaster Height Lab

Over the course of the roller coaster height lab My group and I had to answer the question “ does the height of the ramp affect the speed of the marble”. We answered that yes the height of the ramp will make the speed of the marble increase. Our hypothesis was wrong, but, My group and I have discovered that the height of the ramp will not affect the speed of the marble. We also Discovered something new which was that the speed increased and decreased abnormally as we went along in the lab. Over the course of the lab my classmates and I have discovered that the speed increased and decreased as the heights got shorter. According to Our data table on test 1, 3, and 5 the speeds are 71.42, 109.58, and 78.65 these numbers are obviously not in chronological …show more content…
The lower the marble started on the track meant that it had less of a slope to increase its speed, the less the slope the less speed. This also supports my claim because,the weight and mass of the marble could have also taken a toll on the abnormal speed of the marble clearing the track. This is because the lightweight foam track can only hold so much weight and mass, Also the track might have dipped because the mass of the marble coming down at that speed caused the track to give out on its structure and beyond. This shows that since the track dipped it caused the marble to have to go over a hill which took up more time instead of just a straight shot. This experiment is a very repeatable experiment because in class for another roller coaster lab with a different objective and It shouldn't be that hard to come up with another unique question for this lab either. In the future labs like this could be very useful for certain roller coaster parks when they want to make a new or improve a roller coaster they can create a huge slope with a lot of height, which gives the cart the extra speed of gravity besides the torque of the engine and you never know they might have the world's fastest roller coaster on their