1. Have you provided a critical evaluation of how this model may/may not correspond in the real world?
In my opinion, I know our roller coaster could work in the real world and would be so much fun, but the ending of the roller coaster may be difficult. It would be difficult because we had a hard time figuring out how to slow it down at the end of the track. But it does come to how the friction from the actual cart and the track would work because in reality you could add brakes and other things to help when it comes to the end of the track. And we were demonstrating our track with small objects that barley had that much mass to create a lot of friction because we only had a small marble, tape, and foam and those don’t create that much friction. …show more content…
But, after this project I seem to gain a better understanding. For example, I was so confused on how to calculate kinetic and potential energy on a roller coaster. I was confused because when potential energy was 10m high and kinetic energy was no longer 10m high, but 0m high and all of the sudden that really confused me. But until seeing the actual visual in person and seeing how the height changed throughout the roller coaster and that was why the kinetic energy was no longer 10m but 0m because kinetic energy can be found in the low parts of the roller coaster. I also knew that friction was a type of heat energy, but I never understood how it really contributed to the real life, until we did need to create friction to stop the marble from falling off the track. I knew what mechanical energy was and how to find it. You can find mechanical energy by finding the sum of potential and kinetic energy because mechanical energy is the total amount of energy being used. Before the project I knew that flat surfaces are the area you find most of the kinetic energy and high places are where you the most potential energy. After this project I have also learned how to calculate for speed and how to convert potential energy to kinetic energy. I learned this after because before I was really confused on how to use it or even how to form the formula for speed, but after practice and actually contributing it a real life situation, it made more sense and I gained a better
In my opinion, I know our roller coaster could work in the real world and would be so much fun, but the ending of the roller coaster may be difficult. It would be difficult because we had a hard time figuring out how to slow it down at the end of the track. But it does come to how the friction from the actual cart and the track would work because in reality you could add brakes and other things to help when it comes to the end of the track. And we were demonstrating our track with small objects that barley had that much mass to create a lot of friction because we only had a small marble, tape, and foam and those don’t create that much friction. …show more content…
But, after this project I seem to gain a better understanding. For example, I was so confused on how to calculate kinetic and potential energy on a roller coaster. I was confused because when potential energy was 10m high and kinetic energy was no longer 10m high, but 0m high and all of the sudden that really confused me. But until seeing the actual visual in person and seeing how the height changed throughout the roller coaster and that was why the kinetic energy was no longer 10m but 0m because kinetic energy can be found in the low parts of the roller coaster. I also knew that friction was a type of heat energy, but I never understood how it really contributed to the real life, until we did need to create friction to stop the marble from falling off the track. I knew what mechanical energy was and how to find it. You can find mechanical energy by finding the sum of potential and kinetic energy because mechanical energy is the total amount of energy being used. Before the project I knew that flat surfaces are the area you find most of the kinetic energy and high places are where you the most potential energy. After this project I have also learned how to calculate for speed and how to convert potential energy to kinetic energy. I learned this after because before I was really confused on how to use it or even how to form the formula for speed, but after practice and actually contributing it a real life situation, it made more sense and I gained a better