Name: ____________________________
Roller Coaster Lab
PURPOSE: The purpose of this lab was for you to design a roller coaster that achieved the maximum amount
of vertical incline throughout its length. Building and running a roller coaster can be used to show the transfer
of energy that takes place with a tennis ball as it rolls through the coaster. There are two main forms of energy
that the ball can have; kinetic and potential energy. Kinetic energy is energy of motion, while potential energy
is known as stored energy. Throughout your rollercoaster the tennis ball transforms its energy between these
two types as it traverses the hills and troughs.
Feature
X
Y
PART I- On a piece of graph paper, please draw a detailed
1st Hill
diagram of your roller coaster, that is drawn to scale. Use a
1st Trough
meter stick to measure the length and height of your coaster
2nd Hill
first to decide what scale to use on your x and y axis
2nd Trough
(example: each block is worth 2 cm). You then want to find
3rd Hill
the width and height (x and y values) of each of you major
3rd Trough
features (hills and troughs) and put them in a x-y table to plot
4th Hill
your points. ROUND TO THE NEAREST DECIMAL
4th Trough
PLACE!!! Take your time and draw it as neatly as possible.
5th Hill
5th Trough
PART II- Roller Coaster Analysis (***indicates labeling something on your graph)
1. ***Now that you have redrawn your roller coaster on graph paper, first label your hills and troughs on your
paper as A, B, C, D, … starting with your initial hill(starting point) being A, your first trough being B, your
first incline hill being C, and so forth.
2. ***Please label the heights of each hill and trough (y-values) on your diagram. The first hill is the height
from the base of the posterboard up to the top of your first peak. The second hill is the height from the base
of the poster board to the top of the first incline, and so on. (if you have a question here, please ask!)
3. Total up the total vertical incline (how much your ball went up between each trough to hill, not including
your initial drop!!!) in centimeters rounded to the tenths place. You can accomplish this by just using your
Y-values in your chart ______________cm (Show work below)
4. ***Now we will analyze your design and the efficiency of the energy transfers that took place. First show
where your ball has the most potential (stored) energy by showing it on your diagram with a “red star”.
5. ***Where does your ball have the 2nd most amount of potential energy? Label with a “blue star”.
6. What single factor determines the amount of potential energy of the ball throughout the coaster?
PART III- Calculations
7. Lets calculate the potential energy of the ball at the top of each hill and trough using the height values your
determined earlier to check your answers to #5 and # 6. The equation for potential energy is
𝑷𝑬 = 𝒎 ∗ 𝒈 ∗ 𝒉
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑚 = 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑘𝑔, 𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 9.81 𝑚⁄𝑠 , 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠
Show your work below and label the potential energy values on your diagram for the ball at each hill.
Hill #1 Potential Energy =
Trough #1 Potential Energy =
Hill #2 Potential Energy=
Trough #2 Potential Energy =
Hill #3 Potential Energy =
Trough #3 Potential Energy=
8. How can you easily determine where the ball has the most potential energy just by looking at your roller
coaster? Why can you do this?
9. ***Now let’s consider kinetic (movement) energy. Describe below where your think your ball has the most
kinetic energy, and label it on your diagram with a “green circle”.
10. Let’s check your answer by calculating the kinetic energy of the ball at each trough using the Law of
Conservation of Energy Equation (think skier problem and double waterfall problem where the object does
not reach the ground) but first answer this question…
A) What assumption are we making about the kinetic energy at the top of each hill?
B) Now, use this equation to find the KE at each trough: PEhill + KEhill= PEtrough + KEtrough
Trough #1 KE=
Trough # 2 KE=
Trough #3 KE=
11. Using the KE values, calculate the velocity of the ball at each trough? The equation for kinetic energy is
1
𝐾𝐸 = 𝑚𝑣 2 , 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑚 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑣 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑚/𝑠
2
***Show your work below and label the kinetic energy values on your diagram for the ball at each trough.
Velocity Trough #1=
Velocity Trough #2=
Velocity Trough #3=
PART IV: Analysis questions:
1. Was you design effective (were you able to convert efficiently between potential and kinetic energy)? Why
or why not?
2. Where did your ball lose energy, and what factors (more than 1!!!) caused your ball to lose energy?
3. ***On your diagram, label the 2 areas where you lost the most energy by tracing that part of your graph in
RED MARKER and explain why for each.
Location: _______________________ Why:
Location: _______________________ Why:
4. What could you have done differently in your design to make it more successful?
5. How fast is your ball moving at the end of the track?
6. Is it good or bad for it to be moving fast at the end and why?
7. If you had a lot of speed at the end, what could you have done to make your design more effective?
8. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy is not created or destroyed, but can only be transferred to
different forms. How does this activity display this law?
9. The 2nd law of thermodynamics states that energy typically transfers from a higher form of energy to a less
usable form of energy, such as heat energy? Heat energy usually dissipates, and is lost from the system.
Where in the roller coaster is heat energy generated and lost from the system?
10. The ball transferring its energy to heat causes the ball ultimately to do what?