Juniors construct roller coasters in physics

Up, down under and over. Physics students created homemade roller coasters to learn about kinetic and potential energy.

Junior Nick Lauer, one of the many students who created a coaster, explained exactly what the requirements were expected of the students for the project.

“It had to have at least two hills, it had to fit in a door. It couldn’t be light or tall,” Lauer said, “But most importantly, it had to work.”

Putting the assignment together took time and effort on the students’ parts. Different variations and models of the coasters are displayed for all to see in the library.

Junior Abbie Thomas shared her process of assembling her groups’ project.

“We decided to use cardstock to build our coaster,” Thomas said, “It took a lot of patience. Especially when adjustments were needed to be made again and again.”

The purpose of this project, is to drop a marble onto the coaster, to see if it will ride the coaster all the way to the end, without falling off.

“I was so surprised when it worked for the first time,” Lauer said, “I didn’t think it would actually work.”

Thomas said that she was ecstatic when the coaster finally worked properly. She said she felt amazing when all her hard work finally paid off.

Many of the coasters successfully accomplished the implied task, but just as many failed to succeed. Junior Kyleigh Anderson was one of those students who had to make adjustments.

“When I saw the coaster work, I was excited, but there were still some changes that had to be made,” Anderson said.

After two weeks of brainstorming, schematics and calculations, students received a major grade based on their efforts.

“That feeling of accomplishment was worth every bit of effort we put into this project,” Thomas said.