Alright, smol post time.
Media
What I learned
In this mini project, I learned the power of frie- just kidding. In this project, I learned about what kinetic, potential, and thermal energy is and how to determine where it is (with roller coaster examples). For example, the most potential energy is usually found at the top of the biggest hill, because it has the most potential. The most Kinetic energy, on the other hand, is usually found just before the roller coaster stops sloping down. So basically at the bottom of a hill.
What I Liked
I really liked the PHET simulator with an adjustable track, where you could launch people to the moon. (I think the rest of the class did too.)
I also enjoyed the process of creation and planning. Figuring out a design that could score us points, while still looking at the logistics of material cost and the sturdiness of the structure. It really let our imaginations run wild in our own unique ways (basically what an imagination is). I chose to make a Rick Astley coaster- nah. That would be funny is it worked though. My group settled on using the spiral to get multiple points while keeping the structural soundness, and it worked…for the most part.
I also had fun coming up with the name. “The Topsy Turvy”. That’s all I need to say.
What I would do better next time
I think that next time, I would add more support to the actual track so that it wouldn’t stop the marble from rolling, as it did in the videos. The sad thing is that, in almost all the test runs, it worked smoothly, going around all the spirals and turns perfectly, but in the videos, it didn’t work properly, and in the performance, it didn’t work the first few times and didn’t work properly the 3rd time.