Roller Coaster Project Blog

Summary:

The roller coaster project is a project where you build a roller coaster of your liking and use it as an example of your learning of motion. There are many aspects of motion that your roller coaster can have. Like when you drop it from the tall hill it has the greatest potential energy. And how kinetic energy is turned into potential energy as it reaches the height of the loop. 

Backward-Looking:

What process did you go through to produce this piece?

We had to simulate the loops and turns before we taped the actual supports to the track. We would then tape together the supports and track but not secure it to the base because we didn't have the hot glue. The next day we hot glued the supports to the base, securing the track. We then went through decorating the track to make it look nicer and labeling spots of highest potential energy, kinetic energy, etc.

Inward-Looking:

How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?

I feel proud of our roller coaster since we put a lot of effort into it with supports, track, and decorating. I enjoyed assembling the track and supports and especially decorating. There was no real part of this project that I really disliked. I enjoyed the whole project overall. The part I enjoyed most was decorating and testing the roller coaster.

Outward-Looking:

What grade would you give it? Why?

I would give it an A. I would give it this grade since we had put a lot of effort into this project with work and decorating. I believe we did a good job overall with the finished product. There were some small things that were a bit off but weren't too serious.  One such small problem was the low walls at the sharp turn.

Forward-Looking:

What would you like to spend more time on in school?

What I would like to spend more time on in school more decorating time. We spent most of our time on building the roller coaster so we had only 1 1/2 class periods to work on decorations. We decorated a bit but the hill area was a bit empty of decorations. If we got more time I would focus on decorating that area a little bit more to give it more life.

Weekly Blog 1/29 - 2/2

Image Source:

http://www.novasom.us/newtons-three-laws-2/

Summary:

Newton's three laws apply to motion. The first law states that objects tend to keep doing what they are already doing. The second law states the more mass something has the more force is required for it to accelerate at a constant rate. The third law states for every action there is a reaction. These laws apply to everything from a still rock to a rocket blasting off into the atmosphere.

S&EP:
SP2: Developing and using models
This week I worked on a document about Newton's three laws. Many of these in the document were real-life scenarios which were the models I used to visualize in my head. This is SP2: Developing and using models because I used the real-life scenarios to visualize it in my head.