My PBL project is designed to introduce and understand the concept behind centripetal force. My history connection will show how centripetal force takes places in our everyday lives and how it is has influenced architecture history.
The centripetal force can be found in action every time you are in a car, and the car goes around a corner. Roads are designed to keep cars on them by the use of centripetal force. Many roads are engineered so that the outermost edge is raised. This creates a force which keeps the cars on the curvy road.
Have you ever wondered how your car stays put on a slippery highway? It has a present normal force that goes up and a weight force that pulls down. These two forces equal the Fnet, or the total force and that is Centripetal force. Architects are aware of all of this while modeling and building the roads. It is the centripetal force that allows the cars to have motion in a curve.
This has impacted society greatly because, each day we're constantly on the road. Examples of these raised o banked roads are visible especially on racetracks and in the car racing/biking industries. Without centripetal force implemented on our roads, our day to activities would be limited and the racing industry would lose not only money, but the fun of it all.
Sources:
https://sites.google.com/site/sciencefair2011midpac/home