AP Physics Semester 1

ROller coaster Project:

About:

The 4th unit of AP Physics was all about energy, work, and power. We learned about the law of conservation of energy, the different types of energy, and how to calculate them. For this project I worked with Landry, Peyton, and Revanth as we had to design a roller coaster, calculate all the energy changes, velocities, and forces in some cases. As well as make a presentation presenting our findings to the class.

Ap physcis rollercoaster presentation

Designing our Coaster and calculations

We originally wanted our roller coaster to start from a pump start or rubber band start, in order to have more things to calculate and a greater velocity as well. However with a loop in the middle and a steep turn we realized that we would have to start the car a different way. We ended up testing a few other methods with shorter rubber bands and a drop start from a height, and ended up starting our car with a drop from a height. After figuring out how we would start our hot wheels, we needed to find our loop. So after testing a normal connector loop and a kicker loop we ended up using the kicker for the added speed. Finally after deciding that it would leave the kicker and jump into a whole about 1 foot away, we ran a couple of test runs and used the video footage to calculate all the energies and forces. We also chose to calculate the G-forces at certain points on the ramp for extra credit and were able to come to the conclusion that had a real person been on the roller coaster they would have either passed out or died trying to ride it.

COntent

Velocity: speed of something in a given direction; v = Δx/Δt

Acceleration: the rate at which the velocity would change within the given amount of time; a= v/t

Forces: Newton's First Law : An object will stay at rest or continue moving at whatever motion it is moving at unless an

external force is applied to that object

Newton's Second Law : The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force inflected on that object, while being inversely proportional to the mass of that object

Newton's Third Law : Every applied force has an equal and opposite force as a reaction, force can be calculated using the equation; F=ma

Friction: the opposing force to motion that acts on an object through its contact with a surface or medium; Force of friction is opposite to other force and is calculated using the equation; F = μN

Circular motion: Circular motion is the motion of an object traveling along a circular path, where the object experiences a constant change in direction but a constant direction of acceleration inwards

Kinetic Energy: energy an object has when it is in motion; K = 1/2mv²

Spring Potential Energy: energy stored in a spring; PE=12kx^2

Gravitational Potential Energy: energy an object has when it is not at ground level; PEg=mgh

Thermal Energy: amount of energy lost to friction/heat

Reflection

This project was one of my best this semester and I feel as though my group and I did a great job explaining all of our calculations and project as a whole. Out of the 6 C's I think I demonstrated creativity the best as my group was able to add a lot of forces and velocity's to calculate in fun and exciting ways, like how we decided to calculate the G-force at certain points. I also think I demonstrated critical thinking very well during this project. Towards the end my group and I decided to add the G-Forces and I was tasked with calculating them. However since it was the last day I only got some done and still needed more help, so at home I spent a couple of hours learning how to calculate them and making sure we had the right numbers.

Although I think this project was a success there are still places I need to improve on. One of those places I think I need to improve on is collaboration. Throughout the project Landry mostly did the calculations for the forces and velocities, and was carrying a lot of the weight. This was definitely unfair and although towards the end the group added more to the calculations we still could have collaborated much better. The second thing I could have improved on is communication. During this project I think that the group as a whole didn't communicate great and it left a lot of work either not done or done incorrectly and it was due to a lack of communication between all of us. For next time in order to succeed even more I think I need to work on these skills and if I do so I will be able to further my learning even more.