Amusement Park Physics Task (Engineering Team)
Task: You have been hired by Warwick’s Improvement agency to design a model of a ride for the new amusement park. As part of the engineering team, you have been hired to build, submit a written report describing your ride and take proper measurements. Your tasks are outlined below:
1) Create an ad for the class newsletter. Your ad should include: a) a sketch of your ride and b) why people should visit your ride. Due Date ____________________________
2) Submit an “All In A Days Work” article for the class newsletter. Using one of the scenarios write an article describing the important jobs needed in the creation of your ride. Due Date ________________________________
3) Design and build the ride.
For Roller Coaster Builders: The object of this problem is to design a ride with at least the following features. A) A large hill with a chain lift on one side that is the source of energy. B) A loop. C) A series of at least two small hills. You may include more features in your roller coaster if you wish. Begin your roller coaster design by choosing the ordering of the features and use your experience with roller coasters to make some rough estimates of the dimensions of the features. Due Date _______________________
4) Create a creative ad to invite the public out to experience your ride. Be sure to include a) a sketch b) 10 critical points on your ride c) the height of all critical points for the model d) take your model heights can figure out what the real measurement ride height will be. Fill in the results sheet. (page 2) Due Date ________________________________
5) A) Now make the plan a little more exact. On graph paper, make a scaled drawing of the track from the side in such a way that if you connected the left side of the paper to the right to make a cylinder, you would have a reasonable three dimensional picture of the track. In other words, even though the track makes a large loop in reality, draw it as if the train started on one end of the paper and ended on the other. Note that you will need to take special care at the horizontal loop(s) to be sure the length of track proposed is sufficient for the size loop(s) you intend. Use this drawing to calculate the total length of the track for your roller coaster.
B) What about the train for your passengers? Assuming it consists of five cars with a capacity of four people per car, estimate the total mass of the train and its length.
Write up your results to be posted in the class newsletter.
Due Date ________________________________
5) Six Flags Lab
6) Paper Analysis – 20% of your final exam grade.
Name ____________________________________________
(All group members should turn in a different sheet)
Item being measured: _____________________________________________________
Draw a picture of the item you are measuring. Label all measurements on your drawing.
ACTUAL ITEM
Length = __________ Width = ___________________ Height = _____________
SCALE MODEL (Hint: Multiple the measurements about by __________)
Length = __________ Width = ___________________ Height = _________________
Amusement Park Physics Task (Special Effects Team)
Task: Your team is in charge of creating all special effects and all landscaping for the ride.
Your tasks are outlined below:
1) Create an article for the class newsletter with your ideas for the theme. Be sure to include: a sketch of your ideas, a list of materials with the cost per foot (later you will calculate the total price) and name. Due Date ________________________________
2) Submit an “All In A Days Work” article for the class newsletter. Using one of the scenarios write an article describing the important jobs needed in the creation of your ride. Due Date _____________________________________
3) Make the decorations around the ride to decorate it. Due Date ____________________
4) Fill out the amusement Park Price Projection Chart. Due Date _____________________
5) Create a creative ad to invite the public out to experience your ride. Be sure to include a) a sketch b) information of cost from your projection chart (#4) Due Date ________
6) Answer the following questions and submit to the class newsletter.
A)Now consider the vertical loop in some detail. In order to stay on the track without depending on the wheels beneath the track, the train must experience a downward, centripetal acceleration at the top of the loop that exceeds 1 g. The train's speed is determined by its height and the amount of track it has traveled across. Considering this, what should the maximum radius of your track's vertical loop be.
B) In the frictional case, the point were the train is most likely to fall is not the top of the loop, but the point where the component of the train's weight in the direction of travel is equal in magnitude to the frictional force. Why is this the case, and where is this point on your track?
C) Calculate the acceleration experienced by the passengers of the first, middle and last cars at the bottom of the loop. Is this reasonable?
7) Six Flags Lab -- TBA
8) Paper Analysis – 20% of your final exam grade.
Amusement Park Physics Task (Publicity Team)
Task: Your team is in charge of the publicity of the ride, including the gathering of information from other teams. It will also plan the party to celebrate the unveiling of the ride. You should be taking pictures and create either a power point documenting the process of the building the ride.
Your tasks are outlined below:
1) Create an ad for the class newsletter advertising for one job.
Due Date _____________________________________
2) Begin the planning of the party. Who is bring what (from the class)? Create a powerpoint documenting the process the class took to make their project. (Take pictures, pick music etc..) Date TBA
Due Date _____________________________________
3) Take information from engineering team and special effects team and combine them in a class newsletter which will be used as background information to write the final paper.
Due Date ______________________________________
4) Write up an article for the class newsletter answer the questions below.
a) Consider the other features of your Roller Coaster one by one for safety. The best way to do this is to find the place with the greatest acceleration and make sure that it is safe for the first, last, and middle cars.
b) Explain what car you would prefer to ride in and why. (The answer to this might depend greatly upon your personal feelings about roller coasters
Due Date ________________
5) Get all materials together from groups and create the class newsletter.
6) Create park brochure. (see page 6 for directions) 20% of your final exam grade.
7) Six Flags Lab – TBA
Park Brochure (Publicity Team)
Task: Your brochure will contain at least 8 attractions, such as rides, games, shows, and simulations, each of which will allow participants to experience some physics aspect of an amusement park. Keep in mind that your attractions should be original, creative, and represent a variety of types.
Decide how to divide the work. Because conflicting schedules may make it difficult for all the members of the group to get together at the same time, you might want to form subgroups to work on individual attractions outside of class. You can use class time for collaboration and coordination.
Your brochure should include:
1. cover that has the name of the theme park, the names of the design team (alphabetical), and a picture or group of pictures of scenes in the park.
2. An introduction to the physics involved in your theme park, stating its purposes and providing a general overview of the attractions.
3. One or more colored drawings that illustrates each attraction in a clear, detailed manner.
4. A complete description of the attraction, including how it is set up, how it operates, its unique features, and so on. (May need to interview other team members for information.)
5. a complete description of whatever physics aspect is featured in the attraction and how a participant can learn about it from the attraction
6. Create one side of your brochure with the needed math formulas for any calculation.
Homework #1
Research a specific roller coaster. Prepare a 2-5 minute oral report and make a 8 ˝ inch x 11 inch or larger poster on the roller coaster. Reports will be presented during on January 27 and February 10.
Include as much of the following as you can in your report.
You can find roller coaster information and links in the Wikipedia article on roller coasters at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller_coaster .
Name _______________________________________________________
Homework #2
meters
2.0_____a _________________________________________________
1.5________ ________________________________________________
1.0________b ____________________ d _________ ______________
0.5__________c ______________ ____________________ __________
0.0_______________________________________________________e _
Assume the track is frictionless.
Will a ball released from point a make it over the hill? If not where will it stop?
Will a ball released from point c make it over the hill? If not where will it stop?
Find the potential and kinetic energy at each labeled point for a ball of mass 204 g.
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Potential energy (joules) |
Kinetic energy (joules) |
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Calculate total energy, potential energy, kinetic energy, and speed for four points on your roller coaster design drawing and write the results below.
Mass of car (kg) ________________
Acceleration due to gravity (g) = 9.8 m/s2
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point |
Distance along track from top of lift hill (meters) |
Energy “lost” to friction (joules) |
Total energy (joules) |
Height (meters) |
Potential energy (joules) |
Kinetic energy (joules) |
Speed (m/s) |
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Based on your calculations, would you make any changes in your design? Why or why not?
What changes, if any, would you make?
Name _________________________________________________
These calculations have been done as an example for a roller coaster in which, point a, at the top of the lift hill, is 0.83 meters higher than point b, the lowest point on the roller coaster. Point c is 0.165 meters above point c.
Potential Energy (PE) at the top of the lift hill (point a)
Mass of car (m) = 0.090 kg
Gravitational acceleration (g) = 9.8 m/s2
Height relative to lowest point on track (h) = 0.83 m
PEinitial = mgh
PEinitial = 0.090 x 9.8 x 0.83 = 0.732 J
Total Energy (TE) at the top of the lift hill (point a)
If the car is at rest, the kinetic energy (KE) is zero and TEinitial = PEinitial = 0.732 J
Total Energy (TE) at the bottom of the lift hill (point b)
The total energy at this point will be equal to the initial energy minus the energy lost to friction. For this car and track, it was estimated that 1 J of energy was “lost” for every meter of track. The distance (d) along the track from the top of the lift hill is 1.75 m.
TEb = 0.732 J – (0.1 J/m x 1.75 m) = 0.557 J
Potental Energy (PE) at the bottom of the lift hill (point b)
h = 0
PEb = mgh = 0.090 x 9.8 x 0 = 0
Kinetic Energy (KE) at the bottom of the lift hill (point b)
KEb = TEb = 0.557 J
Speed (v) at the bottom of the lift hill (point b)
KE = ˝ mv2
Solving for v,
v2 = 2KE = 2
x
0.557 J
m 0.090 kg
v = 3.52 m/s
Total Energy (TE) at point c
The distance (d) along the track from the top of the lift hill is 3.25 m.
TEc = 0.732 J – (0.1 J/m x 3.25 m)
TEc = 0.407 J
Potental Energy (PE) at point c
h = 0.165
PEc = mgh = 0.090 x 9.8 x 0.165 = 0.146 J
Kinetic Energy (KE) at point c
KEc = TEc – PEc
KEc = 0.407 J – 0.146 J = 0.261 J
Speed (v) at point c
KE = ˝ mv2
Solving for v,
v2 = 2KE = 2
x
0.261 J
m 0.090 kg
v = 2.41 m/s
Name ____________________________________________
Calculate total energy, potential energy, kinetic energy, and speed for four points on your roller coaster design drawing and write the results below.
Mass of car (kg) ________________
Acceleration due to gravity (g) = 9.8 m/s2
Energy “lost” to friction per meter of track = 0.1 J
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point |
Distance along track from top of lift hill (meters) |
Energy “lost” to friction (joules) |
Total energy (joules) |
Height (meters) |
Potential energy (joules) |
Kinetic energy (joules) |
Speed (m/s) |
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Based on your calculations, would you make any changes in your design? Why or why not?
What changes, if any, would you make?
Each member of the team should choose one of these topics, and write a 1-2 paragraph report on it.
Write several paragraphs about your own experience working on your roller coaster, including
o How you contributed to the design and building of your roller coaster
o What you have learned by taking part
What you learned about your aptitude for science and engineering related careers
Physical Science Amusement Park Homework # 5
Task: Write a half page paper (typed) describing a certain aspect of physics and its relationship to amusement park rides. You should include a picture to go along with your paper. Pick one of the following topics
1) Inertia 2) Force 3) Velocity
4) Acceleration 5) Conservation of Energy 6) projectile motion
7) free fall 8) weightlessness 9) circular motion
10) G force 11) centripetal force
Formula Sheet