Touchdown Tennessee!

Jack DresCaroline Hunter

Olivia JuneauTrevor Pate

Introduction• The goal of our project was to create a rollercoaster whose journey lasts approximately 15 seconds.

• We acquired our materials from Lowe’s, Home Depot, the UT Bookstore, and the scrap container in Estabrook 13.

Summary• Our marble is released from rest at position A onto a plastic track that acts as an entrance ramp into a funnel.• At position B, the marble drops onto the first of a series of plastic ramps with drop-offs.• At position H, the marble experiences a jump, and free falls onto a final ramp, where it collides with another identical marble at position J.

J

Energy, Collisions, and Speed• We will use the metric system for all units of measurement.

– Gravity = 981 cm/sec^2

• Assuming perfect inelasticity between the marble and each ramp, the marble’s speed at the beginning of each ramp (position A, C, E, G, and I) can be considered to be 0 cm/sec.

• In all calculations we will assume no energy loss due to friction.• As the marble reaches the bottom of each ramp, we can calculate its final

speed with the conservation of energy equation:– mgh = ½ mv^2 + mgh

• Assuming the coefficient of restitution between the first and second marble to be 0.5, we can determine the final velocity of the second marble by using the conservation of momentum and coefficient of restitution equations:

-- e = (-v1’ + v2’) / (v1 – v2) ; m1v1 + m2v2 = m1v1’ + m2v2’

( it is not necessary to know the mass of the marbles because mass cancels out in all equations)

Conclusion• Our team met to draw out a rough sketch of the rollercoaster and plan how

we would construct it.

• After purchasing building materials, we all met and built the majority of our original rollercoaster.

• Unfortunately, we experienced a problem, as we returned to Estabrook 13 the next day, only to find that our rollercoaster had fallen apart because the hot glue holding it together had melted because of the intense heat of Estabrook 13.

• Consequently, we had to revise our original design and build a new rollercoaster…TOUCHDOWN TENNESSEE!!

• This new rollercoaster was a success in achieving our goal.