Velocity and Foam Roller Coasters

Velocity is one of the first topics that is taught in foundational physics. Velocity is a fun concept to explore because it allows students to idenitfy the types of variables that are used to determine how to make something work efficiently. There are a pleathora of fun labs to do to explore the concept of velocity. One I was recently introduced to was foam roller coasters.

The Problem above is an example problem that students used to measure the velocity that a marble has traveled.

Foam Roller Coaster

Materials: 3.5 M Foam Pipes (x 3 ), Marbles, Tape, Paper Cup

Instructions

1. Create a Roller coaster using all three pieces of foam
2. The rollercoaster needs to have two loops
3. The marble has to land inside the paper cup
4. Students can create a table and record the time it takes for the ball it lands in the cup (The loops can or cannot be considered for the calculation).