Name: _____________________
Roller Coaster Project
Objective: In partners, you are going to design a roller coaster when given 2 pieces of foam board,
hot glue and a tennis ball. The objective is to design a roller coaster with three or more hills. You
must start the ball at the top of the first hill, and it must roll over 2 more hills. You are trying to make a
roller coaster that has the greatest total vertical climb (measured trough to peak or each hill)
throughout the coaster.
Grading: Your grade will depend on the 3 components. Part 1 will be for performance based on your
classmates projects. Part 2 will be for the overall design effort. Part 3 will be daily participation grade.
Parameters:
- You only get 2 pieces of board. NO MORE, EVEN IF YOU BUY IT!
- Your ball must stay on the track.
- There must be something at the end that successfully stops your ball.
Some things to consider:
- You must cut out 2 identical pieces (1 per foam board) and those together will be your roller coaster.
- From the excess cardboard cutout spacers to glue the 2 sides of the roller coaster together. These
should be 4x12 cm, and glue along the 12 cm line.
Questions to ask before designing:
- Can all the hills be the same height? If not, must they get bigger or smaller?
- How will you determine how many and how tall the hills should be to win the contest?
- Does the steepness of the hill count? Is it better to make steep hills or not so steep?
- How curvy should the tops of the hills be? The valleys?
- Is it better to have sharp or smooth hills and valleys?
- What provides resistance to the tennis ball and makes it slow down? How can this be reduced?