Criterion B and C Assessment Task on Energy
Background information:
Motion Gate is looking to create a new roller coaster and they want your help! To
design the perfect roller coaster, you will need to investigate the factors affecting kinetic
and potential energy. Your task is to design and conduct an experiment to explore these
factors and make recommendations for the amusement park.
SOI: Machines have revolutionized life by making it easier to change energy from stored
forms to movement and back again.
Goal: Your goal is to investigate the effect of one factor on either one of the energy forms.
Role: You are a mechanical engineer working for a company that designs and builds rides at
amusement parks. Your task is to investigate the factors affecting Kinetic and potential
energy and optimise the efficiency of the rides.
Audience: You need to provide people who work at your company with the data you
collected so that install safe rides.
Situation: To ensure safety of all visitors to the amusement park, you want to investigate the
effect of one factor on the energy in action or energy reserves of the rides.
You are to design an experiment to investigate the effect of your chosen variable on the
energy possessed by the cart while in motion or at rest using lab resources.
Product:
You need to write a lab report to show your findings and inform Motion Gate of the
possibilities.
Success criteria:
Follow the steps of the scientific method to complete a lab report that will be assessed against
criteria B & C.
• You will need to start by identifying your independent and dependent variables.
• Formulate a research question and hypothesis.
• Explain some background info. (I found this resource useful, but you’ll need to use
additional ones: https://vhmsscience.weebly.com/gravitational-potential-energy.html
• Collect sufficient data (How many trials will you have? How many times will you
change the independent variable?)
• Collect and process your data in appropriate tables. Show a sample calculation of
your data processing.
• Draw a conclusion that explains obtained results/trends or patterns using relevant
scientific reasoning.
• Evaluate your investigation.
• Most importantly, follow the tips discussed in class on how to write an exemplary lab
report!
***You will adapt the same procedure and collect data together, but every section of the lab
report must be written individually. ***