Science Fair Project
Physics
Ramp madness
David Martinez
Cydeni Carter
Statement of the Problem
How does plastic, cardboard, and
metal affect the speed of the car?
Project Overview
We are going to test how metal,
plastic, and cardboard ramps will
affect the speed of a toy car. Then
we will see what affects it the most
and why.
Variables
 Independent variable: surface
 Dependent variable: speed of car
measured in seconds per foot
 Constant variables: speed of car,
weight of car, length of surface, size of
wheels, distance from start to finish,
angle of ramp, width, and height
 Control group: plastic
Hypothesis
If the car is on a metal ramp
then it will travel faster then it
proves that the surface is
faster because it is smoother
than the others.
Materials
 One toy car
 3 ramps made out of metal,
plastic, and cardboard that are 2.5
inches and I meter long
 Stopwatch
 Camera with video
 goggles
Procedure
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Gather all materials needed and safety
precautions
Put goggles on
Cut plastic, metal, and plastic so that its
2.5 inches wide and 1 meter long
Set up the ramps at an angle of 30
degrees
Record time it took for each to get to the
finish line
Make chart showing time of cars
The Toy Car
Photos
David Making the plastic
ramp
The Card Board
Ramp
Cydeni Doing
the Card Board
Test
Toy Car
Data/Observations
Analyzes
Ramp Madness
1.4
Time (in seconds)
1.35
1.3
1.25
1.2
1.15
1.1
metal
plastic
Surface
cardboard
Conclusion
We discovered a lot after this
experiment. We discovered
that metal helped a car go
faster but the cardboard
made it go slower.
Possible Experimental
Errors
We think that maybe the
floor slowed it down because
it crashed with the floor when
it got off the ramp.
Applications and
Recommendations
The car ramps had different
textures witch impacted the
speed. Next time we might
choose better materials to
choose from.