FINAL TEAM PROJECT: “HOW THE WEST WAS WON” ROLLER COASTERA presentation by: Aaron Morris, Carson Barnes, Julianne Swafford, Joe Yantis, and Tommy Wulz

INTRODUCTION

In this team project, we were to build a model of a roller coaster from scrap materials. The coaster has several different parameter requirements, such as:

The entire device must fit into a .5m x .5m x .5m box,

The run time must be as close to fifteen seconds as possible,

And the total cost of the materials for the device must be no more than forty dollars.

OUR GROUP

BRAINSTORMING

When thinking as a group on how to build this device we thought about several different issues. We needed to make the device simple and reliable. We also needed to be sure to follow all requirements.

So we took a trip to Home Depot, where our ideas started bouncing all over the place.

We eventually came up with the idea of building support structures out of light wood and using a plastic tube as the track with a small Airsoft BB as the cart.

WHAT IS “HOW THE WEST WAS WON”?

How the West Was Won is a Old Western Themed roller coaster ride.

The ride stands at an astounding half a meter above the ground.

Once the ride begins, you start down the death-defying quarter meter helix loop, reaching a top speed of 2.426 m/s.

From there, you are shot from the plastic tubing into our patented PVC Pipe Stair System.

Finally, the coaster slams you to a stop on the wooden base.

STATISTICS ABOUT THIS WILD RIDE

Max Height: .5 meter

Top Speed: ~2.426 m/s

Max G’s: about 3 g’s

Scare Factor: Super Scary

Total Ride Time: ~14.9

ENERGY CONSERVATIONS

We used the Conservation of Energy equation to calculate the conversion of potential gravitational energy into kinetic energy.

Initial Energy = Final Energy Mgh = (1/2)mv2

9.81 m/s/s (.3 m) = (1/2) v2

V = 2.426 m/s

CONCLUSIONS

We all had a fun time with this project. We learned how to meet as a group and then put our ideas together into something we can all agree on.

This was also a fun project because we had to build something new out of unrelated materials, which took quite a bit of creativity.

FIN