Roller Coaster Project

Summary: In physics there are various parts that allow the universe to function the way it is supposed to. Energy, which is how everything in the universe is powered, allowing for things like movement. There is force, which uses energy to push or pull an object into various different positions. Then there is motion, which is when both energy and force are put together to allow an object to change positions.

Backward-Looking
In or out of school I have never done a kind of work that needs as much knowledge as this one, where the only limitations are the requisites and your budget, and it has to be fully functional .  With little limitations it allows the creativity to run wild, creating something that you can feel attached to unlike most other projects where you just follow the guidelines and your done, with the only drawback being, the crazier the project, the harder the calculations.

Inward-Looking
The thing I like the most about this project is the fact that it is flowing with creativity, showing how my mind works and calculates, and not how it reacts to various tasks. The one thing I dislike about the project is that some of the theme behind our roller coaster is kind of bad, most of our ideas were thought up before we chose our theme, so we built our the around the roller coaster and not the other way around.

Outward-Looking
If I were to give this project a grade I would give it a A-, because there was a lack of thought involved with some parts of the project. Rather than making an interesting roller coaster we decided that we would go with a much, much simpler design than what was necessary . We then came up with various reasons that the organism would evolve to be this way.

Forward-Looking
The one goal I would like to set for next time is:

rather than impeding the final outcome of the project by choosing what a simpler design, then an interesting one. I will look at my capabilities  first, then make decisions based off of that, rather than basic abilities. Allowing me to be more efficient and have a better work ethic to make a better project, and enjoying it along the way.

Law of the Conservation of Energy

Summary: The law of the conservation of energy states that energy cannot be created or destroyed.. Similar to the law of the conservation of mass, it states that energy can only be transformed. Meaning that when a ball rolls down a hill, the potential energy of the ball isn't destroyed, and then replaced with newly made kinetic energy, but rather the potential energy is transforming into kinetic energy, but some of the energy is transferred to the air, meaning that the ball would not land in a completely proportionate place to how much potential energy it had.

SP2: Developing and using models:
We made small models of roller coasters in class to demonstrate Newton's laws of motion, and other points where parts of physics come into play, such as where on the roller coaster is the kinetic energy the lowest, or where is it the highest. It also allowed us to demonstrate various relationships, like the steepness of a hill to the acceleration, or the friction and the velocity.

XCC: Energy and Matter
The law of the conservation of energy shows how energy cannot be created or destroyed, creating the backbone for a system that doesn't rely of creating or destroying energy, but rather transforming it. Because energy is transformed rather than created or destroyed, it opens up a lot of options on how we can use energy to help us in everyday life. Like turning the mechanical energy of a motor into kinetic energy from the revolutions of a car's wheel.

Energy

Summary: Energy is how we measure the work that has to be placed on an object to do various things, such as move, or heat something up. There are many different types of energy, one of which is kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is the energy of motion, meaning when something is moving, the type of energy used is kinetic. But before kinetic energy can be put into use, it will be stored as potential energy, which is the energy something could possibly have in its position. Due to the law of the conservation of energy, it cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed.

SP4: Analyzing and interpreting data

This week in class we took a look a various different graphs, of how things like acceleration and energy change over time in specific situations. Like how the kinetic energy of a ball would stay the same until it started to slow down. after we put the data on the graphs, we came to the conclusion that the kinetic energy was being converted into another type of energy. We also saw that at the begging of the situation the potential energy was high, but got lower and lower as the ball moved, it was the exact inverse of the kinetic energy, meaning that it was being transformed into kinetic energy.

 

XCC:Energy and Matter

Due to the law of the conservation of energy, it cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed, meaning that if a ball started on the top of a ramp and rolled down, then the potential energy that the ball had on the top of the ramp was being transformed. Because the rolling the ball would be considered a form of movement, the potential energy of the ball is being turned into kinetic energy. This is true when converting all types of energy into one another.