Projectile Motion and Hill Shape Activity

In this activity the student will visualize the path of a ball as it rolls over different shaped hills. In this activity a ball will be rolled from 3 different heights over three different shaped hills.

• Lay out the roller coaster simulator track on the chalk board.
• Using a piece of chalk trace the path of the track and mark the starting point of the track.
• Roll the ball down the track. If the ball leaves the track, trace its path with chalk. Then roll it again to see how it compares with the drawn line.
• Draw the path the ball takes on the paper. Repeat this process for every hill and every starting position.

Below are three different starting heights for a hill. For each starting position rate the hills shape as:

(1) Possible optimum hill. The ball will be in free fall the longest period of time and the ball would softly be caught at the bottom.

(2) Safe hill. The ball stays on the hill but does not remain in free fall for the maximum amount of time.

(3) Unsafe hill. The ball will leave the track and possibly hit the other side of the track.
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