Roller Coaster Simulator for the Magnetic
Chalkboard: Construction Plans
This is a demo that mounts on a blackboard that is magnetic. This
demo will allow the teacher to demonstrate Galileo's inertia
experiment and how and why the hills on roller coasters are designed
the way they are. When it is built, it will be an adjustable rail
road type track.
Materials:
- 12 feet of vinyl tubing with an outside diameter of 1/4 inch. Some
larger hardware stores sell the tubing. (20¢ per foot)
- 18- 11/8 inch
diameter magnets from Radio Shack.
- 371/2 inches of dowel
rod 3/8
inches in diameter .
- 1 small tube of contact cement
- 1 tube of Household GOOP® or any other adhesive
that will glue vinyl. (Epoxy will not work.)
STEP 1
Cut the dowel rod into 20 pieces 17/8 inches long. Cut a 1/4 deep slit into one
end of each dowel rod. The slit should be about 1/16 inch wide. A band
saw is a good tool for doing this.
STEP 2
Insert the slit end of each dowel into a magnet.
STEP 3
Cut some wood into 1/4" X 1/4" X 11/2" RECTANGLES. These will be used as spacers. Mark
the tubing every 4 inches with a permanent marker. Place the magnets
on the board in a straight line 4 inches apart from each other.
STEP 4
Put some contact cement on the top side of each dowel rod. Put
some more contact cement on the vinyl tubing at each mark. With
another person's help, lay the tubing against the magnets on top of
the dowel. When you have laid out 18 magnets, 6 feet, stop. Cut the
tubing. Lay the other piece of tubing 1/4 inch away from the
first piece. Use the cut wood as a spacer between the vinyl tubing.
It should look like rail road tracks when you are done
STEP 5
Final step. The track's glue joints are weak. Reinforce them
with GOOP™ on the underside. Be sure not to get any glue on top
of the tubing. A little piece of glue on top of the tubing will cause
the marble to roll off it.
USING THE ROLLER COASTER SIMULATOR
If you use or find this page useful or have any
comments, please contact the author so maybe he'll do more.
Author: Tony Wayne
"ROLLER COASTER PHYSICS" TABLE
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