2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

THE PHYSICS OF THE ROLLER COASTER

3.3 Hypothesis:

As the height of release increases, the ball bearing contains more potential energy. When it

travels downhill, all the potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy resulting ball to

accelerate. With sufficient or more than sufficient energy, the ball will be able to circulate

loops with larger radius. Therefore, as the height of the release increases, the maximum

radius the ball can circulate increases. However, due to energy loss

4. Methodology

Primary research Variables

Independent variables: 1. Height of release: - Measured by a tape measure with error ±0.2cm (minimum measurement scale) - Variables are: 30 cm, 40 cm, 50 cm, 60 cm,70 cm - This is changed by combined rods and track holder (refer to design below) - This is independent because the height determines the gravitational potential energy the ball can possess and GPE is one of the vital concepts of this experiment which needs to be controlled. 2. Radii of the loops - This is measured taking the average of vertical and horizontal diameters of the loop and then divided by 2. The diameter is measured by a 150 cm tape ruler. - Error = ±0.4 (minimum scale is 0.cm but because it is used to measure 2 diameters hence the total error is 0.2cm). - This is independent because I cannot predict the maximum radius the ball can circulate hence I created these set of radii which is used in a sense of trials and error methodology. - Variables are: from 2.5 cm to 25 cm with 0.5 cm interval.

Dependent variables

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IB Diploma