02/21 Wheeler

Today was no ordinary day in honors physics. Of course, no day in honors physics is ordinary, but this one was particularly special. We tested our roller coasters today! I always get to blog about the exciting things like tests (my favorite!) and spirit days and fun experiments. I know everyone else is quite jealous of this. I am dearly sorry.

At the beginning of class, we put the finishing touches on our coasters (just another piece of duct tape can't hurt, right?) and conversed about our calculations, coming to the conclusion of where the golden hula hoop target should be placed on Main Street. The location of this hula hoop meant life or death for our grades on this project. You can imagine that Matt and I were extremely calm about this...Anyway, there were plenty of unique designs of coasters, and almost all of them landed in the hula hoop on the first try. Except my group. We were special. We were so special that we managed to hit the hula hoop on the third time, which is always a charm, as we all know.

After proving (or failing to prove) the worthiness of our roller coasters, we headed back to the physics room and turned in our calculations for our roller coaster. We then began on a worksheet titled "Roller Coaster Review," which is due tomorrow if you did not finish it in class, like me. Judging by the title, I still have no idea what the worksheet is about. I'm just kidding; the worksheet reviews determining force factors and necessary speeds for a circular loop on, of all things, a roller coaster.

I would like to suggest that we apply our wonderful knowledge of roller coasters by visiting Kings Island when it re-opens in the warmer weather.

On to the question of the day. Woohoo! Although, my confidence in myself for answering this question appropriately is a bit low after today's experiences. We determined the distance the hula hoop needed to be placed from the balcony by using the information we gained from the photogate timer and the small-scale set up of our project. We used the speed of the marble, the height of the balcony from Main Street, the approximate time it would take the marble to reach Main Street, and the small-scale distance the marble landed from the table. Oh, and we also used those good old kinematics equations (they just don't go away, do they?) and the energy equations.

I can't wait until next blog! Maybe I will get a test day...or an awesome experiment day!