2019
Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________________
Student Exploration: Roller Coaster Physics
Introduction: As the car rolls down a hill, it speeds up, gaining kinetic energy. The car also
gains momentum. The magnitude of an object’s momentum (p) can be found by...
Student Exploration: Roller Coaster Physics
Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity C:
Click Reset.
Breaking the egg
Check that the Coefficient of friction is 0.00.
Introduction: As the car rolls down a hill, it speeds up, gaining kinetic energy. The car also
gains momentum. The magnitude of an object’s momentum (p) can be found by multiplying the
mass and speed (p = mv).
Question: What determines whether the car will break the egg?
1. Form hypothesis: Which factor(s) do you think determine whether the car breaks the egg?
The mass of the car only The momentum of the car
The speed of the car only The kinetic energy of the car
2. Collect data: Use the Gizmo to find the minimum hill height at which each car breaks the
egg. In the table below, fill in the hill height (in centimeters and meters), and the speed of the
car (in cm/s and m/s). Leave the last two columns blank for now.
Car mass Height Height Speed Speed Momentum Kinetic
(kg) (cm) (m) (cm/s) (m/s) (kg•m/s) energy (J)
0.035 kg 73 .73 375.9 3.759
0.050 kg 51 .51 316.3 3.163
0.100 kg 26 .26 225.9 2.259
1
3. Analyze: Using the equations p = mv and K = 2 mv2, calculate the momentum and kinetic
energy of each car. Remember to use the kg and m/s values for each calculation. Fill in the
last two columns of the table.
A. Does the car’s mass alone determine whether the egg breaks? No
B. Does the car’s speed alone determine whether the egg breaks? No
C. Does the car’s momentum determine whether the egg breaks? Yes
D. Does the car’s kinetic energy determine whether the egg breaks? Yes
2019
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