Taylor Dale's Build it
The Boxcar Vermin
Materials:
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1 box as the body
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2 dowels as the axels
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4 cardboards as the bearings
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4 wooden squares as the wheel adapters
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4 CD's as the wheels
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hot glue to assemble
Connections to Standards:
1.P.1.3 Predict the effect of a given force on the motion of an object, including balanced forces
3.P.1.1 Infer changes in speed or direction resulting from forces acting on an object
5.P.1.1 Explain how factors such as gravity, friction, and change in mass affect the motion of objects.
5.P.1.3 Illustrate the motion of an object using a graph to show a change in position over a period of time.
Phy.1.2.3 Explain forces using Newton’s laws of motion as well as the universal law of gravitation.
Data Chart
Graph Showing Ramp Height vs. Average Distance
See it in action!
The science behind it:
Seat belt and Newton's laws- According to Newton's first law, an object in motion stays in motion and in the same speed and same and in the same direction until acted upon by an unbalanced force. In this case our vehicle is the object in motion and it has inertia which is when it goes down the ramp and down the hallway. If the boxcar vermin stops immediately and the worm passenger is not "wearing its seatbelt" in accordance with Newton's Laws the worm passenger will continue in the same direction with the same velocity. If the worm passenger wears a seatbelt then that will become its unbalanced force stopping it from lurching forward and out of the car.
Math terms used: average, measure, graph, data
Energy Transfer:
This is the process of converting energy from one form to another. In the case of the Boxcar Vermin it would look something like this:
Sun--> plants--> food(from animals or grains)--> me(when i eat the food)--> top of the ramp-->the car moving(kinetic energy)-->the energy being produced as sound or heat(friction)
Where the energy went:
No energy was lost when the causing the car to stop. Instead the energy was turned into something else such as sound and heat.