Roaring Roller Coasters

This is a project I do almost every year because the students have so much fun. 

The premise of the project is that there is a competition, sponsored by the premiere roller coaster company E², Extreme Experience, to see which team can build the greatest roller coaster for E²’s next project. 

The rules of the project are: 

1. The roller coaster must have at least one loop.

1. The ride should be thrilling (extra points for speed).

The tree different marbles represent three different types of roller coaster cars – empty (wooden), half-full (glass marble) and full (metal ball bearing).

The roller coaster design must support all three types of cars. After a run, all three types of marbles must fall/fly into a target cup. Rolling into a cup on the ground does not count.

List of Supplies:

¾” diameter piping insulation (can be purchased from any hardware store)

½” diameter ball bearing, metal

½” wooden marble

½” glass marble

Plastic cups

Adhesive tape

Anything else you have on-hand to build a support structure

First build. This was extremely accurate roller coaster.

Second build for the team that executed the roller coaster above. A team must have two loops after they complete their initial run, and this was an ambition design.

This team used the existing space very, very well.

This team put in two loops to start.

A very interesting use of a classroom furniture.

Another example of students being very creative.

An innovative support structure.