Would you like to engage your entire science class as a group in a challenge? If so, then the "Speed of Mini HotRod: Long Track Challenge" may serve that purpose well!
Rolling resistance is a force that opposes the motion when an object rolls along a surface. There are many examples of objects experiencing rolling resistance: car or bicycle tires on pavement, skateboard wheels on a half pipe ramp, steel wheels on a railroad track, ball bearings in a pulley, bowling balls on a bowling lane, and carts rolling on a dynamics track, just to mention a few. Many factors can affect the magnitude of the forces associated with rolling resistance.
What can you do with a PocketLab Mini HotRod, Voyager, five pieces of HotWheels track, and a half-dozen wood blocks about the size of Jenga blocks? How about an experiment in energy conservation! Add CloudLab and you have an environment for your students/lab groups to perform, analyze, document and save their PocketLab lab reports.
This 3D printed model demonstrates the physics of a simple pendulum that consists of a mass, m, hanging from an arm of length, L, and fixed at a pivot point, P. You can move the mass along the length of the arm to change the center of mass of the pendulum. If you displace the pendulum from equilibrium to an initial angle, θ, and release, the motion will be regular and repeat. This is an example of periodic motion also called simple harmonic motion.
