Discuss:

It seems like roller coaster cars can move without a motor.

Do you have any ideas about how they do this?

Discuss:

The motor provides the energy needed for the roller coaster to climb the hill. But where does the energy come from that makes the roller coaster zip through the rest of the ride?

Video trouble?

Discuss: Which roller coaster is faster, the white one or the red one? How can you tell?

coasters

Reveal answer

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# Extensions

Below are ideas for extending this topic beyond the Exploration & Activity which you just completed.

End of Mystery Assessment and Answer Key
Reading : What Goes Up Must Come Down
Video: Take a video tour of an amusement park that runs on people power.
Video: Meet roller coaster designer Chris Gray.
Activity: More science with marbles
Online resource: How Things Work provides information to extend your students’ knowledge of coaster safety, history, and technology.

# Video: People-Powered Theme Park

An Italian restaurant owner had an idea. He wanted to build amusement park rides that were powered by the people riding them. Forty years later, his restaurant is famous for his homemade people-powered rides. To ride these rides, people have to put energy in by pedaling or pushing or climbing.

Take a quick tour and find out what it’s like to provide the energy for a ferris wheel ride in this short video.

# Video: Meet a Roller Coaster Designer

Check out this short video from PBS Kids. Chris Gray decided he wanted to be a roller coaster designer when he was just 8 years old. Today, he has the job he dreamed of as a boy.

# Activity: More Science with Marbles

In the Bumper Coaster experiments, a moving marble gave energy to the target marble and made it move. Your class can continue to explore what happens when marbles collide with a game of Ring Taw. To win this game, students have to figure out what will happen when one marble bumps another. You'll find instructions on how to play, a list of what you need, and a worksheet for students right here. Show your students how to shoot marbles with this video demonstration.

For more experiments with colliding marbles, check out this lesson from master teacher Melissa Romano. (For this lesson, students need to know the concept of mass.)

Image & Video Credits

Mystery Science respects the intellectual property rights of the owners of visual assets. We make every effort to use images and videos under appropriate licenses from the owner or by reaching out to the owner to get explicit permission. If you are the owner of a visual and believe we are using it without permission, please contact us—we will reply promptly and make things right.

Lesson Image

red roller curve by Jeremy Thompson , used under CC BY

Exploration

rollar coaster by Jeremy Thompson , used under CC BY

Goliath front row by jonyboi55

blue Car by Arup Malakar , used under CC BY

cheetah by Marlene Thyssen , used under CC BY-SA

Goliath at Six Flags by Jeremy Thompson , used under CC BY

rollar coaster going uphill by Jeremy Thompson , used under CC BY

rollar coaster wheels by Boris23

rollar coaster motor by Dynamics of Amusement Parks

wood rollar coaster model by The Coaster Critic

Goliath on-ride by aerohead4

top of Goliath by Jeremy Thompson , used under CC BY

man riding bicycle by Stan Schwarz , used under CC BY-SA

bike lane by Elvert Barnes , used under CC BY-SA

hills by Eamon Curry , used under CC BY

cycling descent video by Collin Magnetti

fast skiing by Gor Vardanyan

skydiving by Hunter Lee

moon limb & troposphere by NASA

meteor by Ed Sweeney , used under CC BY

Dragon Khan and Shambhala by Sotti

Activity

penguins by Liam Quinn , used under CC BY-SA

pen by JohannPoufPouf

bumper cars by Jermey Miles , used under CC BY-SA

bumper cars in line by Ronald Saunders , used under CC BY-SA

alligator by Experience Kissimmee, Florida , used under CC BY

marbles by Haragayato , used under CC BY-SA

Credits

“The mystery was wonderful! My students worked together to trouble shoot to save the poor bumper car from the hungry alligators, while learning basic physics concepts. We had two roller coaster tracks set up at Open House for students to share their learning with their families. Kids from all grade levels came to my room to experiment with it. It was a hit with the whole school and proved to parents and admin that Mystery Science is worthy of continued funding. ”

“ Students were so engaged and loved the clips about the roller coasters. Many of my students have never experienced a roller coaster and they really worked well together to complete the experiments. It was wonderful to see them experiment with the height of their track. ”

“My students loved this! They found it so interesting and it was so easy to set up the experiment. They had so much fun and even began to think of ways to make the roller coaster even more fun! Highly recommended. ”

“The three clear experiments outlined with the graphics so every student could understand what to do and where and how to record their observations. The videos are always right to the point with great questions. Loved it! ”

“Kids were absolutely thrilled with every step! The challenge of getting the marble to stop short of the "alligator" really stretched their brains. I heard from several parents about how much their children talked about this at home.”

“Students were able to recall and comprehend the concept of transfer of energy. The lesson was sequential, starting from the basics to advancing their knowledge and understanding gradually. Thank you so much.”

“The kids did a great job of implementing and recording their work. They were able to draw conclusions about the how the potential energy related to the height of the track and how impact effects it.”

“The activity went smoothly and by the third worksheet my students were able to articulate advice they would give to Annie. Not only that, they were coming up with numerous other ideas that they also wanted to try (which is what scientists do!)”

“Students really enjoyed experimenting with the marbles. I slightly altered the lesson and spent more time allowing the students to change the height of their hills. Students were able to get both marbles in the cup at different heights and then we charted the heights to find patterns. Great lesson and my 6th graders loved it! ”

“The level of student engagement was super high! They did a terrific job talking about the transfer of energy in experiment #3. This was easy to set up and easy for the students to initiate after the video.”

“What a hit! The kids loved making the tubes and experimenting with the marbles. This time I did plan ahead and rounded up or order the materials. In fact our next lesson next week calls for the tubes again. The students are going to love this. I really like the explanations of the concept (tell Doug he does a really great job), and I appreciate the extended activities.”

“Oh. My. GOODNESS! This was so epicly fun! I was able to set my 4th grade classes free with the packet and they excelled! What a great series of experiments to help them see what determines the energy exchange. So amazing!”

“This lesson thought of everything. I have been trying to teach this exact concept using the kits that we got at our school and always came up short. This lesson and activity were just what my class needed to understand and stay engaged the whole period. Thank you so much!”

“Kids loved testing out the bumper cars! As a teacher I love the "extras" that go along with each mystery! Great ways to enhance and excite kids about science without having to search the internet for activities! It's all right here!”

“The students absolutely loved it! The directions were so easy to follow. The worksheets kept them accountable and the images on them were so very helpful. I used to be scared to teach science because finding good lessons and gathering the materials was already a lot to handle, but understanding the concepts enough to teach them was just too much! Not enough time! Thank you for this wonderful curriculum. I am hooked!!!”

“This was really an engaging lesson. The students really learned a lot. They are using sophisticated vocabulary and really thinking. I appreciate the videos and the step-by-step directions. My students cannot wait for Mystery Science!”

“The kids really got excited about trying out the different spacings between marbles to see if they could prevent them from going into their cups. They quickly wanted to modify their tracks so that they would have a higher starting point to accelerate their first marble. They worked hard toward getting a bigger BUMP for each marble, without running any of them into the cup. ”

“Besides learning about energy and transfer of energy the students were really using their imaginations to try different things to make the coaster work. They wanted to try many other ways to make the coaster more fun and creative. The students worked well together also. (That's always a big plus). Why can't I think of things like this?”

“The kids loved doing the experiments and the teacher really appreciated the video. Since I only have 50 mins to teach the lesson, next time (tomorrow, actually), I will have the marble runs already set up to go. It took too much time for the kids to tape the parts together and get their runs ready (due to extreme excitement!). So, now I know and will be more prepared. You folks are FANTASTIC! I'm telling all my teachers about your site. (I'm teaching science to four 3rd grade classes, three 4th grade classes, and three 5th grades classes at my school.)”

“The best part is when students were initially puzzled after Experiment 1. Most really believed that the marbles would be able to stay out of the swamp by moving the target car further from the swamp. Their surprise was fun to watch. I have a suggestion that is somewhat picky. I teach my students that scientist use the metric system so all scientists around the world can use the same system and language to communicate clearly. This mystery uses inches as the length measurement. Might it be possible to use centimeters instead? Is there a reason inches is used? Thanks for the fun lesson.”

“When students were allowed to create their own coaster, the level of excitement and sound went up. What a delight! They built a coaster from the top of the bookcase, through tunnels and around the corner of the room. You could hear a pin drop when the marble dropped. Bam! right into the cup and an uproarious cheer! One group made a game to catch the marble with a cup. Great dialogues, using new vocabulary.”

“We really enjoyed learning about rollercoasters and how they work as we just got back from a trip to a couple amusement parks. Also tied in really well with our unit. I have been using these as our final fun hands on activity and tie up to units. We are really enjoying them. The kids loved building their own model with cars and tracks. ”

“Every time I teach this unit, I'm excited by the "scientists" that appear in my classroom. They are asking great questions, problem-solving, drawing conclusions. Today I made a change to the activity: I didn't tell them how tall to make their first hill. As they built their models, some students could not find one place to set their second marble to make them not going into the Alligator Swamp. I simply asked, "What other variable could you consider?" And it sent them racing back to their models to explore what they could change. Loved it!”

“Once my class created the bumper coaster, I was really impressed with how intuitively the students played around with height and marble placement... the exact aspects the worksheet guided them through, but most didn't even need those directions to come to the same conclusions. The students truly had a great time learning with this activity!”

“In the words of one of my students . . . "This is the best science class EVER . . . and EVER WILL BE!" Fantastic way to illustrate stored energy and conversion! After we did the assigned experiments, I let them "play" with the tracks. They combined their tracks with other teams. I had tracks coming off the walls, cabinets, and windows--doing loopity-loops (which worked, by the way) and other dips and curves. One track stretched the length of my room! I think the greatest reward yesterday was seeing the huge smile on the face of the boy who struggles with reading. School is often burdensome and embarrassing for him. But science class is a time for him to shine. During science class, HE LOVES SCHOOL! And that is reward for a teacher! Thank you for making the kids (and parents--because I texted them some pictures) very happy! ”

“There was great discussion and oohs and aahs as students discovered the magic of energy. They had great fun discussing Annie's questions too. One group went and redesigned the roller coaster to make it more fun! Thank you for a great experiment, great videos and hand outs. As a teacher this can't be beat! ”

“Such a great exploration. My students loved building their own coasters and testing the various scenarios. The videos were such a great visual and really helped the students understand the concepts better. ”

“The videos were amazing- the kids really liked the "feel" of a roller coaster and it was particularly good for students who have never been on a roller coaster. I didn't print the hand outs choosing instead to project them and have the students set up different tracks together and make predictions on their journals before launching. It went really well. ”

“It was such a great lesson! The children loved it! They had a ball creating their bumper coasters! Science is so much more exciting when they are able to do hands-on activities and make connections to prior knowledge! Thanks Mystery Science!”

What makes roller coasters go so fast?

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Extend this lesson

What makes roller coasters go so fast?

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Activity Prep

Assessments

Step 1: Decide how many bumper coasters your class will make and use.

Step 2: Get supplies and print worksheets.

Step 3: Before class, cut each 3-foot-length of foam pipe insulation lengthwise.

15 mins

45 mins

Student link

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