Toy cars – This open-ended task requires students to relate the height of a toy car on a slope to the energy it will have at the bottom of a slope. They describe the forces acting on the toy car and explain its motion in terms of varying frictional forces on different surfaces.
CORE CONCEPTS:
Gravitational potential energy is stored in an object as the result of its vertical position or height: Doubling the height will result in a doubling of the gravitational potential energy (the car will roll twice as far).
When an object moves over a surface, friction 'rubs' against the object and affects its motion. The amount of the effect varies and depends on the surface. Friction is NOT a force.
Q3. CLICK HERE TO SEE / HIDE STUDENT FLIP RESOURCES:
Video: Frictional forces
Simulator/Interactives:
Check out the interactive and READ the HELP to find out how to drag different surfaces onto the track:
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In this question, a car is rolling down a slope a car roll down a slope. If the car is not pushed, then the only force acting on the car is the downward force of gravity.
If you drop something from high up, it hits the ground faster than if it only drops a short distance: In the same way, the higher up the slope that the car starts from, the further it will roll when it gets to the bottom of the slope. The more books Sam added, the further the car went. This is because the higher the position that the car starts from, the more energy the car gets from the Earth's gravity.
Say you build a ramp that has two high ends and is low in the middle - similar in shape to the letter U. If you start the car from a height of 100mm on one side of the ramp, and let it roll down, how high do you think it will roll up the opposite side of the ramp (if you ignore friction and wind)?
Friction is the property of a material to push back at moving objects and slows them down. The car does not travel as far on carpet because the carpet has more friction. All surface push back to some extent. Some surfaces such as polished timber floors, or ice, push back a lot less than others such as carpet or sand.
Friction is the force we fell when things rub against each other.
Do you remember watching 'The friction ramp of science in the video that you were asked to watch for this question?
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