Tower of Terror: Creating a Free Fall Ride

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

Subject Area

Science

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Overview

In this activity, the students will be engineers who compete to create their own "safe" and fast free fall ride.  Using graphing and calculations, the students will calculate the fastest ride and determine the minimum and maximum passenger sizes that their ride will hold.  The team that designs the fastest ride that doesn't "hurt" the passenger(s) wins! 

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

Science (2015) Grade(s): 09-12 - Physical Science

SC15.PS.7

Analyze and interpret data for one- and two-dimensional motion applying basic concepts of distance, displacement, speed, velocity, and acceleration (e.g., velocity versus time graphs, displacement versus time graphs, acceleration versus time graphs).

UP:SC15.PS.7

Vocabulary

  • Distance
  • Displacement
  • Scalar
  • Vector
  • Speed
  • Velocity
  • Acceleration
  • Equation of a line
  • Slope
  • Trend line

Knowledge

Students know:
  • A body is in motion if its position changes with respect to its surroundings.
  • A particle moving in a straight line undergoes one dimensional motion.
  • A particle moving along a curved path in a plane has two dimensional motion.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Create graphs from sets of data points.
  • Identify distance and displacement as a scalar/ vector pair.
  • Identify speed and velocity as a scalar/ vector pair.
  • Describe motion mathematically in terms of an object's change of position, distance traveled, and displacement.
  • Apply concepts of average speed and average velocity to solve conceptual and quantitative problems.
  • Explain velocity as a relationship between displacement and time. (Δd=vΔt)
  • Explain acceleration as a relationship between velocity and time. (a=Δv/Δt)
  • Use graphical analysis to understand conceptual trends in displacement, velocity, acceleration, and time.
  • Use graphical analysis to solve for displacement, velocity, acceleration, and time.
  • Calculate velocity and acceleration from displacement vs. time graphs.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Motion graphs (displacement vs. time, velocity vs. time, and acceleration vs. time) for one- and two- dimensional motion may be used to derive (conceptual and mathematical) relationships of motion.

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Analyzing and Interpreting Data

Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect
Science (2015) Grade(s): 09-12 - Physical Science

SC15.PS.8

Apply Newton’s laws to predict the resulting motion of a system by constructing force diagrams that identify the external forces acting on the system, including friction (e.g., a book on a table, an object being pushed across a floor, an accelerating car).

UP:SC15.PS.8

Vocabulary

  • Weight
  • Mass
  • Gravity
  • Acceleration
  • Velocity
  • Terminal velocity
  • Free fall
  • Friction
  • Static friction
  • Rolling friction
  • Fluid friction
  • Inertia
  • Force
  • Balanced forces
  • Unbalanced forces
  • Net force
  • Action-reaction pairs
  • Vectors

Knowledge

Students know:
  • An object will remain at rest or in uniform motion unless acted on by an outside force.
  • The velocity of an object changes when it is subjected to an external force.
  • Gravity's acceleration is different on different planets.
  • Air resistance is responsible for terminal velocity for objects in free fall.
  • The property of inertia as related to mass.
  • Forces must be unbalanced for an object to change its motion.
  • Friction is a force that opposes motion.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Organize data that represent the net force on an object (mass and acceleration) via tables and graphs.
  • Construct force diagrams that identify all external forces acting on the system.
  • Explain (conceptually and mathematically) the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration. (The greater the force on an object, the greater its change in motion but the same amount of force applied to an object with more mass will result in less acceleration.)
  • Relate the difference between mass and weight. (Weight is a force dependent upon acceleration and mass is constant regardless of acceleration.)
  • Calculate weight when given mass. (Fg=mg)
  • Explain acceleration due to gravity as an example of uniformly changing velocity. (g=9.8 m/s2)
  • Relate the presence of air resistance to the concept of terminal velocity of an object in free fall.
  • Identify friction as a force that opposes motion of an object.
  • Classify the frictional forces present in different situations. (Sofa resting on the floor is static friction. A box pushed across the floor is sliding friction. A ball rolling across the floor is rolling friction. A boat moving through a river is fluid friction. An object in free-fall is fluid friction.)
  • Explain the property of inertia as related to mass. (An object at rest or at constant speed in a straight line will remain in that state unless acted upon by a force causing an unbalanced net force.)
  • Explain balanced and unbalanced forces mathematically and graphically with respect to acceleration to establish the relationship between net force, acceleration, and mass.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • The motion of a system may be predicted by applying Newton's laws of motion to force diagrams that identify all external forces acting on the system.
  • Forces acting on an object affect the motion of that object.

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Developing and Using Models

Crosscutting Concepts

Systems and System Models

Primary Learning Objectives

I can use speed calculations, the engineering model, and force diagrams to create the fastest free fall ride that will not “hurt” the passenger.   

Additional Learning Objective(s)

Learning Targets:

Behavior:  I can create a fast AND safe free fall ride using engineering practices.   

Content:  I can calculate and graph the speed of the free fall ride with different passenger sizes to determine the minimum and maximum passenger size.  

Content:  I can identify and label the forces acting upon the free fall ride. 

This lesson addresses the following scientific and engineering practices:

  • Asking questions and defining problems
  • Developing and using models
  • Planning and carrying out investigations
  • Analyzing and interpreting data
  • Using mathematics
  • Constructing explanations and designing solutions
  • Engaging in argument from evidence
  • Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Procedures/Activities

Before/Engage:  (15 minutes)

Divide the students into groups.  Show a video with a free fall ride.  A clip from this YouTube video on the Disney Ride the Tower of Terror could be used to engage students.  

Tell the students that they are engineers that are being charged with the task of creating a free fall ride like the “Tower of Terror” that will be as fast as it can be WITHOUT hurting a “passenger.”  This means that the passenger will need to remain in their “seat” on the ride from beginning to end.  

If you want to give them specific item specs for the ride, this would be the time to give them.  (i.e. the ride must be 60cm tall and must land AT LEAST 5 cm from the floor or etc.)  

Ask the students what do you know that will help you create a fast and safe ride for the passengers.  Then, create a Know/Need to Know graphic organizer on the board or on chart paper.  Use student answers for formative assessment.  Guide them with questioning if they aren’t linking their task with their previous knowledge of force and motion concepts.  

Then, ask them what they will need to know to create a model of this ride and test it with various passengers.  Write their answers in the Need to Know section of the graphic organizer.  After they determine what they need to know, answer their need to know questions.  (i.e. what types of materials can be used, who will be the passengers, how many passengers does it need to seat, how tall does it need to be, etc.)

During/Explore:  (55 minutes)

Tell the groups that they will need to create a design plan on paper for their ride with the materials and item specs on their ride.  They should draw their design plan to scale as much as possible.  When each group finishes their plan, they should also label the forces and the direction of the forces that are acting upon their ride.   When complete, each group should call the teacher to their group to review their design plan with the design plan checklist and approve/reject it.  If it is rejected, they will have to fix the items that the teacher noted.  If it is approved, the group will then construct their “ride” and design a procedure for testing the ride on paper.  

When they have designed the testing procedure, they should call the teacher to approve or reject their plan for testing the ride.  If their testing plan is approved, they will test the ride and record their data.  If their testing plan is rejected by the teacher, they should fix the items the teacher noted and call the teacher again for approval.  *No group should move forward if they haven’t gotten approval on these two checkpoints.* Each student should obtain data on the maximum and minimum passenger sizes that will be able to safely ride the ride.  The students will do this by testing the ride with different sizes of passengers and record the maximum and minimum size or mass of passenger that the ride will hold without the "passenger" falling out of the ride. The teacher can provide marbles, ping pong balls, tennis balls, and baseballs, etc. as potential passengers to be tested.    If the instructor wishes to save time, the students can complete their ride with only one size of passenger. 

After/Explain/Elaborate:

After groups have tested their designs, the students should explain their ride to the class and demonstrate their ride. They should explain their design and how they determined the maximum and minimum passenger size.  Each group will demonstrate their ride three times.  Each group will use stopwatches to obtain the time that it takes the ride to complete. The teacher will guide the class through taking the average time it takes each group’s ride to complete.  Then, the groups will take that average to graph and calculate the speed of each group’s ride.  Finally, each group will determine the fastest and safest ride in the class.  

*A prize may be given to the group who created the safest and fastest ride.*


Before/Engage:  (15 minutes)

Divide the students into groups.  Show a video with a free fall ride.  A clip from this YouTube video on the Disney Ride the Tower of Terror could be used to engage students.  

Tell the students that they are engineers that are being charged with the task of creating a free fall ride like the “Tower of Terror” that will be as fast as it can be WITHOUT hurting a “passenger.”  This means that the passenger will need to remain in their “seat” on the ride from beginning to end.  

If you want to give them specific item specs for the ride, this would be the time to give them.  (i.e. the ride must be 60cm tall and must land AT LEAST 5 cm from the floor or etc.)  

Ask the students what do you know that will help you create a fast and safe ride for the passengers.  Then, create a Know/Need to Know graphic organizer on the board or on chart paper.  Use student answers for formative assessment.  Guide them with questioning if they aren’t linking their task with their previous knowledge of force and motion concepts.  

Then, ask them what they will need to know to create a model of this ride and test it with various passengers.  Write their answers in the Need to Know section of the graphic organizer.  After they determine what they need to know, answer their need to know questions.  (i.e. what types of materials can be used, who will be the passengers, how many passengers does it need to seat, how tall does it need to be, etc.)

During/Explore:  (55 minutes)

Tell the groups that they will need to create a design plan on paper for their ride with the materials and item specs on their ride.  They should draw their design plan to scale as much as possible.  When each group finishes their plan, they should also label the forces and the direction of the forces that are acting upon their ride.   When complete, each group should call the teacher to their group to review their design plan with the design plan checklist and approve/reject it.  If it is rejected, they will have to fix the items that the teacher noted.  If it is approved, the group will then construct their “ride” and design a procedure for testing the ride on paper.  

When they have designed the testing procedure, they should call the teacher to approve or reject their plan for testing the ride.  If their testing plan is approved, they will test the ride and record their data.  If their testing plan is rejected by the teacher, they should fix the items the teacher noted and call the teacher again for approval.  *No group should move forward if they haven’t gotten approval on these two checkpoints.* Each student should obtain data on the maximum and minimum passenger sizes that will be able to safely ride the ride.  The students will do this by testing the ride with different sizes of passengers and record the maximum and minimum size or mass of passenger that the ride will hold without the "passenger" falling out of the ride. The teacher can provide marbles, ping pong balls, tennis balls, and baseballs, etc. as potential passengers to be tested.    If the instructor wishes to save time, the students can complete their ride with only one size of passenger. 

After/Explain/Elaborate:

After groups have tested their designs, the students should explain their ride to the class and demonstrate their ride. They should explain their design and how they determined the maximum and minimum passenger size.  Each group will demonstrate their ride three times.  Each group will use stopwatches to obtain the time that it takes the ride to complete. The teacher will guide the class through taking the average time it takes each group’s ride to complete.  Then, the groups will take that average to graph and calculate the speed of each group’s ride.  Finally, each group will determine the fastest and safest ride in the class.  

*A prize may be given to the group who created the safest and fastest ride.*


Before/Engage:  (15 minutes)

Divide the students into groups.  Show a video with a free fall ride.  A clip from this YouTube video on the Disney Ride the Tower of Terror could be used to engage students.  

Tell the students that they are engineers that are being charged with the task of creating a free fall ride like the “Tower of Terror” that will be as fast as it can be WITHOUT hurting a “passenger.”  This means that the passenger will need to remain in their “seat” on the ride from beginning to end.  

If you want to give them specific item specs for the ride, this would be the time to give them.  (i.e. the ride must be 60cm tall and must land AT LEAST 5 cm from the floor or etc.)  

Ask the students what do you know that will help you create a fast and safe ride for the passengers.  Then, create a Know/Need to Know graphic organizer on the board or on chart paper.  Use student answers for formative assessment.  Guide them with questioning if they aren’t linking their task with their previous knowledge of force and motion concepts.  

Then, ask them what they will need to know to create a model of this ride and test it with various passengers.  Write their answers in the Need to Know section of the graphic organizer.  After they determine what they need to know, answer their need to know questions.  (i.e. what types of materials can be used, who will be the passengers, how many passengers does it need to seat, how tall does it need to be, etc.)

During/Explore:  (55 minutes)

Tell the groups that they will need to create a design plan on paper for their ride with the materials and item specs on their ride.  They should draw their design plan to scale as much as possible.  When each group finishes their plan, they should also label the forces and the direction of the forces that are acting upon their ride.   When complete, each group should call the teacher to their group to review their design plan with the design plan checklist and approve/reject it.  If it is rejected, they will have to fix the items that the teacher noted.  If it is approved, the group will then construct their “ride” and design a procedure for testing the ride on paper.  

When they have designed the testing procedure, they should call the teacher to approve or reject their plan for testing the ride.  If their testing plan is approved, they will test the ride and record their data.  If their testing plan is rejected by the teacher, they should fix the items the teacher noted and call the teacher again for approval.  *No group should move forward if they haven’t gotten approval on these two checkpoints.* Each student should obtain data on the maximum and minimum passenger sizes that will be able to safely ride the ride.  The students will do this by testing the ride with different sizes of passengers and record the maximum and minimum size or mass of passenger that the ride will hold without the "passenger" falling out of the ride. The teacher can provide marbles, ping pong balls, tennis balls, and baseballs, etc. as potential passengers to be tested.    If the instructor wishes to save time, the students can complete their ride with only one size of passenger. 

After/Explain/Elaborate:

After groups have tested their designs, the students should explain their ride to the class and demonstrate their ride. They should explain their design and how they determined the maximum and minimum passenger size.  Each group will demonstrate their ride three times.  Each group will use stopwatches to obtain the time that it takes the ride to complete. The teacher will guide the class through taking the average time it takes each group’s ride to complete.  Then, the groups will take that average to graph and calculate the speed of each group’s ride.  Finally, each group will determine the fastest and safest ride in the class.  

*A prize may be given to the group who created the safest and fastest ride.*

Assessment Strategies

The teacher will use formative and summative assessments to determine if students can use speed calculations, the engineering model, and force diagrams to create the fastest free fall ride that will not “hurt” the passenger.

Formative assessment:  Student answers during the know/need to know graphic organizer creation, the design plan/the test plan, which are on the same handout

Summative assessment:  Student graphs of the speed and determination of the fastest and safest ride in the class, exit problem.  The students will calculate speed by measuring the height of the ride and dividing it by the time that it takes for the ride to end.  They can create their own data tables to do this.  Each group can measure the height of their ride and random students throughout the room can get the time.  I would have students average the time and use that average time to calculate the speed to reduce human error.  The students can also give the ride star safety ratings like the ones used in the automobile industry.  We used a scale of one to five stars, with five being the MOST safe. The students then used the safety star rating and the speed to determine the ride that was FASTEST and SAFEST based on their data and calculations.  I gave them a simple speed exit problem to do an individual assessment of their ability to calculate speed.  

Acceleration

The students can test and graph the speed of the ride with different sizes or shapes or numbers of passengers on the same trip.  

Intervention

During the construction of the ride and the design, if a student has not mastered the basic concepts of force and motion concepts, the teacher can pull students for small group instruction activities to reteach the concepts using different strategies not previously used.  

 

Total Duration

91 to 120 Minutes

Background/Preparation

Students:  The students should have some BASIC knowledge of speed, displacement, velocity, and forces before completing this activity.  

Teacher:  Before starting this lesson, the teacher should decide whether groups will be limited to the same amounts of each resource or whether they can pick as many resources as they can from the “construction” items.  

The teacher will also need to decide how students will be grouped.  

The teacher will also need to obtain and arrange the “construction” materials prior to the lesson.  

Materials and Resources

Styrofoam cups

Masking tape

Meter stick

Long Wooden dowel or piece of PVC (one per group)

Scissors

Cardboard

Various Sizes of Balls for Passengers:  small, medium, large  (Make sure that you have enough per group so that various sizes of passengers can be used and tested.)

Graph paper (or computer with software that can be used to create a graph)

Calculators (if allowed for calculations)

Rulers (for scaled diagram and drawing the graph on paper)

*You may add or subtract materials from this list based on your students and your specialization of the lesson.*

Technology Resources Needed

Computer with internet access linked to a projector or screen with sound capability

Document camera linked to a TV or projector OR iPad with app like Doceri connected to a TV

YouTube video to demonstrate a free fall ride 

Know/Need to Know Graphic Organizer

 *Optional:  Devices with software that can be used for graphing*

Approved Date

2016-09-01
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