Roller Coasters

Grade Level: 8th

Subject: Science

Time Frame: 8 weeks (January-March)

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Essential Questions

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- What is the effort that a roller coaster needs to be moved to the top of the first hill for it to really get going?
- when roller coasters go downhill, where does its speed come from? When the coaster goes uphill, where does its speed go?
- how can we predict the speed at the bottom of a roller coaster knowing the starting height? How can we predict how fast a roller coaster is going at any point on its track?
- how can we predict how high a roller coaster can go knowing its velocity?

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By the end of the unit, students will know:

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- the variables that kinetic energy depend upon
- the variables that gravitational potential energy depend upon
- the Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy can be transferred from one type to another 

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By the end of the unit, students will be able to:

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- calculate when work is done on a system
- calculate kinetic energy
- calculate gravitational potential energy

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Chapter: Roller Coasters

# of Days: 2

Topics:

- roller coasters
- roller coasters vs. rockets
- questions about roller coasters

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Chapter: Work and Energy

# of Days: 4

Topics:

- work 
- energy
- forms of energy

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Chapter: Kinetic Energy

# of Days: 6

Topics:

- energy of motion
- kinetic energy formula
- kinetic energy
- using proportionality

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Chapter: Gravitational Potential Energy

# of Days: 6

Topics:

- gravitational potential energy
- energy of position
- gravitational potential energy formula 
- using proportionality 
- gravitational potential energy is relative 

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Chapter: Conservation of Energy

# of Days: 9

Topics:

- systems
- conservation of energy
- applying conservation of energy

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Chapter: Designing and Building

# of Days: 7

Topics:

- questions about roller coasters
- design and build a roller coaster 

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Standards

PS3.4; PS3.B; PS3.C