Marble Run
What is a marble run?
Marble run is a toy that marbles roll down through various tracks with bends, path, tunnel or obstacles. Marble run can be made of different kinds of materials. They can be made of wood, plastic or even the items from the recycling bin. You can buy it at any toy store. But we will make the marble run as an engineering project. Let's make a great marble run and discover the excitement of engineering.
Materials
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a large box
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tape
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scissors, craft knife
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any materials you want to recycle (toilet rolls, paper cup, plastic bottle, straws, popsicle sticks or cardboard paper from a box)
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materials to decorate marble run
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marbles
Procedures
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Make a plan first. Think about the whole structure, the process, and how to use each material in advance.
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Make a hole on top for the starting point.
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And make a hole at the bottom for the finish line.
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Make different tracks using your materials.
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Arrange the tracks in the box as you planned.
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Before you glue them to the box, test how your marble runs through the tracks. Check if marbles are not flying off or getting stuck
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Glue the tracks to the box.
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Glue or put the paper cup to the bottom of the marble run to catch the marbles.
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Play and have lots of fun. Challenge the best record or have a marble run race with your friends.
Science Behind It
Before starting the explanation, we need to talk about what potential energy and kinetic energy are.
Potential energy is the stored energy an object has because of its position or state. A bicycle on top of a hill, a swing at its highest point, a yoyo before it is released, ripe fruit before it falls all have potential energy. Kinetic energy is the energy an object has due to its motion. Walking, falling, flying, and throwing are all kinetic energy.
Kinetic energy and potential energy can change forms. For example, the car moving up the hill has kinetic energy because the car is in motion. When the car reaches the top of the hill and is just about to go down the hill, it has the most potential energy. That is because the object reaches its highest point in the air before falling. When the car moves down the hill the potential energy changes into kinetic energy.
At the top of the marble run, the marble has potential energy. This energy is stored up in the marble and ready to be released. Gravity caused the marble to travel down, because Earth’s gravity pulls things toward the center of the Earth. As the marble rolls down, potential energy turns into kinetic energy. This is how and why a marble run works.
