Bobsleigh Marble Run Challenge – Winter Olympics STEM

Bobsleigh Marble Run Challenge

You’ll need

1. Marbles
2. Craft items – cardboard tubes, cereal boxes, craft sticks, bottles, and anything else you think might work.
3. Tape
4. A large sheet of cardboard to hold the track

Instructions

First, design your marble run. You probably want a slope at the beginning to give the marble some initial speed, followed by twists and turns.

As an extension task, add an extra challenge, for example, can you design a track that keeps a marble running for 60 seconds or longer?

Another idea is to add bubble wrap or velcro to the track to increase the friction between the track and the marble, slowing it down.

Try to get the marble run to move slowly, but with enough momentum to reach the end of the track.

Bobsleigh Design Ideas

1. Starting gate.
2. Cardboard tubes cut in half make a good track.
3. Tunnels
4. Steep and shallow drops
5. A finish line
6. Design a feature at the end of the track to slow the marble down.

How does a marble run work?

Gravity is an invisible force that pulls objects down to Earth. When a marble is at the top of a marble run, it has potential energy, when it starts to move the potential energy is converted to kinetic ( movement energy ) energy. At the top of the slope, the marble has 100% potential energy, but as it drops down, its potential energy goes down, and its kinetic energy goes up! The push start is really important in a bobsleigh race as the athletes want to add as much energy as they can at the top of the track.

Rough surfaces slow moving objects down, so if you add bubble wrap or velcro to the inside of a tube, the marble will slow down. This is friction!