Expert: Daniel Mazur - 12/18/2007

Question
Hello! The expert can't answer your question.

Your Question was:

What is your level of education?

What do you do in your job?

How does your education help you in your day life?

What do you think is the most important thing you have ever learned?

What do you think are the most important discoveries in science?Why?

My project is how much height would it take to loop the loop of a non-powered roller coaster. My design was  foam insulation tubes cut in half and put in a loop. My procedure is:

Gather materials

Cut foam tubes in half

Tape foam tubes to counter or table at designated height

Make loop with different foam tube at designated diameter

Roll marble down roller coaster (10 tests)

Record completions

Repeat steps 3-6 at different height

Repeat steps 3-6 at different height

Repeat steps 3-8 with the diameter of the loop being 43.18 cm

Repeat steps 3-8 with the diameter of the loop being 48.26 cm

Compare results



Do you think my topic is a valid experiment?

Is the knowledge gained useful? Explain

Does it have an application to the "real world"?

In what ways can I make my experiment more like the level of science that you do?

Do you have any suggestions to help me improve my science fair project?

Answer
Dear Zachary,
you sound very harsh in asking questions. But here you are:
1)RNDr.(country specific step up beyond M.S.) and Ph.D. in Physics
2)Study properties of novel electronic and magnetic materials
3)Very much, I wouldn't be able to do my job without my education
4)That I will never stop learning
5)That the Universe is made of particles. One can understand most of what we know based on this discovery.
6)Yes
7)No, but it's probably good enough for a science project. The height will obviously only depend on the coefficients of friction between your marbles and the cut tube, so a life-sized roller coaster, which uses different materials, will give you behavior quite different from your model.
8)You won't be able to use your result for anything else. In the real world you will still need to spend power to have our train (marble) climb up to the starting point, because you need a closed-loop tracks.
9)Unfortunately, your experiment cannot be upgraded to my level of research without dropping it and making up a completely different experiment. I am sorry, this is how it is.
10)Think hard about possible applications of your results in the real world. It may be possible that it has some. The applications only will give your project some sense. Material properties are combined with uniform-field gravity in your experiment, so you cannot expect to discover anything fundamental.
I am sorry the news was not better than this.
Cheers!
Daniel