Evie Raffanti

Science/Math Connect

LINEAR AND ANGULAR VELOCITY LAB

Purpose: To instill an intuitive understanding of linear and angular velocity.

Materials: About a 10 foot piece of rope and a large open space (gym, outside lawn, etc)

Procedure: Teacher passes out the letter (or shows it on the overhead) from S. P. Inning that provides a reason for doing the lab. The lab is designed as a teacher demo with students observing and recording their observations. However, the lab can be easily redesigned so that it is completely student run.

Sample Letter from S. P. Inning

Dear Mrs. Raffanti,

My company, Thrills Galore, has been commissioned to manufacture a spinning ride for a local amusement park. We do not have a design team on staff and we are looking to hire an outside design team.

It has been brought to our attention that the students in your class are quite brilliant and resourceful. Perhaps your class can investigate the feasibility of designing a spinning ride. We are looking to build the BIGGEST spinning ride in the world.

Sincerely,

S. P. Inning

CEO, Thrills Galore

Teacher notes: After the letter introduction, either in groups or as a class, discuss what needs to be done. LEAD the discussion so that the students start guessing at what happens when we spin fast, slow, close to the center, further out, etc. Proceed with the lab. Tie up loose ends at the end of class or the next day.

The lab can be downloaded in one of two ways:

1) www.niles-hs.k12.il.us (brings you to district 219 home page)

2) go to west, departments, math, tim miller

3) click on NCTM 2002

The second way is to go to the NCTM website, annual meetings, Monday sessions and look for session #337, From Hands on to High Tech: Pre-Calc Activities

Ideally, this lab should be done in conjunction with the Physics Department. The science application of centripetal force, tangential speed, rotational speed, inertia and centrifugal “force” can all be incorporated.