Notes

3.)
- the "shape" of the foam tracks
- it affected our design because we were able to add small twists/turns (and loops) with the flexibility of the foam, that allowed us to manipulate the speed of the marble more. However, the lack of rigidness also made the outcome more unpredictable and varied, as there were some areas that were hard to control,
- tape
- it affected our design because we were able to manipulate the tape so as to stabilize a few of the twists made by the foam, which allowed for a less stiff structure. We were also able to secure the start of the track on a cabinet, that created more potential energy as the track became steeper. We also secured the end of the track with tape alongside the table, and manipulated the tape to add a few dips and hills in the track.
4.)
- the length of the tracks
- The length of the tracks made it more difficult to manipulate the tracks into which ever position we wanted, as the curves were hard to secure in place with the pressure/position of one end affecting the other end. However, the length also allowed for a smoother trip for the marble, and limited the amount of spaces the marble could stop (due to an unevenly placed track, one above the other) to only the two connecting points.
- CONSTANT

three challenges:
- the mini hills and turns created by the foam that we weren't able to hold down
- The first, and main reason, as to why we were not able to complete our track was the difficulty we had with getting the marble to stop (10cm or sometimes at all) at the end of the tracks. This was mostly due to the extra potential energy created by the steepness of the first ramp and the loop, which increased the speed of the marble causing it to fall off the end of the third track. Yet at times, the marble stopped before the 10cm mark, which was caused by the decrease in energy as the marble neared the end. We would fix this issue by either reducing the steepness of the first ramp to reduce the amount of potential energy, enlarging the loop to use more of the marble's energy, or creating more hills, dips, or turns to balance out the energy and have the marble stop in the right place.
- the inconsistency of each trial




- height of beginning ramp