Marble Run reflections

The Task

Using plastiscine, straws, masking tape, cue cards, push pins and a rigid board, we had to design and build a pathway for a marble to roll from the left hand corner to the bottom right hand corner. The team with the longest lasting marble track, meaning the track where the marble takes the slowest time to travel from point to point, will be the winner. 

The Design

We had used the straws as it created more friction than the cue cards. Also masking tape was used to slow down the ball. Plastiscine was also molded into small balls to act as speed bumps to further increase the friction. We had also decided to use the smallest marble, since it has smaller mass, there will be less gravitational energy acting on it, and hence less kinetic energy. So it should be slower. Finally, the board had been tilted to a smaller gradient. Since it's not as steep, it will be slower.

Our final design

The Challenges

Initially, we had problems with the amount of straws. There were too few straws and the marble track hadn't been completed. In the end we used plastiscine to finish up the rest of the track.

But that created another problem, the marble was sticking to the plastiscine. We decided to wrap the plastiscine in masking tape rather, so it ended up as the basic structure for support. We also cleaned the marble for existing plastiscine that was stuck onto the ball. 

The Application

There are several more types of guiding structures that could also be used. One such example is the DNA structure, this means that the whole structure need not be covered but still can transport the "ball" safely. It's kind of like a pipe. 

Double-helix bridge, an example of the DNA structure

Alternatively, we could also use the dam structure. This means that even liquids can be transported by this U-structure, making it twice as effective.

Dam structure