Fair Testing

We are exploring how force creates movement. To finish off our car and ramp activities we tested if height affects how far a car travels off a ramp. To make sure the test was fair we used the same car each time and did the test on the same floor.

We decided it wouldn't be fair if we did one test on the carpet and then moved to the lino because the car will go faster on the lino because the lino is slippery so there is less friction.

Our question: Does the height of the ramp affect how far the car travels?

We all tried putting 1 block then 3 blocks under the ramp to see what happened. Then each group could decide the number of blocks they used.

We discovered that 3 blocks makes the car travel further than 1 block and 9 blocks makes the car go even further. When we tried 10 blocks we discovered the car hits the floor really fast and then slows down so it doesn't travel very far - 10 blocks is too high!