To start my inquiry I first created a ramp to be sure that each marble would start off with the same velocity or momentum. This was created very easily by using two tri-squares as legs to make sure they where both level and even, eliminating the need to cut and measure wood. I then place a small piece of smooth plywood over these two squares and attached it using my old friend duct tape. I then drew a start line n the top of the ramp so that each marble would start on the ramp from the same location trying to eliminate as much human error as possible. The only other thing that I should have done was to create some way of releasing the marble without having to actually touch the marble. The ramp was then placed on three different surfaces; laminate hardwood, smooth tile, carpet. The distances traveled and speed of each marble where record over several different runs and then averaged. This data was then analyzed and compared to try and determine if and how much of an affect surface type has on the momentum of rolling marbles.
Of course I determined that the lowest ,momentum resulted from the carpet and fastest on the tile.
In this inquiry I had a hard time getting the marbles to roll straight. If I was the set this up in the classroom i would make the ramp out of pvc pipe to have a more stable path for hte marble to start out wiht. This hopefully would produced a straighter path after it exited the tube.
