“Hanc in motu navitas” is the latin phrase for kinetic energy. The meaning of the scientific term is energy in which a body possesses by virtue of being in motion. At Communication & Media Arts High School students observe the concept a little more closely.
Physics teacher Marlis Martin created a lab to show how physics work in real world situations and motivate students to consider careers. Martin has been at CMA for 12 years and has been teaching science classes since.
She said the objective of the lab was to explain how using conservation of energy explain how engineers build roller coasters. Every group had their own coaster design.
Despite the loops and turns, the roller coasters vary complexities. Each group had to get a small marble to travel through the tube and understand how the kinetic energy or any form of energy contributed to the marble arriving in a cup.
“When working with my group, it helped show how talented and well rounded we are,” said Jason Smith, a junior. “This lab expressed creativity with a sense of STEM in it.”
“The best part of the lab would be learning different types of motion and elaborating what velocity has to do with the roller coasters,” said junior Etheridge Graves.
