- #1
Jeffage
- 2
- 0
Hi,
I'm in the process of building a marble run out of brass wire using 15mm steel ball bearings. For ease of visualisation, it will be similar in principle to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FRYX-kcZ9k&feature=relmfu
I want to include a "jump" where the marble travels up a ramp at speed and is launched in the air and eventually lands on another piece of track/catching element.
I'm envisaging a an approx 40cm near vertical track drop with a curve at the bottom that launches the marble up at around 45 degrees. My question is - what size/shape curve do I need to maximise the size of the jump the marble makes?
If the curve is very small - the marble will bounce. If the curve is very long, the marble will lose too much momentum on its way up the curve and fail to jump at all.
Should the curve be of just a circular shape? Or have some sort of exponential change in angle?
I did a couple of mockups:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/3/marblelaunchramps.jpg/
My rusty physics knowledge gives me the hunch that I need a ramp that minimises friction - is that right?
Can anyone point me in the right direction? thanks
I'm in the process of building a marble run out of brass wire using 15mm steel ball bearings. For ease of visualisation, it will be similar in principle to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FRYX-kcZ9k&feature=relmfu
I want to include a "jump" where the marble travels up a ramp at speed and is launched in the air and eventually lands on another piece of track/catching element.
I'm envisaging a an approx 40cm near vertical track drop with a curve at the bottom that launches the marble up at around 45 degrees. My question is - what size/shape curve do I need to maximise the size of the jump the marble makes?
If the curve is very small - the marble will bounce. If the curve is very long, the marble will lose too much momentum on its way up the curve and fail to jump at all.
Should the curve be of just a circular shape? Or have some sort of exponential change in angle?
I did a couple of mockups:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/3/marblelaunchramps.jpg/
My rusty physics knowledge gives me the hunch that I need a ramp that minimises friction - is that right?
Can anyone point me in the right direction? thanks