Rolling Races

WHAT TO DO

Place several objects at the top of the ramp. Let them all go at the same time. Which one gets to the bottom first? Do lots of combinations and see if you can come to any conclusions about rolling objects.

HOW IT WORKS

When you lift the ball up to the top of the ramp you give it a bit of extra energy. The ball uses this extra energy to roll back to the bottom of the ramp. Some energy is used to move the ball downward and some is used to rotate the ball. Object of different shapes share this energy between rotation and translation differently. The object that uses the least amount of energy to rotate wins.