Hey there Lucifer,

Yayy, my 100th post! :] I can’t believe that I’ve written that much. I hope I can keep writing, but there really hasn’t been anything interesting lately. Aside from me slaving away on schoolwork day and night, nothing is new. Well, there IS Thanksgiving Break (and I’m very grateful for this break). As you all know, that crucial week before a break is always filled with 918023 tests and quizzes, and this week was no exception, especially Friday. Rollercoaster project was being tested, two tests, and a quiz. I was so tired, you could seriously call me a zombie. Good thing all the exams were relatively easy~ The only thing that kept me awake was the roller coaster project.

We started the roller coaster project either Monday or Tuesday. We were given an endless amount of tubing and a roll of duck tape. We could use anything in the classroom or whatever we brought in to make it, as long as we incorporated in our roller coaster: 3 loops, a corkscrew, a tunnel, 3 hills and 3 valleys, and a DRAMATIC FINISH. Needless to say, Brian and Brandon were in our group. Our group got the space at the back right of the classroom where the refridgerator and vending machine is. That was not a very good choice on our part.

Everything went along pretty well. We got in a corkscrew right from the start and had our first loop is already. The first loop was courtesy of my awesome meter-stick-tepee-making skills (and a stool). Seriously, it was awesome. We were getting off to a good start, BUTTT we lost a ball bearing to the evil refridgerator. That same day, Brandon and Brian went in during lunch and added another loop to the lab station. I went in during 7th period and added a corkscrew on the table, a jump, another loop, and all our hills and valleys. We were practically done! It all worked up till then. When we went back to school the next day, NOTHING worked. The tape got in the way of the first corkscrew, and it kept stopping. We ended up removing that first corkscrew later on. We added and removed a tunnel and set up several barriers. It was pretty much the same thing over and over again for the next day. We ended up removing a lot of the stuff we set up. When I went during 7th period on Thursday, my awesome tepee fell over and killed the whole middle portion of our roller coaster. I spent that hour pretty much redoing everything. It was working at about a 66% rate. In the process, I think we lost.. 2-3 ball bearings to the refridgerator. I also added our big dramatic finish this day. I drew a dinosaur mouth and attatched it to a paper “cup” I made. In case anyone is wondering, as Mr. Frogue did, I have NO IDEA what kind of dinosaur/crocodile it is. Let’s just say it’s a mix. So after the hills and valleys, there would be a loop, and the ball bearing would just run into the dinosaur mouth. Cool, no? ;D On Friday, the big test day, the first drop was not working out for us. It just kept falling off! I blame it being too fast and the drop being too steep.  Needless to say, during our first trial, this kept us from finishing. All we did to fix it for the second trial was add a few paper barriers to the parts that were unstable. Of course, it went PERFECTLY the second time. :]]

I would say that the two coolest roller coasters were Chris P. and Titus’s and Chase, Carlo, and Jake’s. Chris P. and Titus’s incorporated a jump through a hoop, and Chase, Carlo, and Jake’s made Crystal Light at the end. How dramatic is that!? :O

The only group that didn’t finish till 7th period that day was Eric, Hiro, and Raymond’s group. Hiro ended up knocking off one of the stools that kept the first half of the roller coaster up during lunch, so they had to start over and do everything 7th period. I’m sad that they took out the part that spelled out “emo”, but they ended up finishing after their 5th try, so I’m proud of them!

This really was a fun project. My fingers really hurt from ripping duck tape (which is incredibly strong, by the way), I cut myself with one of those dirty biology scalpels, and we lots about 5 ball bearings in total (which I will probably pay for on the Monday of next week), but it was totally worth it. Looking back, I really don’t know how we did it. I’m pretty sure it should not have worked out at all, but it did, so I’m happy. :] I would retake physics just to do this project.