The Sea Dragon is basically a pendulum which is a design used in various engineering jobs. This design and the ride will help you understand the principles of gravity, motion, inertia, and centripetal force.
- Begin by defining these terms: gravity, motion, inertia and centripetal force
- Next review Sir Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion, summarize this and be prepared to explain it to a classmate OBSERVE the Ride and answer the following:
- A motor starts the ride however once started the ride continues on its own-how do you explain this?
- The ride swings from side to side, it does not pick up speed and swing completely around-what keeps the ride from swinging in a 360 degree pattern?
- The ride is brought to a stop by an operator applying brakes-is this necessary-explain what would happen if brakes were not applied and why
- What are some other examples or applications of pendulums?