Experiment with Marble Ramps/Inclined Planes

In this science experiment, kids will make marble ramps and explore inclined planes and energy.  

An inclined plane is a type of simple machine.  Simple machines are tools that make your work easier. They are called simple machines because they either have few or no moving parts.  In this experiment, the inclined plane makes work easier by allowing gravity (without any help from you) to move the marble down the ramp.

Potential energy is the energy that is stored in an object.  An example of potential energy is a stretched-out rubber band -- the farther you stretch it, the more potential energy it has.  Another example is a marble teetering at the top of an inclined plane.

Kinetic energy is the energy of an object in motion.  When the rubber band is released and pours out all that energy it had stored up, or when the marble begins to fly down the inclined plane, that energy is kinetic energy.  So – potential energy is the energy that is saved up in still objects, and kinetic energy is the energy that pours out of moving objects (energy in motion).

Gravity and potential energy are related.  (Remember gravity?  It is the force that pulls everything down toward the earth.)  Think about the marble sitting at the top of an inclined plane -- when you bump it ever so slightly and it starts to roll, what happens?  It starts to roll faster and faster down the ramp, right?  (But if you did this same experiment on a flat surface, the marble would barely move, right?)  It is gravity that is pulling the ball down the ramp.  So that marble teetering at the top of the ramp has the potential energy of gravity -- which is the force that will pull it down the ramp with no effort from you (once you've tipped it onto the ramp).