physics experiments with hot wheels

Toy Car Ramp Experiment (Easy STEM for Kids)

Categories Printables , Science , STEM

This Toy Car Ramp Experiment is an excellent way to introduce your kids to the wonders of physics. Don’t be intimidated by the word physics. You can start introducing it to your kids when they’re very young. 

Every baby who has ever thrown anything from their highchair, just so that they can watch it fall to the floor is experimenting with gravity. Or psychology, if you happen to get annoyed whenever they make an unnecessary mess on your kitchen floor.

Disclosure: Adult supervision is required for all activities at all times.

Table of Contents

• Materials needed

Instructions

• Different experiments to try
• What you’re learning
• More STEM activities to try

Materials Needed

• Wooden plank
• Different cars in various weights, or these Duplo blocks that you can adjust.
• Measuring tape
• Stool, table, blocks or anything to lean the roadblocks against

I’ve made my own DIY Roadblocks in two different ways. One with painted wood, and the other with black cardboard. Cardboard was much easier to make and store and have been my preferred roadblocks for years now. However the wooden ones were perfect for outdoor play, and if you use outdoor paint then you don’t have to worry about them being left in the rain.

How to Make a Toy Car Ramp Experiment

1. download and print the recording sheet.

The free printable recording sheets can be found below. Simple head to the bottom of the post and click the large blue button to get your copy.

You’ll need 1 recording sheet per child, or per group if you are doing this as a group activity.

2. Set up your ramp

I placed one end of the wooden planks on top of some of our building blocks. Foam building blocks were perfect for this because you can easily adjust the height of the ramp (which you need for experiment 1) and since they were made from foam the ramps didn’t slip around so easily.

When you are setting up your ramps, make sure to set them up on a flat surface. Otherwise it’ll affect the validity of your results.

3. Place the cars at the top of the ramp

Place one hot wheels car at the top of each ramp. You’ll need to make sure that they are starting at the same point for each experiment.

You’ll also need to make sure that the cars you use are exactly the same, (except for experiment 2), otherwise your results will be invalid.

4. Let the cars go

Make sure your kids, let go of the car and don’t push it. Otherwise, your results will be invalid because you can’t guarantee that they’ve used the exact amount of force for each push. Instead, you’ll be using the Gravitational Potential Energy (GPE) to give the cars enough energy to move.

5. Measure 

When the car has stopped rolling, you’re going to measure the distance between the end of the ramp and the end of the car. You can then record results on the free printable recording sheet.

With each of these three car STEM experiments, you’re going to change only one variable and see how that variable affects the distance the car rolls.

6. Record your results

Write down the distance the car traveled from the bottom of the ramp to the place where it eventually stopped rolling.

Repeat step 3 – 6 for each experiment 3 times. When you’ve gathered all of your data you can compare how far the object travels and talk about what that means. 

Different Experiments to Try

Experiment 1: how does the height of the ramp affect the distance the car goes.

In this experiment, you’re going to find out how different amounts of gravitational potential energy (GPE) affects the distance the car travels.

To do this, you’re going to adjust the angle of the ramps. The higher the ramp, the greater the GPE and the more force that is exerted on the car. In other words, the higher the GPE, the further we expect the moving car to go.

Since I used foam blocks to support my simple ramps, it was easy to increase the inclined plane by adding another block to the supporting tower. Try a whole lot of different heights and see what happens.

If you want to highlight the primary concept here, you can even do an experiment where one of the ramps is lying flat on the floor. Obviously, the car is going to go nowhere, but at least now your kids will know that it’s because there was no GPE to get the car rolling.

Experiment 2: How does the weight of the car affect the distance the vehicle goes?

Have you ever been stuck behind a big truck on an onramp and thought “My gosh, this is going to take forever!” Have you ever wondered why a heavy truck still goes so slowly even when it’s going downhill and trying to increase its speed to merge safely with the other cars that are going at a faster speed?

It’s because it takes a lot more energy to move heavy objects, such as a big truck or a medicine ball, than it takes to move lighter ones, like a regular car or a tennis ball.

Another way to explain this concept to your kids is to get them to blow through a straw. Get a pom pom and a tennis ball and try to blow them off of a table. See how hard your kids have to blow to get each of the balls moving. They’ll soon find it much easier to get the pom pom to fly across the table while the tennis ball follows at a much slower rate.

In this experiment, the GPE is the same because you’re going to make the height of the ramps equal, but the weight of the cars will change. The lighter car should roll further because it requires less GPE to roll the same distance as the heavier car.

This experiment was the reason why I chose these Duplo train blocks instead of cars. I found it a lot easier to adjust the weight of the vehicle by adding on extra blocks to create a heavier mass. If you don’t have these Duplo train set blocks at home, you can instead find two cars that are different weights, or you can try to make one heavier by sticking a pebble to the top with playdough.

Experiment 3: How does the surface texture of the landing area affect the distance the car goes?

We’ve used the GPE to give the car the energy to move. Now we’re going to explain why the car stops rolling. In this experiment, your kids will learn how different surface textures and the different amounts of friction produced will affect the distance the car travels.

Pick three surfaces, something smooth, like wooden floors or tiles, something rough, like grass and something in between, like carpet. Then repeat the experiment and see how far the matchbox car goes on the different surfaces.

The more ‘rough’ a surface, the more friction is produced when something moves across it. When two objects slide against each other, friction works in the opposite direction to the movement. The more ‘rough’ a surface is, the more surface area that is actually coming into contact with the moving object.

Although the relationship between roughness and friction is a bit more complicated than this, there’s no need to go past the basic concept when doing this experiment with young kids.

In this experiment, friction acts like an outside force to stop the cars from rolling. If it weren’t for friction, the car would keep going forever, or until it ran into something.

To explain this to your kids, try to use examples of friction working in their everyday lives that they can understand. For instance, get them to think about which is harder. Is it easier to ride their bikes on the grass, or the road? Another example is to ask them if it’s easier for them to walk through air or water?

What You’re Learning

Basic concept: Objects, even inanimate ones, require energy to move.

Your kids probably already know that we need energy to move. Even if you haven’t talked to them about it directly, they would have picked up on the concept. If you think of some of the usual things parents say, you’ll understand what I mean.

“Vegetables give you the energy to grow.”

“Where’s my coffee? I need some energy.”

“Wow, running across the whole park took a lot of energy.”

Your kids are smart, and they’ll have figured out what energy does.

But have you ever told your kids that even inanimate objects need a bit of energy to move too? Why does a ball move when you kick it? The ball will then stop moving after a while, why? Why is it easier to throw a tennis ball compared to a bowling ball?

These are three questions we can answer with these simple science experiments.

More STEM Activities to try

With the right STEM experiment even young kids can become enthusiastic science students. They’re a great way to introduce kids to the scientific method and help develop essential life skills as they play and explore. Here are some more simple STEM activities that even preschoolers and kindergarteners can enjoy.

• Make a Book – STEM Invitation to Play
• Paper Plate Number Match Activity
• How to Make A Pom Pom Shooter
• Edible Bubble Science
• Safe Drinking Water STEM Activity

For more ideas, take a look at these 42 STEM Activities for Kids .

Are you going to try this Toy Car Ramp Experiment with your kids? Don’t forget to pin the idea for later.

Toy Car Ramp Experiment

Use toy cars and ramps to make an easy science experiment for your kids.

This is a fun way to teach kids about physics and the scientific method.

• Download and print the recording sheet.
• Set a ramp up, with one end on the floor and the other end on a stack of blocks or book.
• Place a car at the top of the ramp and let it go (don't push it.)
• Use a measuring tape to measurethe distance between the bottom of the ramp and the end of the car.
• Write the distance on the recording sheet.

There are three different experiments you can try with this simple setup.

• Change the height of the ramp and see what happens.
• Change the weigh of the car.
• Change the surface that the car reaches, with varying amounts of friction.

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Stay-at-Home Science

Fun and engaging science projects for young kids

Hot Wheels Crash Test Dummy Part I – Inertia

“For the LAST TIME, I told you to stop unbuckling your seatbelt!”

Yes, parents, I know all too well the anxiety of looking in the rearview mirror while careening down the highway only to see that your smiling child has undone their seatbelt yet again.  And you wish you could send your Go-Go-Gadget retractable arm back there to secure them, but you can’t… because 1) that sadly doesn’t exist, and 2) you are in charge of making sure your car doesn’t crash into that truck in front of you.  ARGH! If only your small child could understand the DANGERS of unbuckling their seatbelt!

So let’s put that bin of Hot Wheels cars to some good use and experiment with INERTIA!

**NOTE**   This activity is divided into 2 posts. Part I is the initial set-up of the activity and explanation of INERTIA. If you have toddlers or children who can’t yet write, Part I is probably all you will want to do.   Parents of older children with writing and number skills should also check out Part II – Test a Hypothesis .

LEARN SCIENCE VOCABULARY:

Inertia – the tendency of an object to keep doing what it was already doing. (You may remember this from school as “An object in motion tends to stay in motion, and an object at rest tends to stay at rest, unless acted on by an outside force.”  Also known as Newton’s First Law of Motion if you want to be Smartypants.)

Collision – When 2 or more objects crash into each other.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

• Hot Wheels car (They usually sell for $1 at any grocery store.)
• Play-Doh (It helps if it is relatively fresh, so it will be more sticky.)
• Stack of books (or a box)
• Tape (Masking tape works best)
• Pencil (a pen, marker, or good ole stick will also work)
• Hot Wheels ramp or track (if you don’t have this, just make one out of cardboard!)
• Ruler or measuring tape

HOW TO RUN THE EXPERIMENT:

• Use your stack of books (or box) to prop up your ramp at whatever height you choose.  Tape the ramp in place.

• With the Play-Doh build a small “man”, about 1/2 inch tall, to be your crash test dummy.  He does not have to be extravagant or anatomically correct.  I usually build more of a “blob.”  Give him a name.   (We’ll call ours “Mo.”)

• Ask your child to make a guess as to what will happen to Mo when the car has a COLLISION with the pencil.   (This is their hypothesis. For more on making and testing hypotheses, check out Part II of this activity !)

• Send Mo down the ramp as many times as your child wants.  Decide if their guess was correct or not. Kids may want to change the experiment by raising or lowering the ramp, making Mo bigger or smaller, putting the pencil further away, etc.  This is great scientific thinking! (See Part II for more info on making and testing each new hypothesis.)

THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT:

Mo, of course, is demonstrating what could happen in a car crash if someone is not wearing their seatbelt.  His body has inertia , meaning that even though the car stopped (or possibly even reversed) when it hit the pencil, there was nothing to stop Mo’s body from continuing to move forward. When we gave Mo a tape seatbelt, the seatbelt provided the force to stop the inertia of Mo’s body.

Inertia can be felt anytime you slam on the brakes in the car and everyone feels like they are jerked forward.  You are actually not being “pushed” forward when this happens… but rather your body, which was moving forward just as quickly as the car you are riding in, continues that forward motion until the seatbelt stops you.

CHECK OUT HOT WHEELS CRASH TEST DUMMY PART II – TEST A HYPOTHESIS TO TAKE THIS EXPERIMENT TO THE NEXT LEVEL!!   (FOR OLDER KIDS WITH WRITING SKILLS)

Share this:, 2 comments add yours.

• Pingback: Hot Wheels Crash Test Dummy Part II – Test a Hypothesis | Stay-at-Home Science

This is way COOL!

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Thursday, January 28, 2016

Hot wheels stem lesson plan – scientific method, introduction and background.

• Problem/Question
• Independent and Dependent Variables

Hot Wheels Scientific Method Lab

• Remember, this lab is not really about what surface the cars go further on.  The students are not graded on getting the "right" surface.  It's about the scientific method.  How well did they organize their lab sheet?  How well did they pay attention to the constants.  How well did they perform the procedure.  How well did they analyze the experiment and discuss the problems.  These are the things that I pay attention to and grade them on.  
• Make sure that all the constants listed are addressed in the procedure.
• I don't mention how many trials they should do.  I let them decided.  This let's me know how well they understand the scientific method and how important multiple trials are.  I always have a few who only do one trial.  Most do 2 or 3.  Once in a while I get students who will do 5 or more.

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