Raiden+M13

**THE STUDY OF THE SPEEDS AND DISTANCES TRAVELLED BY THE PUSH N’ GO TRAIN **
Raiden Mason 2012-2013

** ABSTRACT **
The purpose of this study was to determine how fast the Push n’ Go train traveled on different surfaces and how far it would travel after going down a ramp. The more mass that was placed on the train, the more momentum it had, but it also had more air resistance and a slower speed causing it to not travel very far. The Push n’ Go train was put at the top of a ramp, which was placed at different angles, and then the train’s button was pushed down all the way and allowed to travel down the ramp. The train traveled the farthest after going down the 20deg ramp and the least distance after going down the 40deg ramp. This happened because when the train came down the 40deg ramp, the front bumper of the train scraped the ground, causing extra friction and slowing the train down.

** EXPERIMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS AND FUTURE EXPERIMENTS **
If these experiments were to be done again, an improvement could be that a toy with more power is tested. The Push n' Go train didn't have much power so it couldn't travel very far, but maybe a wind-up car or some other toy with the same principles. Also, instead of doing most of the experiments on carpet, where there is a lot of friction, the experiments could done on a surface with less friction, such as tile. For future experiments, the train could be tested on different surfaces; it could be tested on dirt with the variable of how wet the dirt is or test how different brands of the same toy compare to the Push n’ Go train on the different surfaces.