Roller Coaster Competition

The grade 12 Engineering Design students showed off their roller coasters at lunch on Oct.20. They had been working on these for the past month - using their knowledge of physics and developing construction skills. The room was packed with other Danforth students voting for their favourites. The clear favourite had a Spiderman theme and was so efficient, that the ball was able to keep moving through hills, loops and interweaving track for a record time of 25 s within the confined space. The two groups that tied for second place had a different winning strategy. One group had a conveyor belt that lifted balls up at the end and delivered them to the start so that the ride never ended! The other group had a the strongest theme presented - Disney! The loops had mouse ears and the funnel looked like Mickey's hat from Fantasia and included an amazing first-time-ever, triple-crossover track! The Engineering Design program is unique to Danforth, and former students say that the teamwork skills that they learnt in this program gives them a huge advantage in university programs  - especially in business and engineering.