Written by Kayla Burt, Melissa Sullivan, Julia Hornyak|

Photos by Physics classes|

On Friday, May 13th, 21 AP Physics students and 18 CP Physics students took a field trip to Lake Compounce. Throughout the year, both classes focused on the concepts of gravity, potential and kinetic energy, forces, inertia, and momentum. What better way to fully understand these concepts by experiencing them yourself? Science teachers Abigail Walston, Karen Kaestle, and Emily Lisy accompanied the students at this fun and physics-filled day.

Mrs. Walston planned to give the students a packet analyzing every single roller coaster in the park. We have to calculate potential and kinetic energy, work, velocity, frequency, and other key concepts we have learned throughout the year. The packet has a total of 97 questions and will count as two test grades. The AP Physics students will not have to take a final, because those students took the AP exam. However, the CP students (except for the exempt seniors) have to take a final exam and complete this final project.

The entire day at Lake Compounce was solely for schools. There were some senior trips, other physics classes, and band and choral groups. Senior Judy Chicoine actually saw her cousin that also takes AP Physics at his high school in East Haven. We were all able to walk around and have a fun time while paying attention to how these roller coasters work thanks to what we have learned in class. We were told to take pictures and videos of the roller coasters for our final project as well. This was definitely the most fun/educational field trip I have been on. Here are some pictures and videos we took while at the park:

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