Freefall

Cheese Fall

Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling

"the world's most dangerous footrace"

"the world's stupidest competition"

"twenty young men chasing a cheese off a cliff and tumbling 200 yards to the bottom, where they are scraped up by paramedics and packed off to hospital"

How fast is the wheel accelerating as it travels down the hill?

The cheese reaches a maximum velocity of 70 mph at the bottom of the hill, and takes about 5 seconds to get to the bottom.

Fill in the Blanks

The cheese reaches a maximum velocity of 70 mph at the bottom of the hill, and takes about 5 seconds to get to the bottom.

How fast is the cheese accelerating?

Would the cheese travel faster if it were dropped from 200 yards up as opposed to rolling down the 200 yard hill?

Fill in the Blanks

How fast would the cheese be going at the end of the race if it were dropped from 200 yards high instead? Recall that acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s2 ! Assume it still takes 5 seconds to hit the ground.

Multiple Choice

To compare the two final velocities, we need to convert m to miles.

1 mile = 1609.34 m

How many miles is 49 m?

• .30447

• .030447

• 32.843

• .32843

Multiple Choice

Now finish the conversion. Convert 49 m/s into mph.

Hint: 1 mile = 1609.34 m

1 hour = 60 minutes

1 minute = 60 seconds

• 176400 mph

• .44703 mph

• .00912 mph

• 109.6 mph

Multiple Choice

Which option makes the wheel the fastest at the bottom of the race: the hill or a free fall?

• the hill (slope)

• the freefall

Poll

Would you participate in the cheese roll?

• Yes, nothing gets cheddar than that.

• No thanks, I'm gouda.