Bike race

Bike race

Pencil and paper
Overview
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses

Jill has entered a bike race. She knows that to go fast she needs to reduce the weight of her bike before the race, and use a higher gear during the race.

 

a)  Using the idea of friction, explain how making the bike lighter would help Jill go faster in the race.

 
 
 
 
 
b)
Diagram 1 shows the gear size before Jill changed gear. When Jill changes gear only the rear cog changes.
In Diagram 2, draw the size of a rear cog that will allow Jill to pedal at the  same speed but move faster.
 

 
c)  How does using a higher gear help Jill to go faster?

 
 
 
 

 

Level:
5
Curriculum info: 
Description of task: 
Task: Answer questions about making a bike go faster. Assessment focus: friction; gearing.
Answers/responses: 
   

Y10 (03/1998)

a) The reduced weight (force) will reduce friction with the ground. easy
b) Reduce rear wheel cog size. (Must be noticeably smaller than in Diagram 1)

moderate
c) By increasing the gear, one turn of the pedals will turn the back wheel more times. difficult