Bicycle Chain Math - A Balanced Assessment Task
Think of the red line as a bicycle chain.
The length of the chain is a function of the distance between the centers D, and
the radii of each of the circles, R and r.
You can change D, R and r by dragging the black dots.
How do you expect this length function to behave when
r = 0 ?, r = D ?, r = R ? r is much larger than R ? r is much larger than D ?
r is much smaller than R? r is much smaller than D?
The length of the bicycle chain can be written as a function of the variables r, R and D.
Holding R and D constant, sketch the length as a function of r
Holding r and D constant, sketch the length as a function of R
Holding r and R constant, sketch the length as a function of D