Bridge Design

Bridge built by me and Sean. It held 5 magazines!!

Cardboard Canoe Challenge

Achievements:
We gained 11 achievements for this challenge.

Define the problem and list brainstorm ideas:

We are designing a canoe out of cardboard and covering it with duct tape to prevent it from disintegrating in the water. We are building the canoe so that it will still float while carrying the lightest person in our group.

1. make the walls high enough so the boat will not sink when carrying our lightest team member, Morgan.
2. use out-riggers to enable stability
3. cover thoroughly with duct tape so water will not be able to get to any part of the cardboard
4. use an extra piece of cardboard on each side to reinforce strength
5. cover the corners with multiple layers of duct tape for reinforcement
6. make sure that the walls are not so tall that the boat will still balance on its own
7. use a flat bottom instead of a v-bottom or u-bottom shape for balance
8. make walls short enough so that the person in the boat is able to reach over the side
9. cover inside of boat with duct tape
10. reinforce all edges and corners with extra duct tape
11. build a canoe that is basically a box with shorter walls
12. make a larger bottom to create more surface area
13. make a paddle out of cardboard (Morgan and Patrick will call it a sword :))
14. cover the paddle with duct tape
15. bring in extra cardboard
16. bring in extra duct tape
17. reduce amount of cardboard to increase speed
18. consider making a sail
19. consider making pontoons
20. name the boat: "The Morgan Mobile"!


Criteria and Constraints:
Criteria: Build a boat out of cardboard and duct tape that will float with a person in it.
Constraints: Only use duct tape and cardboard, make the boat light enough to carry it down to the pool, limited amount of cardboard and duct tape.

Sketch Ideas:

Prototypes:

Feedback:
+: the extra duct tape and cardboard payed off because the boat carried a person well
change: we could've made the walls shorter
?: We took extra stability precautions, why wasn't our boat more stable?
!: If we had increased the surface area, the boat might've been more stable.

Surface Area: 9540 cm^2. It took 3 rolls of duct tape to completely cover our boat.

Build it!

Our finished product! Our team, Patrick, Daniel, Morgan, and my best friend Ersi stand proudly around the triumphant "Morgan Mobile"!

Balance Master!  A member of our team, Daniel, stood in the canoe for about 28 seconds.

Videographer!

Feedback:

1. !: we could've made the walls shorter
2. +: the extra cardboard worked well
3. +: reinforcement of duct tape worked well
4.  -: could've been more stable
5. !: we could've made the front pointed in order to enable it to cut through the water faster
6. change: we should've increased the surface area of the bottom
7. +: the size of the boat worked well
8. ?: why wasn't it more stable?
9. ?: why didn't the boat move faster?
10. +: the boat only went down a few inches in the water

How low did you go?

The boat went down about 2-4 inches in the water

Mousetrap Race Car

Mousetrap Race Car Challenge

I earned 9 achievements.

Achievements (by stage)

1. Design Stage: 

"Brainiac" - 10 ideas/concepts

• catapult
• use a tennis ball to propel forward
• barrier
• upside down
• lighter car (for better acceleration)
• heavier car (for better distance)
• minimize volume and mass
• use bands for traction
• attach popsicle stick or ruler to mouse trap
• use maximum amount of string allowed to get maximum distance

2. Build Stage:

"Build it" - build design, document with photo. 

"The Price of Glory"  - If each part you use costs $1, generate a total cost for your build.

• wheels  - $4
• axels - $2
• popsicle stick - $1
• string - $1
• black boxes - $6
• tape  - $1
• rest of the structure - $8
• TOTAL: $23

3. Test Stage: 

"Competitor" - Compete in  the mousetrap race car challenge.

We did compete in the race.

"Long-distance" - be the winner of the distance challenge.

We did not win or come in second place, but we did come in third. 

"Acceleration" - be the winner of the acceleration challenge.

Same as the distance challenge, we came in third place.

"Feedback" - collect feedback from yourself or a classmate.

+ : light car, the way we wrapped the string tightly enabled it to travel further.

change: we could probably have planned better because we had two previous ideas that failed.

?: should the wheels have had traction?

!: we could've used a pencil or axle instead of a popsicle stick because it wasn't very sturdy.

Iterate Stage:

"Re-work" - change your build based on your experience with feedback collected.

If we had realized earlier that our first two designs were not very efficient than we could've spent more time on perfecting our last design and maybe would've won either of the challenges.

"Game Changer" - develop a new rule or change to the game that you feel would make it better.

I think an interesting constraint would be having a limited number of parts to work with. Or only specific materials allowed. 

"Name it" - Invent a  name for an achievement that you think is better than what have currently.

Build with less!


Clean up stage: 

"Leave it cleaner than you found it" 

Yes, we left our workspace clean everyday. When there were extra pieces that we found in our workspace upon entering class, we put them all away. Also, we made sure to plug the computers in after we are finished using them even if they weren't previously plugged in. 



 

hey everyone, this is my first post!