Centroid Bridge

My partner, Lexi and I made a bridge to withstand the pressure of only one magazine. We both worked hard to design and build a "weaved" bridge design.

Most of the other groups decided to go with a stick across the gap approach, which work best. But the stick wasn't as interesting or as stable as our bridge.

We worked quickly and efficiently to create a unique bridge.

We even did some research on other bridges that worked well but design to stick with the weave bridge due to time constraints.

This read label magazine was all that we could support. But with our new knowledge of centroids, we will be back with a better bridge that shall never fall.

To Be Continued!

Sail or Sink!

With it's yellow and silver colors ready to set sail, the Titanic was ready to set sail! I'm the mechanic who is matching patch work with the yellow duck tape. The blue shirted is the designer, the green shirted is the sailor, the white shirted is the muscle, and the black shirted at the end was the captain. But we all dabbled our hands into each others field. We managed to complete 9 achievements.

"Sketch Ideas"- 

 

One of the designs was like a kayak.

The other was like a row boat with supports on the side.

The third was stilts that could touch the bottom of the pool so we could walk.

"Prototypes!"- We chose to go with the row boat with supports. We only had one support on the side instead of two and it floated pretty well even with a couple of marbles.

"Select An Approach"- 

+: The good thing about the row boat is the supports and the ability to move the boat.

: I would keep the two supports.
?: How to make the V-Bottom?
!: Keep a pointed front of the boat.

"Build It!"- My group didn't make any major changes from the picture above other than the amount of duck tape on the boat.

"V-Bottom!"- We made a V-Bottom boat and it didn't tip over involuntarily.

"Videographer"-

"Feedback"-

+: The v-bottom was at a great angle causing it to not flip over.

: I would have added extended supports, paddles, and a more hydrodynamic front of the boat.

? : Would we be able to use orange juice cartons if we do this again?

! : Use orange juice cartons to help with the supports so the boat doesn't sink too much.

"Redesign"- I would add the carton supports and paddles and a different shape for the box.

"Make Your Own Achievement"- I would give our group the "Innovative Design" achievement because we had the most unique design. But for future reference I would make an achievement called the "Battle Ship" achievement in which the boat will need a way to protect itself.

Don't Snap Your Fingers!!!

In the 3rd annual mousetrap car races no fingers were snapped off but cars were rolling. Many teams competed from all over the classroom. Many try to beat Team Team for speed even my car Bits-N-Pieces couldn't match their design. And Team Shana's racer could travel across the title to reach the farthest ends of the classroom. Even though Bits-N-Pieces didn't beat anyone it still made me proud that I was able to complete its design in 20 minutes with just enough time to race the car for it to get about 5 inches. Even though we did not win any races, but we did get 10 achievements.

Achievements
"Brainic"- 1. Three wheels, two axles, long body, small wheels, mousetrap at the front of the car.
                    2. Three wheels, two axles, long body, big wheels, mousetrap in the middle of the car.
                    3. Three wheels, two axles, short body, small wheels, mousetrap at the front of the car.
                    4. Four wheels, two axles, long body, big wheels, mousetrap at the front of the car
                    5. Four wheels, two axles, short body, small wheels, mousetrap in the middle of the car
                    6. Four wheels, two axles, short body, small wheels, mousetrap on top of a platform in the middle of the car.
                    7. Two wheels, two axles, short body, big wheels, mouse trap in between the wheels.
                    8. Four wheels, two axles, short body, big wheels, mousetrap on top of a platform towards the middle of the car.
                    9. Four wheels, two axles, short body, small wheels, mousetrap is slanted with one beam at the front of the car and no beam on the back. 
                  10. Four wheels, two axles, short body, small wheels, mousetrap is slanted with one beam at the front of the car and no beam on the back, a pencil is attracted to the mousetrap to increase the amount of string being pulled. 

"Visualize It!"- 

 

"Build It!"-

 

"The Distance Event"- our car didn't make it too far because the string kept getting caught in the wheels. But now I know what to change.

"The Acceleration Event"- Our car didn't win first but we ended up winning the loser league race in which we went up against 2 other cars that were dropped from the race from malfunctions and we accelerated to the line the fastest.

"Feedback"- 

+: Had a mix of both acceleration and distance.

: I would make the string shorter, get wheels adjusted for the type of race, and try to make the wheels more spread out.

? : Did you follow the tape rule? answer would be probably not we weren't keeping track.

! : Make the platform the mousetrap is on higher than what it was.

"Re-work"- My partner and I changed the length of string in between races but if I had more time I would have redone the whole car according to a certain race.

"Game Changer"- For each car there needs to be a "passenger" on the car some where. I can't be anything that makes the move, the only thing that the passenger does is sit there. It can't be attached to the car. If the passenger falls off then the car needs to sit our a round for the passenger to recuperate.

"Name It!"- I would rename the "Visualize It!" to "Artistic Views!" or "Leave It Cleaner Than You Found It" to "Sweep It Up".

"Leave it Cleaner Than You Found It"- My partner and I would clean up our area as well as other areas of the room. We also asked other groups if the area was clean.