Our mission: Transport a marble down a six foot length of string with a 20 inch slope and have it land on a target. The materials that we were allowed to use included: about 8 feet of string, six inches of tape, scissors, a paper cup, two paperclips, an index card, a rubberband, and a coffee filter.
Jennifer, Jeremy #1 and I teamed up and started sketching out a plan. Knowing that we would need a lot of time for trial runs, we came up with an option that everyone thought had a shot and got to work. We attached the cup to a straw with a rubberband in hopes that it would glide smoothly down the string. Our idea was to cut a hole in the bottom of the cup, nestle in a coffee filter strung with a paperclip pull, and put the marble inside. Ideally, when we gave the string connected to the coffee filter a tug, it would have slid out, allowing the marble to gracefully glide onto the target. Well, this is what actually happened:
We felt like our main idea was solid and just needed some tweaking. We ditched the coffee filter, and wrapped the paperclip directly around the marble. A few tries later...viola!
If necessity is the mother of invention, frustration can be the mother of innovation (yes, you can quote me, that's a Kat original! Haha!). Love that you included the videos of your attempts. Great job!.
ReplyDeleteVery creative, great job! I admire the creativity and uniqueness this class exhibits.
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ReplyDeleteThis activity was so fun and the solution your group came up with was ingenious! When you and your fellow engineers came up with a solution, it confirmed for me that the problem was solvable. Knowing that we could find a way motivated me to work with my team to figure out a solution.
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