Float Your Boat! – Scientific Method Project
Name: Josh Secrieru BLK: C
CHALLENGE:
Create a boat that can float in water and can hold the most amount of pennies.
PROBLEM:
How to make pennies float in a boat with limited resources. (Tin Foil, two straws, one marshmallow, and a piece of tape).
HYPOTHESIS:
If we structure the boat with a rectangular shape, using the marshmallow stickiness to support the edges, then the buoyancy of the boat will upsurge and it will hold more pennies.
IDEA FOR ORIGINAL DESIGN:
(The above image is our initial design of what our boat might look like).
We will cut the marshmallow in four pieces, and use it as a support for the edges. This will make the edges hold more sufficiently, rather than just scotch tape. For our tin foil, we will fold out the margins and make it a rectangular shape. Also we cut the straws in four pieces, this will act as a support beam to prevent the boat from collapsing in the water. We think that making it a rectangular design will give us more room to equally balance the pennies, which is equivalent to having more pennies that it can hold.
(The above images is our boat after it was completed, following our initial design idea).
HOW MANY PENNIES DID YOUR BOAT HOLD?
Our boat held 89 pennies.
(The image above is our boat sinking after the 89th penny was placed in).
WHAT WOULD YOU KEEP OR CHANGE ON YOUR BOAT DESIGN IF YOU WERE TO DO THIS AGAIN?
If I were to do this lab again, I would keep our rectangular shape design, which worked extremely well. Also, I would change the height of our rectangular design, because our boat sank due to the size of the walls. If our walls were higher, we could have fitted more pennies in the boat before it would sink .