Float Your Boat

1. State the problem of this experiment:

How many pennies can a boat made of tinfoil, 2 wooden sticks, 1 straw and about 6 inches of tape hold?

2. State your hypothesis for this experiment:

The boat will probably sink after 50 pennies

3. How many pennies did your boat hold?

Our boat held 123 pennies before it sank to the bottom of the tank

4. What was your thinking/reasoning behind the design of your boat?

We were trying to make our tinfoil stronger by folding it in half and we secured the corners of our boat with tape and the sticks in the middle to add strength.

5. What would you keep/change on your boat design if you were to do this again?

I wouldn’t have folded the tinfoil in half to have more surface area and space for more pennies. But I think securing the corners was a good idea.

 

Progress is sometimes a good thing.

Is progress in technology a good or bad thing? Kevin Kelly says if we use it right then good things will come out of it but there’s also a wrong way of using it which can cause damage to our world. Technology has served the world in so many ways. Humans are more hygienic than we would be if we didn’t have technology from things like toothbrushes to showers. Humans have also found so many cures to so many diseases which has expanded our life duration. Those are some of the good things about technology but there’s a dark side. iPhones weren’t created with a bad intention, but I think that they have affected our world in a negative way. I think now more than ever social media is incredibly popular and people have become so anti social by using those platforms because they are obsessed with likes and followers. So is progress in technology a good or bad thing? I agree with Kevin Kelly that there are goods and bads although I don’t think it’s controllable. Cars weren’t invented with the intention of pollution. Kevin compared technology to a child. He says if you raise it the right way it’ll turn out right. But what is “the right way”? Some parents spoil their children thinking they’re doing it right but then their child becomes selfish. Some parents are incredibly strict thinking that their children will turn out “right” but in reality their children are sneaking out and partying. I think technology is the same. With every good intention, there will be a negative consequence. Which I think makes progress a neutral thing.