Equilibrium Project- Physics 12- October 23rd
Team members: Sigrid Miller & Agustina Pizarro
Purpose: Create a system that is perfectly balanced and demonstrate why it is balanced with calculations.
During this project, we created a system that had multiple fulcrums and calculated the torque of the objects in the system. For our project to be balanced, the torques of the objects at each side of the fulcrums had to be equal to each other so they could cancel out.
“Workshop Christmas Tree”
We used pieces of wood, wrenches, metal clips, and strings. After moving the objects to have them at the perfect distance so they could balance, we calculated all the masses and distances to demonstrate why it was balancing.
Dimensions & Calculations
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Self Evaluation & Self Reflection
What did you learn from this experience?
I learned that balance can be affected by external factors. A structure’s balance is not solely based on two things weighting the same, you can also balance things changing their distance from the fulcrum of the structure. To have perfect calculations you have to consider all the different factors that could affect them; real world will never be perfect and we cannot make things negible as we often do for calculations. Small changes affected the structure greatly, and our caculations showed small percentage errors because we did not consider all factors. I also learned how to use the concept of torque in a real life situation (which way it falls depending where you put the mass), we use these concepts every day but we don’t usually know how they actually work so it was good to know why it happened.
What do you think went well?
I think our system was balanced pretty well. We also were creative with the design of it even though we did not have many resources to build it. I think the communication part was also really good, with Sigrid, we were able to confirm our calculations and plan out something that would work for both of us as well as critically think how the structure’s balance would work the best (similar mass, distance, materials).
What would you have done differently, given the opportunity?
I am satisfied with what we did in a short time, but I would maybe increase the difficulty of it. I would have measured everything that went into the system to have a more precise result (string, specific distance). I think we could have done a more creative theme too, we thought of a Ratatouille theme at one point. Overall, I am happy with the outcome of this project.
Scale out of 5
Core Competencies
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