The Boat Project
During this project we learned about many laws of physics. the most important one was density, how to measure it and how dense different materials are. We had to CALCULATE the mass, volume, and density of our boat and the mass of the people in our boat to make sure that it would float. my favorite part of the boat project was boat day where we got to watch them sail and see all our hard work go into a finished product.
density_display_-_google_drive.pdf | |
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- Valaree says:
- Volume- describes the amount of space occupied by a three- dimensional object or region of space.
- To find volume you can either use LxWxH or a graduated cylinder if it is an irregular shape. To use a graduated cylinder you have to subtract the number the water is at by the number the water raised to when you put the object in. The unit is cm3 ml h20.
- Isabelle says:
- Mass is the amount of matter in an object. You find the mass of an object by using a scale.
- Density describes how much matter is in a certain amount of space. To find density you divide mass by volume.
- Erin says:
- When mass stays the same and volume changes is like when you roll up play dough into a ball and you smash it, the size and shape (volume) changes; but the amount of play dough (mass) stays the same.
- Becca says:
- When the volume changes the mass stays the same and the density changes
1) A 7-10 sentence description of how you changed your design after making the foil and 1/8-scale models. (You could refer to Reflection 1 and 2 for this.) In addition, what part of your design was effective? What part of your design did not work? How would you change your design now after testing your full-scale model?
My group started out with a canoe like model for the foil and 1/8 scale model. We liked how it worked but it was very hard to figure out the right proportions for the sides to the bottom. It was also hard with creating the bottom in a triangle. The triangular bottom made us curve the sides so it would create a canoe like shape. We changed our design in the real cardboard boat because we decide that there was more room and created a bigger boat if we made it square and if we had enough power from the paddlers it wouldn't matter the shape. Another adaption we made was to the attachment of the cardboard. Because we couldn't use one big piece of cardboard for the whole boat we took the pieces and folded them under so there would be more stability to the tape connection. It also created a pocket like feature so we could make sure no water went into the edges of the cardboard making the boat more dense.
2) Describe three things that you saw other students do that you consider to be very effective (4-8 sentences). Make sure to explain why you consider these construction techniques, designs, etc. to be effective.
One thing that my group did but didn't succeed at was putting water bottles on outside to make the design less dense. What we found out from these other groups was that we should've had the water bottles on the very bottom so they reached the water. Another idea that was brought forward was having a bigger area on the bottom making it a square. It worked very effectively make it so there could have a larger amount of weight. One thing that would've helped for the control of the boat would've been to have more layers on the bottom having the paddlers higher and not crushing the air in the cardboard as much, also creating it easier to paddle.
3) Archimedes Principle states "The buoyant force on a body immersed in a fluid is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by that object." An object floats when its weight is equal to or less than the buoyant force. Write a 7-10 sentence description of how this principle applies to floatation. Why do things float? Why did your boat float? What is average density? How does this apply?
Archimedes Principle in simple words means that the amount of fluid that has been changed, its weight, from the regular fluid to the new amount with an object in it is equal to the buoyant force on the object. They can only float if the density is less than or equal to the buoyant force. Objects float because they have enough air in them compared to the mass divided by the volume. Our boats have a enormous volume and the mass does not weigh very much because it is only a little bit of cardboard. If we were to take the same amount of cardboard and squashed it together, it probably wouldn't float as well because the density is bigger because the volume has decreased a lot. This applies to the equation D=M/V (density equals mass over volume). When volume decreases density has to increase only if mass doesn't change.
becca.pdf | |
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