Fling Machine

Ms. L's Fling Machine

There are many ways to solve a problem. Sometimes it is as simple as applying a piece of duct tape. Other times it takes months or years for a product to progress from an idea into full-scale production. Work with a partner to design and build a device to launch a cotton ball and send it as far as possible. 

Your team may receive points for the following.

• Creativity: Up to 10 points for creativity in the design and use of materials.
• Teamwork: Up to 10 points for how well your team works together.
• Performance: Using the landing point of the cotton ball that was propelled the furthest from the launch device, 2 points for each inch between the device and the point at which the cotton ball lands.

Analyze the cotton ball travel distance data that you collected, the design of your machine, and your effectiveness as a team. If you had the opportunity to optimize your design, what would you do differently? How could you improve the effectiveness of your team? Given the constraints, how do you feel teams solved the problem of building a fling machine?

Team	Distance
Juan & Catherine	68.5"
Austyn & Craig	37"
Ben & Jake	-14.25"
Diana & Archit	110.25"
Ganesh & Vijay	35"
Ashab & Matt	180" / -19"
Gagan & Alvin	238"
Sukjit & Amijot	0"
Sasha & William	12.25"
Katie & Sonia	-.75"
Meera & Sachi	150"
Pallavi & Austin	56.5"
Ryan & Paras	372.25"

Unit Conversion

Modern civilization cannot exist without measurement systems. Measurements are everywhere, and you use them every day. Every time you buy gas, check the outside temperature, or step on a weight scale, measurements are used to represent a quantity. The abilities to conduct, record, and convert measurements are necessary to understand our technological world and to carry on the business of living. Engineers of all disciplines are constantly required to work with measurements of a variety of quantities – length, area, volume, mass, force, time, temperature, electric current, etc. It is often necessary to be able to express those measurements in different units.

Research, explore, and develop your own understanding of unit conversion. Then, work with a team to create a lesson that shares what you learned with the class. Your lesson should make us think and be fun!

Your lesson must cover:

• The purpose of unit conversion
• Conversion factor formula
• Conversion of units in both SI and US Systems
• How to write numbers in the SI System
• Dimensional analysis
• Unit prefixes
• Rules of exponents
• Precision versus accuracy
• Significant figures

Essential Question:

What would happen if engineers did not follow accepted dimensioning standards and guidelines but, instead, used their own individual dimensioning methods?