Glencoe Science Level Blue

Unit 6: Motion, Forces, and Energy

Slow tunnels

Project Type: Model
Working with a partner, have students design and construct a closed system to test how long a table-tennis ball can stay in motion. Using appropriate recycled materials and tape, students first design a series of tubes, turns, ramps, and funnels secured to a poster board, creating a course for the ball to travel through. Students will build their systems, then use a stopwatch to measure the amount of time the ball remains moving within the course. Have students provide design and construction suggestions to other teams in the class at the conclusion of the testing runs.

Introduction:
In the movie Apollo 13, a crew of astronauts returning to Earth in a damaged craft seeks help from NASA flight engineers to make their oxygen system operate through the duration of their perilous mission. The team on the ground is challenged to make an oxygen filter from one system operate in a different system—to literally make a round peg fit into a square opening. The task facing the NASA team involved using a limited array of materials available to the astronauts on the space craft, such as duct tape and socks, to make the oxygen filter work. They relied on creativity, ingenuity, and teamwork to understand and successfully solve the problem.

Given the NASA team's situation as inspiration, how can a system be designed and constructed to keep a table-tennis ball in motion for a maximum amount of time using appropriate recycled materials available in the classroom? Students will work in pairs to design and produce a system that will keep the ball in motion for the longest time possible.

Task:
Collect the following construction materials for each pair of students.

  • 25 sheets of recycled, 8 ½ x 11 paper (collect non-confidential draft copies of paper from copy machines and printers, as appropriate)
  • 5 meters of masking or duct tape
  • 1 table-tennis ball
  • 1 poster board

Describe the challenge at hand to the class. Each pair of students may use this set of materials (with no other materials from any other sources) to design and construct a system of tubes, turns, ramps, funnels, and troughs. These features will be created from the paper and tape and will be mounted to the poster board that will rest on a flat surface (such as a large table or the floor). The system should be designed so that a table-tennis ball rolled through it will move for the maximum amount of time.

Remind students that systems that are longer and slower will promote a longer transit time for the table-tennis ball.

The first task is for students to diagram their system. The diagram should include the shapes of the features that will be mounted on the poster board. Have students consider the size of the poster board and the connections between the features in their designs. The system must be contained within the space on the poster board.

Once students have completed their system design diagrams, distribute materials to each team. Each team should be given an equal amount of construction time. Give all teams an equal amount of time to test and modify the constructed systems.

After modifications have been made, collect the class together to run time trials for each team's system. Supply a stopwatch for the time trials and a class data collection table on a dry-erase board or large sheet of paper.

Have one student on each team serve as the timekeeper and the other student run the table-tennis ball through the system. Each team conducts three time trials. Collect the three trial times and ask students to calculate the average time. Record all information on the class data collection table.

After all teams have conducted their time trials, ask students to reply to each of the following prompts.

  1. After designing, producing, and testing my system, as well as observing other people's systems, what would I do differently if I repeated the process?
  2. Select a different team from your class. Based on your experience, what suggestions would you give that team in order to increase the amount of time that their table-tennis ball stayed in motion in their system?

Time:
1 class period to create a system design , 1 class period to build the system, test it, and make modifications to it, 1 class period to conduct time trials, collect data for all students' systems, and answer the questions.

Possible Resources:
http://www.rube-goldberg.com/html/contest.htm - Read about Rube Goldberg machines
http://www.anl.gov/OPA/rube/rube.html - Investigate the Rube Goldberg Machine contest at the Argonne National Laboratory
http://www.mindport.org/aerotrak.html - Visit this site to learn about a table-tennis ball and tube museum exhibit

Rubric:

Click here for a rubric to help you score this project. (73.0K)

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