The Fast and the Spurious

8850 /www/nrich/html/content/id/8850/ 1 0000-00-00T00:00:00 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <mdoxml version="1.0">You are asked to design and make a vehicle to carry a small object a linear distance of 5m in a target time of 30 seconds. The vehicle must move independently. Materials You may use any or all of the following: <ul> <li>4 Postcards</li> <li>A selection of elastic bands</li> <li>Plastic tube (old pens)</li> <li>4 drawing pins</li> <li>Scissors</li> <li>Metre rule</li> <li>5Paper clips</li> <li>2 Cotton reels (or similar)</li> <li>Glue stick.</li> </ul> Things to consider <ul> <li>How will your car be powered?</li> <li>What will provide the stability in your car design?</li> <li>How fast will your car travel?</li> <li>How quickly will your car accelerate?</li> <li>Why will your car begin to decelerate – can you redesign to avoid/ lessen this?</li> </ul></mdoxml> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <mdoxml version="1.0">Why work on this activity? 1. To give pupils the experience of working in groups, allocating resources, making design decisions, planning and implementation within set parameters. 2. To develop pupils’ interpersonal and academic skills, particularly: communication, negotiation and problem solving. Mathematically, this problem gives the opportunity to cover a number of topics, particularly in the mechanics field, from speed, distance and time to elastic potential and kinetic energies. Possible approach <ul> <li>10 minutes for planning.</li> <li>1 hour for building.</li> <li>20 minutes for testing.</li> </ul> Discussion points <ul> <li>Use of planning period.</li> <li>Decision making processes.</li> <li>Design – was it in stages or direct?</li> <li>Construction.</li> <li>How accurate did they attempt to be?</li> <li>Why is accuracy important?</li> <li>Pupils have to target distance and time. Industrial examples requiring this precision including freezing and cooking processes.</li> </ul> Equipment Per group of three to four pupils: <ul> <li>4 Postcards</li> <li>A selection of elastic bands</li> <li>Plastic tube (old pens)</li> <li>4 drawing pins</li> <li>Scissors</li> <li>Metre rule</li> <li>5Paper clips</li> <li>2 Cotton reels (or similar)</li> <li>Glue stick.</li> </ul> Also: A track for testing (size about 5m x 30 cm) Stopwatch or clock. Key questions <ul> <li>How will your car be powered?</li> <li>What will provide the stability in your car design?</li> <li>How fast will your car travel?</li> <li>How quickly will your car accelerate?</li> <li>Why will your car begin to decelerate – can you redesign to avoid/ lessen this?</li> </ul> Possible extensions <ul> <li>Pupils could look at friction and drive forces</li> <li>Any cars that veer have travelled diagonally and pupils could use Pythagoras to find their true distance, not just the distance from target</li> <li>What scale of elastic band would be needed to cross the school field?</li> </ul></mdoxml> 2 3 0 0 1 0 0 The Fast and the Spurious Applications potential STEM problem Applications STEM - design technology