Prototype Information

Mckenzie Patrick

Blueprint

RationaleIn the blueprint for my prototype, I have a balloon typed to

the inside of a plastic bowl. The balloon is then surrounded by aluminum foil (and around the outside of the bowl). On top of the balloon, there is a paper cup with tape running through the bottom of it all the way around the balloon. The plastic bowl is about 12.7 centimeters of a diameter across, and has a 7.6 centimeters diameter base. It is about 3.8 centimeters in height. The balloon has a circumference of 35 centimeters and the cup stands 5.7 centimeters tall.

I decided to use the plastic bowl to support the balloon so it doesn’t become unbalanced as much when the weights are put on the boat. I decided to use the balloon because it has a small mass and a large surface area. This allows it to displace a volume of water equal to its mass very easily. This will let it float easily. I decided to use the aluminum foil so that the parts of the bowl that the balloon does not fill can be covered. This way, the boat won’t start filling with water as soon as it starts to sink a little bit. It will cover the whole outside of the bowl so that the water doesn’t come up under the edges of the aluminum foil and start filling the bowl that way. I chose to use a paper cup to have somewhere to put the weights. I put it on the center of the balloon so that it wouldn’t become unbalanced. I ran tape through the cup and around the balloon so that the cup won’t fall over as easily when filled with more weight. I taped the balloon to the inside of the plastic bowl so that it doesn’t move and cause the cup to topple or spill over.

Data Table of Results

  Mass of

Mass the Boat Held (g)                    

 

the Boat (g)

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 Trial 6 Trial 7 Trial 8 Trial 9

Trial 10 Average

  34.9 g 12.5 12.5 10 10 15 17.5 15 20 17.5 12.5 14.25

 Qualitative

Data                      

 The boat started tipping over before any mass was added because the cup unbalanced it (was too big for the size of the bowl). For most trials, after 5 pennies were added the boat began

 tipping farther and faster. It was noted that the more waterlogged the two sides of the boat became, (evenly) the less unbalanced the boat became.