Spaghetti Tower!
Group Analysis:
Our first AP Physics project/challenge was to get into a group of three students and construct a tower that comes to the height of 80 centimeters. The materials we were given to construct the tower were raw spaghetti sticks, blue painters tape, and marshmallows which were later added. The catch was we had to build the tower on a $500 budget. Each spaghetti stick was $10 each, tape was also $10 each per 1 cm, and we could switch out either a piece of tape or a spaghetti stick for a marshmallow.
After much deliberation about ideas and how much to spend on each item we finally came up with a plan to construct as shown below. After all our calculations we were to purchase 33 pieces of spaghetti which is $330 and 13 cm of tape which is $130. After we got our construction plan approved we got our items and went back to our seat and started construction!
Once we started our construction we discovered that our original plan would not work. The full length spaghetti sticks would not hold up our whole tower so we had to compromise and use half length sticks to support the tower as the base as shown below.
We decided to use our extra tape and put it top use. We intertwined full length sticks through the middle to provide even more stability. This idea worked perfectly. Unfortunately, we did not reach the goal of 80 cm, we reached 60 cm. What I liked about our design was it was creative and different. Not too many other teams intertwined sticks together in the middle. What I dislike was the amount of time we were given, and how we didn't reach 80 cm. The biggest challenge we faced was putting the the top base on. We overcame it by teamwork and all holding a piece up. If i could redesign the tower I would make triangles in the sides so it would be more stable.
Self Evaluation:
I felt motivated throughout the whole project and had a fun time doing it. I never wanted to give up because we were always making progress with our tower. Our design is similar to the other groups because of the cube shaped bases. The intertwining though was very unique to our group. If I could add a material to the project it would be gummy bears because they would be an improvement from the marshmallow because they would not melt. My contribution to the group was assisting in the planning and construction of our tower. Our final tower is down below.
We decided to use our extra tape and put it top use. We intertwined full length sticks through the middle to provide even more stability. This idea worked perfectly. Unfortunately, we did not reach the goal of 80 cm, we reached 60 cm. What I liked about our design was it was creative and different. Not too many other teams intertwined sticks together in the middle. What I dislike was the amount of time we were given, and how we didn't reach 80 cm. The biggest challenge we faced was putting the the top base on. We overcame it by teamwork and all holding a piece up. If i could redesign the tower I would make triangles in the sides so it would be more stable.
Self Evaluation:
I felt motivated throughout the whole project and had a fun time doing it. I never wanted to give up because we were always making progress with our tower. Our design is similar to the other groups because of the cube shaped bases. The intertwining though was very unique to our group. If I could add a material to the project it would be gummy bears because they would be an improvement from the marshmallow because they would not melt. My contribution to the group was assisting in the planning and construction of our tower. Our final tower is down below.
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