#2 Entry- The Marble Run (Techexploration on Gravitiational Energy)

Today we had to build a track for the marble to roll down but the slower it is the better.

We were given several materials such as pins, a board, straws small, medium and large-sized marbles. Using these materials we had to build a track so that the marbles could roll down slowly.

Reflection

1.    How well did the marble stay on its pathway?

The marble stayed on its path well. It did not roll of the board halfway and completed its route.

2.    How well did it turn the corners?

It turned its corners quite well too. It did not stop halfway because of barriers.

3.    How long did it take the marble to complete its journey?

It took 3 seconds to complete its journey.

4.    What was its overall speed?

Its overall speed is 3 seconds

5.    What other factors affect the performance of your marble?

The clay that we used was sticky, and the pins were used as barriers

6.    How might your design be improved?

We should have used straws instead of clay becau

se the clay made the board and the marble sticky. Furthermore, our marble rolled down really quickly as the clay did not really slow it down. We could also use the pins as barriers to slow the marble down instead. The size of the marble affected our result as well. We used the biggest marble provided, hence, it would have the most kinetic energy and this will cause it to roll down faster.

# Entry 1- The Tallest Free Standing Structure

Today, we started our integrated Science module.

The task for use was to make a structure using solely newspaper (x4 sheets), that is both tall and stable at the same time.

It was challenging as the newspaper was flimsy and it tore easily. Our end product did not work out because of several issues:
1. The gravity was not low and not in the centre
2. The surface areas for the base was too small

We were too focused on trying to make the structure tall, that we forgot to consider how stable the structure would be. This led to the downfall of our structure and it could not balance because it was too tall and leaned to one side.

However, from this experiment, I learnt how important it is to consider several factors and decide how to build the structure first before actually carrying out the actual plan.