Walsh
Kevin's piles more mass on his boat as Rose watches on. His design held the most mass with 3200 g.Float your Boat!
Freshmen study Archimedes and buoyancy
by Sara Walsh
April 08, 2008
A sponge? A soup bowl? A food tray? A hot glued or duct-taped contraption of straws, bottles, and cans? All these were ideas that the physical science students brought in when trying to make their boat float. Students were to create a boat that would hold at least 50g of mass while floating.
Easy, right? It was a little tougher than they had anticipated. Students had to use the principles of buoyancy, including surface area, even weight distribution, and method to prevent water uptake. After all the boats had been tested, they were evaluated for similarities and differences in achieving the goal of floating. The plastic bottles and aluminum can devices worked the best however it was surprising how much something as simple as a yellow sponge or a styrofoam food tray worked.
Though 50 g was the lowest level of mass that each could hold, students added more to see who could hold the most. Kevin's boat came in first holding 3200 g. In second place was Anthony with 2300g, and in third was Allen with 2075.
