Jack Galvin 1/26/14 Slot G Ben Leit, Sydney Loh, Emmanuel Garcia

Penny Boat Buoyancy

Purpose: The purpose of this lab was to design and build an aluminium foil boat that will carry the most number of pennies. This is to test the property of buoyancy.

Hypothesis: If the bottom of the boat is strengthened by doubling the foil and increasing the height of the sides, then the boat will hold the maximum amount of pennies because the bottom will be less likely to rip, and water will be less likely to overflow into the boat.

Variables: Independent: The design of the boat Dependent: The amount of pennies the boat can hold Control Variables: The thickness of the aluminum, the density of water, the liquid the boat floated in, amount of tin foil used to build boat, brand of tin foil, stillness of water

Materials: 100 pennies five 6 x 6 squares of aluminum foil 1 large bucket tap water

 1 towel (for emergencies)

Procedure: 1. A bucket was half-filled with tap water. 2. Each scientist made his or her own boat to find the build that was most effective 3. Each boat was tested by being placed in water and having pennies placed in it until it sank. was there a specific way to place the pennies? 4. The scientists collaborated to take the most successful aspects from each boat and combined them into one final boat. well said! a. Start with one 6 by 6 aluminum foil square b. Make a pleat across the center of aluminum foil square c. Fold all of the sides up about 1 inch d. Smooth the corners in 5. The boats were tested by floating them in water and placing pennies in them until they sank. 6. Each group of scientists tested their final boat, while comparing their results to the other groups results.

Results: In the first group, the first scientists boat held 20 pennies. The second scientists boat held 24 pennies. The third scientists boat held 20 pennies. The final scientists boat held 28 pennies. observations about penny placement, etc. during test?

Scientist

Number of Pennies Floated

First(Jack) Second(Emmanuel) Third(Sydney) Last(Ben) Figure 1: Group 1 individual testing

20 24 20 28

The first groups boat held the most number of pennies at 48. The second groups boat held the second most number of pennies at 47. The third groups boat held the least number of pennies at 27. In the final test, the first groups boat was the most succes sful out of all the groups designs. again, observations during testing? Group Name Group 1(Jack, Ben, Sydney, Emmanuel) Group 2 (Albert, Young Se, Charles, Lauren) Group 3(Will, Nick, Mila) Number of Pennies Floated 48 47

27 Figure 2: results table and final scores

I wouldnt include thisyou already put this in a more professional presentation above

Figure 3: The final boats for groups one, two and three from left to right make sure to reference this figure in paragraph

Discussion: The purpose of the lab was to design an aluminum foil boat that would float the most number of pennies. The first group thought that thickening the bottom of the boat and heightening the sides of the boat would allow the boat to carry the most pennies. To test this, the members of the first group each tested their own boats to find the most effective design. They then collaborated to combine the most effective parts of the designs into one final boat. Initially, the aluminum floated on water because it had a lower density than the water, meaning the aluminum foil was buoyant. Then, as pennies were added to the boat, and the density of the boats volume increased until the density became higher than the waters, which is when the boat sank. is the aluminum actually less dense, or is the way its folded make the overall structure less dense than the water?

transition Sources of error in the lab could be a scientist dropping a penny in too quickly, which would cause the boat to sink prematurely. Also, a scientist could have accidentally knocked into the boat, which would also cause it to sink. Another source of error would be dropping a penny into the boat too early before the previous penny had sat for the required two seconds. To eliminate sources of error, the lab could be performed by a machine, so that pennies are not accidentally dropped, the boat is not accidentally knocked into, and pennies are dropped in at the correct time. these should be explained somewhere- what actually happened? The winning boat design showed that having high sides and a thick bottom will help the boat hold more pennies. This shows that a boat with a sturdy bottom will be able to carry more weight. Having higher sides will make it harder for water to overflow into the boat. From this lab, scientists can learn certain properties about what makes cargo ships float. The boats floated longer when they had a reinforced bottom, and higher sides, which is also true for real cargo ships. Also, each boat has a maximum amount of weight it can hold before it sinks. To improve upon the final design of the boat, the sides could have been made higher, and the bottom of the boat could have been made thicker, to help the boat hold more weight.

Conclusion: The hypothesis was accepted because the boat with the highest sides and the thickest bottom held the most pennies. what would you do differently next time?

I uphold the Newark Academy Honor Code: X________________________________

Jack, Overall, nice job! You have good ideas, but I would like to see more detail explaining these ideas and observations. Keep up the good work! 90