3. Rationale
In 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
4. Data Table of Results
Mass of
Mas
s
the
Boa
t
Hel
d
(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.
