Tug-of-War Project

James Myers & Chris Hoffman

Questions

1. Will fat people or skinny people win in tug-of-war?

2. Is tug of war affected if it is played in water? 

3. If there was no gravity what would happen in the game of tug-or-war?

4. If the ground on one side was made out of ice and the other side was made out of solid ground, how would it affect the game and who would win?

5. If the texture of the rope was different how would it affect the game?

Focus Question

If the ground on one side was made out of ice and the other side was made out of solid ground, how would it affect the game and who would win?

 

Hypothesis

         We feel that if one side of the ground is made out of ice and the other side is made out of solid ground, the team that is on the ground made out ice will lose because they will have less friction to help them pull against the other team. This is because the ice ground is slick compared to the solid ground.

Explore and Investigate

We researched this question on the internet and ever site said that the team on the ice will lose because they do have less friction than the other team. We also went to the ice skating rink on Westminster and walked on the ice with our shoes, and found out that it is very slick and difficult to walk let alone play tug-of-war on ice. 

Here you can see that the force of both sides is the same, yet the side on the ice is losing because they have less ground friction as you can see by the smaller arrow.

Answer

We think that the team on the ice will lose becuase they have less friction. This is because, like Newtons First Law states that something in motion will stay in motion, the team on ice will continue to slide on the ice because they wont be able to stop their motion of being pulled by the other team.  The only thing that would stop thier motion would be an obstacle or a change in friction from the slick surface to surface that has much more friction.

Reflect

a) James Myers

b) I learned that things in real life all relate to Newtons laws and can be put to the test to find out if they work or not.  Also that tug of war is much more than two teams pulling against each other, yet has much to do with physics and the laws by which we cant control.

c) I wrote and made the whole blog.

d)Yes because our group had to do a lot of research becuase we do not have ice all over the place in huntington beach. 

Free Fall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6-AxMc9mig

1. I chose this video because it is an easy way to understand free fall and is described in a clear concise way that I can understand.  Also he go through the free fall equations with you so you understand how to solve them.

2. This video makes it better than others because he goes slow and explains how to solve all free fall equations.  He adds in and explains what he is doing to solve free fall equations rather than just doing the problem without explaining.  He explains what every variable or letter means in the problem and what is needed to solve it.

3. If I were to make a video I would do it similar to this video.  This is because i would be able to show the viewer how to do the free fall problem and also explain how I am doing it at the same time.  This gives someone a verbal and visual description of what free fall is and how to solve free fall problems.

Spaghetti Tower

                                                               Group Evaluation:

3. 84 centimeters
4. What I like about our design is how we have a a strong base and our straight point of spaghetti sticks to get past 80 cm.  What I dislike about our design is how we needed support sticks to keep the tower straight and the triangular center.
5. The biggest challenge we faced was getting the straight point of sticks to stay straight and not lean over. We were able to overcome this problem by adding some tape to the sticks in which kept them sturdy and straight.
6. If we had a chance to redesign our tower, I would change our triangular base and center into a square one to help support the structure more.

Self Evaluation:

1. During this activity I did feel stressed because this was not an easy task.  Sometimes I was stressed on getting the structure to stay standing, other times I was stressed on finishing in time.  No, I never wanted to give up because I was very determined to finish this tower and get it above 80 cm.  With ever spaghetti stick i was closer and closer to finishing which made me want to complete this task rather than give up.
2. Our design is some what similar to others in the room by how it has a base that is a triangle and it also has other spaghetti sticks leading to a second.  It is different by how it has a straight point to the top of our tower.
3. If I could add one more material to the mix, I would add super glue to help glue marshmallows together and spaghetti sticks to marshmallows.
4. My contribution to the group was being the architect and building the tower.

Spaghetti sticks- 16 = 160$

Tape- 20cm.= 200$

Total $= 360$