Buoyancy Lab: Aluminum Foil Boat and Pennies



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TO SINK OR NOT TO SINK

THAT IS THE PROBLEM

INTRODUCTION

Each student will be given a piece of aluminum foil and asked to design and build a boat that will hold as much weight (as many pennies) as possible without sinking.

CONCEPT

Archimedes principle states that the magnitude of the buoyant force equals the weight of the fluid displaced by the object. The buoyant force acting on the aluminum and mass in the boat is the same as the buoyant force acting on an equivalent amount of water.

PROJECT PARAMETERS

1. You may use only the Aluminum foil piece allotted.

2. Your boat must float with the pennies loaded on for at least 5 seconds to count.

3. The more weight your boat holds without sinking, the better the design of the boat!

MATERIALS

Tub of water, One 30 cm x 30 cm square of aluminum foil, pennies, Stopwatch

PROCEDURE

1. Make a hypothesis as to how many pennies the boat will hold in the data section. Record it under the data section.

2. Using your 30 cm x 30 cm square of tin foil design your boat.

3. Describe and draw your boat design under the data section.

4. Name your boat.

5. Place it in the water.

6. Without touching your boat, add one mass to the boat at a time until the boat starts to sink. Record amount of pennies (minus the one that sank it) in the data section.

7. Clean up any spilled water on your work area. Dry off the pennies and return them to the bucket.

8. Answer the questions in the data and conclusions sections.

|Grading Rubric |Points available |Points earned |

|Hypothesis |5 | |

|Draft of boat |25 total | |

|Name |2 | |

|Drawing of boat |2 | |

|Dimensions |4 | |

|Written description & why you chose that design |15 | |

|Lab conduct |2 | |

|Conclusion |15 total | |

|Discussion of results |10 | |

|Develop a better design |5 | |

Hypothesis (needs to be in an if____, then_____ statement):

Example: If I build a tin foil boat that holds _______ pennies and it floats then ___ pennies would make it sink.

Your Hypothesis:

Data

1. My boat held ___________ pennies.

2. Name of my boat: _________________________________________________

3. Dimensions of my boat: __________________________________________

4. Drawing of boat design:

4. Description of boat design and why you chose that design.

Conclusion

1. The amount of pennies that your boat will carry before it sank was the _________________ variable because it would vary depending on the design of your boat.

a. independent b. dependent

2. The design of your boat would be your _______________ variable because it is the main variable being tested. a. independent b. dependent

3. Discuss what your data tells us. Was your hypothesis right? What conclusions you can make from the data. Support all conclusions with logic and reference the physics law that supports the data.

4. Based on your design as well as other classmates’ designs, develop a more efficient boat to hold more pennies. Explain in words as well as a diagram.

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Name _______________________________

Period _____ Score ____________

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