— Day 1 — Day 2 — Day 3 — Day 4 — Day 5 —
Summary:
Today, we started off with a brief discussion of the science behind yesterday’s egg drop. We mentioned all three of Newton’s Laws, but in particular, we focused on his second law: f=ma. We discussed how, in order to minimize the amount of force that our eggs experienced, there were only two possible strategies. The first was to reduce the mass; but there was a limit to how light our landers could be, given that they had to include a 55 gram egg. The second strategy was to reduce the acceleration. Slowing down the egg slowly, and at a low cost, was the key to winning the Martian Lander Project.
After this discussion, students began typing the final drafts of their lab reports. They followed the same format as the rough draft (posted below), so their reports must include the same five sections: introduction, design, budget, results, and conclusions. They will finish their reports tomorrow.
Resources:
September 27-29 – Martian Lander Report (pg118).docx