In my science class we just recieved a design challenge.

Build a boat made entirely out of tin-foil that will hold as many pennies as possible

but i am not sure the best way to go about this

i am only allowed to use to 30cm by 30cm pieces of tin-foil not even any tape i was wondering the best way to get as many pennies as possible

P.S. the record is 316 pennies

Do the pennies have to be above the water? or does it just have to hold them up?

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Originally posted by wj
Do the pennies have to be above the water? or does it just have to hold them up?

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Make a paper boat, but with foil and try.
* Voldemort reasearches..
edit:
http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/boatsafloat.html
won't explain properly, but the pic gives a good idea...

if some people are bored maybe they will help me test out some designs?

i was thinking of doing a canoe or a barge design but i have no idea how well they will work

quote:

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Originally posted by remember_987
if some people are bored maybe they will help me test out some designs?

i was thinking of doing a canoe or a barge design but i have no idea how well they will work

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quote:

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Originally posted by wj

quote:

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Originally posted by remember_987
if some people are bored maybe they will help me test out some designs?

i was thinking of doing a canoe or a barge design but i have no idea how well they will work

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When do you have to have it done?

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Moved to Tech Talk It's techy (design wise) and dont need all the spam.


I'll see what I can come up with, Photoshop is not cooperating with me. But I've got some ideas. Most involve pontoons or large surface area.

Get the full rules from your teacher. What defines your ship sinking? Does just taking on water define a sinking or does the entire boat actually have to be submurged? Can it be a submarine? Can the pennies be suspended in the water but the body of the boat still be above water (ala Cargo Net)

quote:

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Originally posted by wj
Moved to Tech Talk It's techy (design wise) and dont need all the spam.


I'll see what I can come up with, Photoshop is not cooperating with me. But I've got some ideas. Most involve pontoons or large surface area.

Get the full rules from your teacher. What defines your ship sinking? Does just taking on water define a sinking or does the entire boat actually have to be submurged? Can it be a submarine? Can the pennies be suspended in the water but the body of the boat still be above water (ala Cargo Net)

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hmm... I was able to get a design that would hold at least 300 pennies, I'll toy with it some more late, Gotta pick up some pennies tomorrow....

Find out about cutting it into smaller peices... I'll post some pictures tomorrow after I've tested it with real pennies and not just weights.

basically you wont the largest surface area possible...

you could prob do this by rolling up the sides or scrunching them up..

when it comes to putting the coins in display scatter them evenly using as much of the base of the foil as possible. you need to spread out evenly.

due to the Archimedes theory,  as long as the size of the water that your tin foil thing is in is large, the force of gravity on your tin foil thing will float because they should displace the same force.

(the boat's gravity against the water buoyancy = the same for it to work)

what kind of boat like a viking boat or what??

p.s just made a viking boat

The boat has to displace less then it's weight in water otherwise it wont float.

As long as weight < displacement weight it will float.


Now with that said, I built one last night that based off of the weight of pennies (arround .1 ounces) my boat could have held about 500 pennies, with just one peice of tinfoil somewhere near 30cm x 30cm. Just build a Bowl with a flat bottom and make sure when loading pennies that the weight distribution is even!

how deep is the water? if its like 10 cm deep, just make a colum taller then the water. so it would never be underwater

just pile the pennies on top and there you go!