Penny Boat
Specifics: Penny Boat Challenge
To wrap up this montage, I feel the need to brag a bit. In class we were presented with a challenge: to create a boat with tin foil to hold as many pennies as possible. Everyone was limited to a similar amount of tin foil, but some groups cheated a bit by combining two pieces. I didn’t let it discourage me, however. I hunkered down and created the optimal “boat” but maximizing for water displacement, for I knew that was the most important feature in buoyancy.
Put simply…
If I could maximize for the volume of water my boat could displace, I would also be maximizing for the amount of weight my boat could keep afloat.
Because of this, I neglected the aesthetics of my project. My classmates were highly doubtful of my “boat”, to say the least.
396 pennies!
More than 4 times the capacity of the other boats!
The big idea of this activity was “utility”. When presented with a specific challenge, don’t lose sight of the goal. Apply what knowledge you have to optimize for the objective and most importantly: trust yourself. Don’t listen to others’ comments on your project! Let the results speak for themselves.