The Team: Pranav Pannala, Andersen Teoh, Luke Venezia
For our third project of the year, our mission was to create a small 1 meter by 1 meter trebuchet that could launch a clay projectile as far as possible. We had a couple weeks to build, revise, and test our design and its capabilities. After two weeks and a half weeks of hard work, our entire class each did an experiment, in their group, on a single variable of the trebuchet design. Our group decided to test whether or not you should have a stopper for the arm, and if so where and in what position. At the very end of our project, we had to write a proof of efficacy document for our design explaining why our design worked best and providing evidence as to why.
Proof of Efficacy
Our proof of efficacy document was a very important piece of this project because it first showed the reader exactly why and how our design worked, and secondly had a simple explanation of physics and engineering, along with its process. Below is an exact copy of my specific proof of efficacy document for our project. But both Pranav and Andersen's documents will have links below if you would like to compare our different takes on this project or simply would like to see their proof of efficacy documents.
Speed/Velocity- Speed is the amount of distance an object covers in a given amount of time, and velocity is speed with a direction. They are calculated by dividing distance and time. Our car had a certain velocity as it traveled across the floor. Measured in meters per second or m/s.
Acceleration- Acceleration is the rate of change in an object's motion. It is calculated by dividing the change in velocity and the change in time. As our car started moving and sped up it accelerated.
Spring constant- the force at which a spring compresses or extends. Measured in newtons since it is a force.
Reflection
The fire away project was a very hands on a creative experience. I felt that the project was very strong overall, but all projects have their faults. One thing that I felt I did very well was participating throughout the project. This project I really decided to be more vocal with my ideas and opinions, while still being respectful to everyone, especially considering that both of my teammates where very smart, natural born leaders, and very vocal in their opinions. Another thing I feel I that I improved on from last time was my work ethic. In the last project, it was very difficult for me to stay on task, and caused a lot of problems in our group. Going into this project though my goal was to stay on task, but not be a killjoy at the same time. I feel I hit this goal right on the nose and did a really good job balancing productivity and communication in the group. Although I did improve immensely over this project, I'm still far from perfect which means there is always something to improve on. One thing that I could improve on would be my anger, I'm mostly pretty relaxed throughout a project, but when all that's happening is bickering or arguing it is quite infuriating for me to stay quite, so I tend to thrash out and take it out on the people who don't deserve it. Instead I would like to try on politely but firmly telling the individuals that the task at hand is more important, or by simply have them work it out in a respectful way. The second thing I would like to improve on, that I did poorly on during this project, would be my ability to accept critique from other people. At many instances throughout this project many well intentioned people tried to give me feedback on the project and what I could do better. I have never been really good at accepting critique from people. But i would hope for that to change in the distant future.