Engineering Program Investigation

College/University of interest: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Why does this institution appeal to you?: MIT has always appealed to me as being a likely contender for the school that I will end up going to after high school. Seeing how MIT is such a prestigious school that has a huge focus on engineering, it is with no doubt that I can say that I would like to go to MIT.

Which engineering program is most interesting to you and why?: The Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) at MIT is the most interesting to me because nanotechnology fascinates me. The idea that someday we could have nanotechnology applied to things such as biological modifications, or curing disease by killing bacteria with nanobots, etc. is simply something that I would love to be involved in. Considering how likely it is that nanotechnology will be a big part of our future, people will be needed to work in that, and I want to be one of those people.

Which undergraduate engineering elective is most interesting? Describe the course and its appeal to you: The Chemical-Biological Engineering Laboratory course at MIT is the most interesting to me because of its focus on hands-on engineering of things on the chemical and biological level. This could involve things such as creating nanoscale electronics, altering an organisms DNA, looking at chemical reactions close up, and so on. I have always had a passion for engineering and science, so it seems only natural that I would love this sort of laboratory.

Glider Challenge

Design Phase
1) What's the challenge?

• Create a glider out of balsa wood and tissue paper that can compete with other gliders for distance and hang time.

2) Brainstorm solutions:
-What are the rules of brainstorming? (oxymoron)

• There are no rules to brainstorming, just come up with any ideas and write them all down no matter how ridiculous they may seem.
  

-List your ideas

• "Glider" that swings back and forth for hang time
• Weighted tip for balance
• Possible heavy tip so that the heaviness can be used to get a solid throw.
• Wings and flaps covered in tissue paper.
• Multiple layers of tissue paper (preferably 2)
• Simplistic 2 wing design
• Aerodynamic design, like a conventional airplane
• Wings should stick closer to the airplane
• Arrow shape

-Sketch at least two of them




3) Specify: -Criteria

• Must fly for distance or hang time
• Glider can use materials in any way as long as it only uses the materials provided.
  

-Constraints (be specific about materials available)

• Limited time to build glider
• Only enough materials to make one glider
• Can only use glue aside from the materials given, to make glider
• Materials can't be replaced.

4) Develop Solutions: -Sketch (with labels)


5) "Prototype the Prototype" -You can only build once with your balsa/tissue paper materials. Use paper-aircraft to test your ideas. Each memeber of your team will build a paper airplane.
Paper airplanes like the one pictured have a stable flight trajectory because of their balanced weight throughout the entire plane. In order for our glider to achieve the furthest flight possible, our glider's weight must be balanced, so that's why we put the weight distribution balancer at the front.

Glider Challenge: Test Phase
Test Flight Outcome:

• Glider is much more durable than expected, but the tip is too heavy and the glider nosedives right away. Wings aren't as secure as they could be

Fixes:

• Shave off weight from the tip.
• Use more glue on the wings, make slits on the main structure on which the wings can get stuck on, glue that.

Adjustments to reach goal:

• Goal of our glider wasn't hang time, it was distance.
• In order to reach that, we tried to make sure that the tip was the heaviest it could possibly be (for ease of throw and possible distance it could travel) without it being too heavy that it would nosedive (like it did in previous tests). It took many repeated tests and fixing of the tip of the glider to finally get the right stability for our glider.
• Another problem was the wings breaking repeatedly. We had to reinforce our wings in order for them to stop breaking, typically we would glue in the place where it cracked and that would fix it but other times it required getting a whole new piece of balsa wood.

Competition Day Results

• Glider flew, but quickly nosedived because this was prior to us finding out that the tip was too heavy.
• Didn't fly far because of nosediving, fell right away so didn't win anything for hang time.

Changes I would make:

• Make sure to test design before the actual competition. Had we tested prior to the competition, we would have identified the nosedive problem and could have quickly fixed that, but it was too late.
• Make a sturdy design at first, or don't just make quick fixes that will only be temporary. The wings constantly breaking slowed down our work a lot.
  

Egg Drop Challenge - Iteration #1

This is what our egg drop design was based on, the mars lander crash bags. (We don't have a picture of our actual final design)

Total # of Achievements Earned: 24

The achievements earned are bolded.

Brainstorming
-Create a sketch of one possible solution. Include
labels.

-Create a sketch of another possible solution. Include labels.

-Create a sketch of a third possible solution. Include labels.

-Use a decision matrix to justify the approach you chose.

Material
Prep
-Generate a list of materials required for build day.
-Document a plan to ensure materials are brought in on block day.


Build Achievements

Material Size:
(your egg
is not included in the material size)
(air is ubiquitous and not included in
material size. "Rare" commodities like helium are.)
-Your materials
fit inside a printer paper box
-Your materials fit inside a shoe box
-Your materials fit inside a cigar box
-Your materials fit
inside an Altoids box

Material Weight:
(your egg is not included in
material weight)
-Your materials weigh less than 500 grams.
-Your materials weigh less than 300 grams.
-Your materials weigh less
than 200 grams.
-Your materials weigh less than 150 grams.
-Your
materials weigh less than 100 grams.
-Your materials weigh less
than 50 grams.
-Your materials weigh less than 25 grams.


Drop
Achievements

Drop Accuracy:
-You hit the butcher paper!
-You hit inside the third ring!
-You hit inside the second
ring!
-You hit inside the first ring!
-You hit the Bullseye!

Egg
Resilience:
-Your egg broke but the yolk remained intact.
-Your
egg cracked but the yolk stayed inside and intact.
-Your egg cracked but was
still together.
-Your egg didn't break in any way! (awarded three times)
-Your egg didn't break in any way! (awarded three times)
-Your egg
didn't break in any way! (awarded three times)

Egg still intact after being dropped

Calculation
Achievements
-Describe an aspect of the event using arithmetic.

-Describe an aspect of the event using geometry.

-Describe an aspect of the event using algebra.

-Describe an aspect of the event using calculus.

-Seek out additional instruction from your math teacher in support
of a Calculation Achievement.



Communicate Results Achievements
-Create promotional materials for your design.
-Model your solution
using CAD software.
-Create a multiview drawing of your CAD model.
-Dimension your multiview drawing.



Other Achievements
-Help set up the Bullseye.
-Come up with a clever name Mr. Olson uses
for an existing Achievment.
-Design an Achievement Mr. Olson approves for
next year's Egg Drop Challenge.
-Suggest a redesign to the activity that Mr
Olson confirms he will use for next year's Egg Drop Challenge.

Designs such as that of Joe and Josh (pictured below) were successful because they took into account the actual criteria, instead of making a design and then cutting corners to try to make it fit into the criteria.


Things it did right:

• Extremely light: it received all of the weight achievements.
• Safe: the egg looks and is very unlikely to break, giving you many more achievements

Things that could have been improved upon:

• Size: the solution didn't receive many of the size achievements, but made up for it with its excellence in other areas
• Accuracy: as with our original design, they chose to use a parachute. However, we found that the parachute caught the wind and made it less accurate. This design would have probably done better without the parachute.

Personal redesign ideas:

• Guiding weight: if our own design had had more weight, it would have dropped more accurately. The wind was too strong for our design and blew it off course.
• Less cotton balls: the cotton balls on the top would be unnecessary with a weight, since then you wouldn't have to worry about it dropping upside down and making the egg break. This would have allowed us to get some more size achievements.