d 3 - with s e p t y 25 o t o r P n w PROJECTS O r u o Y d u il B d n a n g s i e D BUILD IT Vicki V. May SERIES Illustrated by Andrew Christensen ~ Latest science titles in the Build It Yourself Series ~ Check out more titles at www.nomadpress.net Nomad Press A division of Nomad Communications 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Copyright © 2015 by Nomad Press. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review or for limited educational use. The trademark “Nomad Press” and the Nomad Press logo are trademarks of Nomad Communications, Inc. ISBN Softcover: 978-1-61930-315-7 ISBN Hardcover: 978-1-61930-311-9 Illustrations by Andrew Christensen Educational Consultant, Marla Conn Questions regarding the ordering of this book should be addressed to Nomad Press 2456 Christian St. White River Junction, VT 05001 www.nomadpress.net CONTE NTS Introduction Engineering Design . . . 1 Chapter 1 Stiff, Strong, and Stable . . . 11 Chapter 2 Everything Is Spinning . . . 28 Chapter 3 Staying Afloat and Aloft . . . 40 Chapter 4 Quite the Reaction . . . 55 Chapter 5 Making Music . . . 70 Chapter 6 Electrifying Devices . . . 82 Chapter 7 Energy Converters . . . 92 Chapter 8 Design and Build Prototypes . . . 105 Glossary | Metric Conversions | Resources Essential Questions | Index Interested in primary sources? Look for this icon. Use a smartphone or tablet app to scan the QR code and explore more about engineering! You can find a list of URLs on the Resources page. If the QR code doesn’t work, try searching the Internet with the Keyword Prompts to find other helpful sources. 3-D engineering Introduction ENGINEERING DESIGN What are some of the things you use every day? How were they made? How do they work? How did the ink get inside your pen? How do the gears shift on your bike? How do we get the electricity you use for lights and television? Engineers design products used by people all over the world. These products include cars, toys, buildings, movie animation, computers, iPhones, water filters, medical procedures and turbines. devices, and wind Just about everything that’s built was designed by an engineer! gear: a rotating part with teeth. turbine: a machine with blades turned engineer: someone who uses science, math, by the force of 1 and creativity to design products or processes water, air, or steam. to meet human needs or solve problems. 3 d - technology: tools, methods, and systems used to solve a Engineers apply math, science, and problem or do work. technology to solve problems and meet scientific principle: a rule goals. What would you like to design that explains a natural action and build? Guidelines for designing and that can be tested. building a tower of raw spaghetti strands product: an item, such as a strong enough to hold a marshmallow book or clothing, that is made and sold to people. can be found at the end of the chapter. process: an activity What other design ideas do you have? that takes several steps to The line between engineering and complete. science can often be blurry. But prototype: a working scientific model or mock-up that allows scientists tend to discover new engineers to test their solution. principles and engineers apply science and math so they can design and build products processes new and . For example, Isaac Newton “Scientists investigate that which already is; discovered the laws of motion engineers create that which has never been.” and Henry Ford applied those —Albert Einstein laws to design automobiles. A Swiss mathematician named Daniel Bernoulli discovered the principle of lift in the 1700s and the Wright brothers used this principle to design an airplane. Scottish scientist James Clerk did you know? Maxwell discovered electricity Post-it notes were the result and magnetism, which Thomas of a failed experiment. Dr. Edison applied when he Spencer Silver, a scientist designed the light bulb. at 3M, set out to create a super-strong adhesive. One What does it mean to of his “failed” prototypes design? The design process turned out to be the pressure-sensitive adhesive involves a few different steps. now used in Post-it notes. 2 Engineering Design ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS Ask questions Redefine or Brainstorm to clarify finalize ideas the goal the goal Identify the design goal Choose an idea Test the prototype and identify problems/new goal Design a prototype 1 4 Brainstorm Identify the design goal. ways to 2 meet the goal. Ask questions to clarify 5 the goal and make it Choose one of the more clear. alternatives. 3 6 Redefine the goal based Design and prototype. on the answers to your 7 Test your prototype. questions. 8 Redesign. While you probably don’t realize it, you are designing something when you draw a picture, build with Legos, and even when you put together your outfit for the day. Let’s look closely at all the steps of the design process. You’ll find examples of these steps in the red type. 1 Identify the Goal. The first step is to identify your design goal. Are you trying to solve a problem, improve a product or process, or meet a need? redefine: to define differently or think about Let’s design a box to carry school a problem in a new way. supplies. Throughout the design process, brainstorm: to think you’ll refine your design goal. creatively and without 3 judgment, often in a group of people. 3 d - 2 Question. During this step of the design process, ask questions to better understand the needs of the user. Maybe you need to conduct research, collect information, observe and interview users, or investigate what has been done before. The more information you can gather, the better. What school supplies do you need to carry? What size does the box need to be? Does it need to be a box? Would a bag or some other type of container work better? Does it need to be portable? 3 Redefine the Goal. Once you have asked questions and gathered additional information, you might need to redefine the goal. Make sure your goal is clear and achievable. You won’t be able to design an appropriate solution if you don’t understand the goal. This redefined goal is clearer and includes information from the questioning phase. Design a way to store and easily transport four to six pencils, a pencil sharpener, and a large eraser. The case does not need to be lockable, but does need to be easy to carry and easy to open. The length of a typical pencil is 7½ inches. “Design is not just what it looks and feels like. Design is how it works.” Be sure to measure your supplies —Steve Jobs, founder of Apple before building your case! 4 Engineering Design 4 Brainstorm. During the brainstorming phase, come up with LOTS of ideas, including crazy ones, and write them down. You may choose to brainstorm alone or in a group. If you brainstorm with a group, be sure to be positive about all ideas, encourage craziness, and don’t judge. • A custom-sized wooden or cardboard box • A pouch into which the pencils and did you know? supplies may be rolled and tied Engineers design and build • A piece of pipe or bamboo or other roller coasters and other tube with one end blocked and a rides in amusement parks. removable covering on the other end The Millennium Force roller coaster is more than 300 feet • Skip the pouch or box altogether and high with cars that travel simply tie or Velcro the supplies into more than 90 miles per your backpack hour on the roller coaster. Fabulous Fabric Fabric may not seem like a traditional engineering material, but many engineering systems use fabric-like material. Fabric has been used as sails on sailboats, roofs of buildings, water filters, and biomedical devices. The roof of the Denver International Airport is built of a fabric-type material. 5 3 d - simultaneously: at the same time. 5 Select Alternatives. Remember your design goal? Do all of your ideas meet that goal? You might have to carefully evaluate the pros and cons of different ideas to decide which ones to try. Always record your reasons for selecting different alternatives in your design journal. Select a pencil case design made out of a piece of bamboo with a piece of fabric over the top because it sounds like a pretty unique solution and meets your design goal. Also select a fabric pouch, because it will be a lightweight and a flexible solution. 6 Design and Build a Prototype. Sketch out different design ideas and build a prototype. Building prototypes is a critical part of the design process. It’s a good idea to build lots of models as early in the process as possible. These models don’t need to be fancy—they can be made out of paper and tape or other easy-to- find materials. Designing and prototyping should happen simultaneously . The best designs occur after a lot of prototyping. Rather than spend hours and hours making your design drawings perfect, jump in and build a prototype! For your first pencil box prototypes, use paper to experiment with shapes and designs, switching to scraps of fabric as you refine your design. Experiment with fabric coverings for a bamboo case, pouches with pencils rolled inside, pouches with flaps, and pouches with zippers. Instead of using a real zipper in the initial prototypes, try tape. 6