NEW Core Takes on STEM

Every two years the 11/12 STEM core puts together a STEM Design Day, where members of the 9/10 cores are mentored by STEM students in a project day. I had the opportunity to compete on one of the teams for NEW core in a day of competition at the Sonoma County Jet Center. We would be designing a project of some sort that could safely travel from a 20 ft high balloon to a distance away on the ground. In addition, we would have to create some mechanism for releasing the device from where it was latched onto the balloon, from the ground.

We had two teams competing for NEW, and like every other team we began by brainstorming and figuring out all the different guidelines. We laid out all our supplies and tried to think of an idea that would get our project safely as far as possible. Keeping it safe was a necessity, as there was an egg inside that could not be broken. We went through a couple different ideas, but ultimately decided that a glider type object would be most capable of travelling a fair distance. The only issue would be how we could get it moving forward initially. One member of my group wanted to have a sling shot type thing, although some other members and I were very reluctant. Attaching the slingshot to the glider would not be an option, considering the force exerted by the slingshot to the glider would also be exerted in the opposite direction, not causing any forward momentum. Having the slingshot attached to the balloon would be very difficult because the rubber band would need to be positioned in a way that it would not run into the balloon or string. Additionally, a slingshot would require our glider to be exceptionally small, not allowing much room to secure the egg.

Finally we ditched this idea, and decided on a much simpler and less problematic approach. We would have a hanging platform that the plane would be hooked to, and a simple pull of a string from the ground, would unhook the plane and allow it to move forward.

That just left the structure of the glider. We knew we wanted to merge the ideas of a kite and a plane, so we created the base of a plane using various wooden sticks, and used a plastic like material over the frame, leaving it limp enough that it would catch air. The egg was held securely in styrofoam and positioned at the base of the plane.

The main issues we faced was the unequal distribution of weight. Several times we had to take apart the structure to reposition where the egg was. With it too far forward, the plane would fly nose-down and lose the opportunity to move forward. With it too far back, the plane would go through a series of back flips, ultimately ending up with a negative distance.  We added some close-line clips and corks in a variety of places to help even out the weight, and finally we got it as good as we could. During one of our test runs we managed to cover 12 feet, which was pretty good in comparison to the other projects, like the other NEW team who ended up in the unfortunate situation seen below.

Overall it was a very interesting experience, and I really liked the unique version of the egg drop. I think we wasted a fair amount of time on the slingshot idea, which could have been focused more on the development of the glider. However, it was still a neat opportunity that is certainly something NEW core could replicate in the future, regarding group competitions for STEM-like projects.