Today was sad. First, Maya wasn’t here.😢😢

Second, the seesaw just wouldn’t/ couldn’t do it’s task well.😢😢😢 I wouldn’t give up on it though, not so fast. I had an idea that could work. Mr. Toiletrolly would knock down a structure made from Jenga,  and that would set of the see- saw. Nope.😢 Then I thought we could put conditions in the see-saw’s favor. Nope.😢 I started to realize the see-saw wasn’t good enough, so I thought of using a ramp. I tried hard on that, but after all my efforts…, nope. It was right then that I realized that the seesaw was better. But, sadly, it wouldn’t work, the current one. So we made a new one. Then we found out a way to make further steps work. Nothing big. Then, after 15+ minutes of bricks and columns and breaking, we had a ramp for the wheel. We needed it for the wheel had like 0 power or something like that.

Photos:

PS: Don’t scroll to different photos, please!👍👍👍👍

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPO20YUQ8IGe_oewuBdX-BWV8qvV4tSPIgpQBrBTQsDUDNABft-3MfWYGwlrWwBPg/photo/AF1QipPlLOeruIAzX9D1SSK23oT4x38WsaHambLw0Lxz?key=UHlFWkhMcUlJaHJZN3JzYXFHbGc1NEhhQ0h3MUh3 

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPO20YUQ8IGe_oewuBdX-BWV8qvV4tSPIgpQBrBTQsDUDNABft-3MfWYGwlrWwBPg/photo/AF1QipPlLOeruIAzX9D1SSK23oT4x38WsaHambLw0Lxz?key=UHlFWkhMcUlJaHJZN3JzYXFHbGc1NEhhQ0h3MUh3

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPO20YUQ8IGe_oewuBdX-BWV8qvV4tSPIgpQBrBTQsDUDNABft-3MfWYGwlrWwBPg/photo/AF1QipPlLOeruIAzX9D1SSK23oT4x38WsaHambLw0Lxz?key=UHlFWkhMcUlJaHJZN3JzYXFHbGc1NEhhQ0h3MUh3

Yesterday, we had a lot of success.

We worked on steps 1-4/ 1-5, and made sure they could work.

First, step one. Our Googling dad came up with an idea. The 1st step would be the 2nd, and a entirely new step would replace it. We would hold onto a ball tied to a camera stand ( of my mom’s) and it will hit a ball. That sounded sick and worked, so we used it. The ball would knock domino’s, which push a car, which topples a tower. Well, except that it doesn’t work out so easy. The car hadn’t the power to knock the tower. So we had to elevate the car (see blog post 3) to hit “toiletrolly”‘s weak spot, near the top. Then a frustrating hour and a half led to a 2nd design. For what, I hear you ask? Well, the domino’s are going to hit each other in the bottom of them while going up Lego stairs, and the top one is going to hit the car which is positioned on a smooth ledge, and it is going to roll into the top of the tower.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-sJlbTwKOKUa0F6b3dQeW1CWElhNFVpUHFmUWNLRkpwSy1J/view

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-sJlbTwKOKUM3diNWxrTWlRS2VJUm51bWRmNS04UjVpRnNJ/view

PS:The video might not have loaded yet. Don’t know why. Sorry! 🙁

Something tiny but exiting just happened! And I mean like 5 minutes ago! I found something that would save us a heck load ‘a time!

You know how we were planning to have a tower in the fourth and 5th steps? Well, originally, we were going to make it our self, and that would’ve taken maybe an hour or two. But guess what? I found one just perfect! Nice, slim, and cardboard! That’s one hundred percent of our requirements! Maya, if you can, stay up to date with my blog posts, ’cause they could hold very precious info that you may need to know.

Today wasn’t the most successful day ever, but we still got stuff done.

All we really got to do was the see-saw that was at the center of one of my worries. This was because we were at Maya’s, and the building would have to be done at mine as all the rest of the construction already done is at mine, and the final thing is going to be staged mine as well. Well, back to what we did. We made the see-saw out of two four by four Lego blocks, one two by two Lego block and two layers of cardboard. We searched around Maya’s dad’s Lego looking for a three by two block because that was what we originally planed to use. But then, I realized that it wasn’t large enough so I constructed a more stable, and larger model with the two by two supporting the four by two bricks and creating a more productive fulcrum. Then, after seemingly along time of work, we managed to cut out the two cardboard planks, and after even more time we actually got it entirely taped.

Then, we had to test one major part of my worry. Would the see-saw hold up the coin, when on it’s base, even when there is a imbalance on how much is on each side. And, to my relief, it did. About 3/4 of it was on the side responsible for holding up the dime.

With the next meeting next Tuesday, I have one solvable worry that I think we are going to have to thoroughly test. If you can, Maya, please read this before the next meeting on Tuesday. my concern is on the necessary weight to accomplish tasks. As you know, we are using a coin and two layers of cardboard for the seesaw. In order to be able to tip this, we are going to need strong cardboard. However, I fear that the car won’t have enough force to topple the tower.

If it isn’t, one solution would be to make the car roll down a slope and then hit the tower, and that would have enough power to knock the tower.

Another would be making the car fall of a cliff. But here’s the shock. It won’t land on the tower. It will be taped onto the tower, so once it goes over the tower will be pulled along and will land on the see-saw below.

Maya, if you could blog in response and write your opinion, that would be great.

It was very intriguing to start on this project. I had no idea how much experimenting and logic had to be done and used even before we even started with our full plan. We spent about a hour on coming up with what would should work and what and what wouldn’t to get to a sense of what we would do. At first I thought this would be the most stressful part of the process, but it turned out to be fun, with us just playing around with loads of toys. After that oddly fun part, it was time to put pen to paper. This was um, oddly stressful! While we were doing full sketch #1, I started wishing that we had 9 steps instead of 8, so we added it to the plan. Then we agreed that it wasn’t neat enough so we did a second. Maya did the 2nd, while I did vigorous testing of it would actually work bit by bit, and what we tested worked. I also had major difficulty making a Lego set of stairs that would not only support the ball and allow it to go down smoothly, but even harder, to make it support itself! Almost as soon as we were done, another frustrating thing came up… #2 missed a step! I felt like this was the most infuriating thing ever, this part! Luckily, #3 was nailed. That was a big relief. here is our sketch that is ready to be submitted: http://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-sJlbTwKOKUY3plR0hWZ1RZM3dMaHlMM1ByYXpjV2ktbXRz/view

I feel that we were unexpectedly successful and I have a sense of what it is like very different to what I originally thought, and it is more different to rocketry than I thought as well!