Hello! And welcome to another episode of what Katie did today! Today's lucky number is 120 because that is the number of pipe cleaners that I folded into six-pointed star connectors today.
The Navy Museum does this program called "Lesson in a Box" which is actually a great learning tool for home-school kids. It is a STEM program (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and it is a box that includes a lesson manual for the teacher/parent and every material that the child needs to complete 4-5 hands-on activities. Pretty cool right? I think so.
So Claire, one of the other interns at the museum is working on one of these lessons. We're actually going to use it with the engineering summer camp later on this summer. She's building a Geodesic dome. If you don't know what that is, here's a picture.
The Navy Museum does this program called "Lesson in a Box" which is actually a great learning tool for home-school kids. It is a STEM program (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and it is a box that includes a lesson manual for the teacher/parent and every material that the child needs to complete 4-5 hands-on activities. Pretty cool right? I think so.
So Claire, one of the other interns at the museum is working on one of these lessons. We're actually going to use it with the engineering summer camp later on this summer. She's building a Geodesic dome. If you don't know what that is, here's a picture.
And another one.
And here's a famous one.
So geo-domes are really cool because they are being used as housing options in third-world countries and they look supermegafoxyawesomehot. It's a great sort of mini project for an engineering camp. Only problem, well let's say that scotch tape doesn't like becoming round. It was super hard to keep the dome's structure with tape because there are often times six different spokes connecting at the same point.
So Plan B. Use pipe cleaners, twisted into six-, five-, and four-point connectors. It started working really well, until about the fourth level when we started to realize that the weight of the structure was driving the base outwards. Because the straws weren't really connected to the pipe cleaners, they were breaking apart and the dome was failing around level three. NOT GOOD.
This took Claire Monday and Tuesday to figure out (it takes A LONG TIME to make these intricate suckers). Today I started helping her because I was idle this morning while the archaeologists had meetings in a five-sided black hole. We quickly determined that we needed some sort of support around the base while we were building the dome, that could then be taken away once the structure was in place and there was an equal amount of force being exerted on all sides. I suggested a hoola-hoop. Unfortunately, all we had were kiddie hoops, which were too small for the structure. Back to the drawing board.
After lunch,we went on a search of the museum, but unfortunately using one of the antique helms was out of the question. So we made a hoop out of paper strips and began anew. And it worked! We made it to the very last pentagon and snipped the paper hoop and voila! We even got a picture with it. And then we called in our boss, Karin.
Geo-domes are supposed to be able to handle weight. IN THEORY. But ours was made out of pipe cleaners and plastic straws. So you could lift the thing up as a whole, but no weight. Karin didn't know this...so the first thing she does is ask if it can hold weight and plops her hand right on top of the center. Before Claire EVEN HAS A CHANCE TO ANSWER, the structural integrity fails and a wide crack opens up in the side of the dome. It's still standing, but we dare not touch it to fix it. So there goes that plan.
Tomorrow we begin plan C, which involves longer connectors. Hopefully with longer pipe cleaners, more friction and support can be applied to the inside of the straws and the structure will be more stable. It still WILL NOT BE LOAD BEARING...but it might be able to stand for more than five seconds...
So let's tally it up.
Four days...
Two interns...
230 pipe cleaners...
330 straws...
1750 cm squared of paper...
We hope that tomorrow will yield this...
So Plan B. Use pipe cleaners, twisted into six-, five-, and four-point connectors. It started working really well, until about the fourth level when we started to realize that the weight of the structure was driving the base outwards. Because the straws weren't really connected to the pipe cleaners, they were breaking apart and the dome was failing around level three. NOT GOOD.
This took Claire Monday and Tuesday to figure out (it takes A LONG TIME to make these intricate suckers). Today I started helping her because I was idle this morning while the archaeologists had meetings in a five-sided black hole. We quickly determined that we needed some sort of support around the base while we were building the dome, that could then be taken away once the structure was in place and there was an equal amount of force being exerted on all sides. I suggested a hoola-hoop. Unfortunately, all we had were kiddie hoops, which were too small for the structure. Back to the drawing board.
After lunch,we went on a search of the museum, but unfortunately using one of the antique helms was out of the question. So we made a hoop out of paper strips and began anew. And it worked! We made it to the very last pentagon and snipped the paper hoop and voila! We even got a picture with it. And then we called in our boss, Karin.
Geo-domes are supposed to be able to handle weight. IN THEORY. But ours was made out of pipe cleaners and plastic straws. So you could lift the thing up as a whole, but no weight. Karin didn't know this...so the first thing she does is ask if it can hold weight and plops her hand right on top of the center. Before Claire EVEN HAS A CHANCE TO ANSWER, the structural integrity fails and a wide crack opens up in the side of the dome. It's still standing, but we dare not touch it to fix it. So there goes that plan.
Tomorrow we begin plan C, which involves longer connectors. Hopefully with longer pipe cleaners, more friction and support can be applied to the inside of the straws and the structure will be more stable. It still WILL NOT BE LOAD BEARING...but it might be able to stand for more than five seconds...
So let's tally it up.
Four days...
Two interns...
230 pipe cleaners...
330 straws...
1750 cm squared of paper...
We hope that tomorrow will yield this...
But with our track record so far it probably will end like this...
Cross your fingers. No matter what, tomorrow should be interesting, and there's a 99.99999% chance of more pipe cleaners in my future. Haha, and we're expecting 6 year-olds to be able to do this...
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