Jake Lacey and Britt Beadle race their boats. Photo by Faith Rainey/ PISD Journalism.
Students in Kyle Lamothe’s physics course took the lesson beyond the classroom walls during the last school year when they put the science concepts to practice while they raced boats they built.
According to Lamothe, the primary topics covered during the assignment were Newton’s laws of motion and electrical circuits.
“Since it was a race, the students knew they needed the highest acceleration, and thus a high force from the motor and as low of a mass as possible,” he said. “Having a low mass is simple to think about, however, figuring out how to have the most force from the motor was a little more challenging.”
Students were given a limit of 9 volts to supply one or more motors, but most students used more than one motor and had to determine a series circuit would not supply all 9 volts to each motor.
By Jean Ann Collins • PISD Communications Coordinator • [email protected]
For the complete story see the June 29 edition or click here for the e-Edition.
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