Reverse Engineering: The reproduction of a product by carefully examining its construction and composition. This is useful when someone needs to recreate something, but the original blueprints and other data are gone or not accessible.

Functional Analysis: The analysis of the function of a product.

Structural Analysis: The analysis of the structure of a product.

Material Analysis: The analysis of the materials used to construct a product.

Manufacturing Analysis: The analysis of the process used—or necessary to—create a product.

Flowchart: A diagram used to represent the flow of a process. We used one to document the flow of the force exerted on a Nerf gun to the force exerted by it.

Force (F): In physics, force is an influence that can change the motion of an object. Force is typically measured in Newtons (N). We found that the input on a Nerf gun is force exerted on the handle, and the output is the motion of the foam bullet as it is propelled forward.

Pressure (p): The amount of force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area. Pressure is measured in Pascals (Pa).

Motion: In physics, motion is where an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion can be measured by dividing distance (d) by time (t), and is often expressed through velocity (v).

During this project, I did a good job communicating and collaborating with my team. I communicated well with my team by exchanging ideas and data regularly, which was especially helpful since there was a lot of overlap in each of our components of the project. I also collaborated well by doing my fair share of the project and completing my part, as well as supporting my group mates, especially since some of them missed a few classes.

I could have done a better job leading the team. No one really stepped up to lead our efforts, but we all worked so handsomely together that it didn't matter, and our presentation turned out very well. Even though we managed to collaborate so well, I still feel as though I could have done more to lead the team toward success. I also could have done a better job thinking critically. A lot of the research was difficult to conduct, especially when calculating the price to manufacture our Nerf gun. I ended up gathering all the data I needed—using estimations as necessary, but I still feel like I could have done a better job thinking critically to work in a manner that would have demonstrated more efficacy. Then, I would have also been able to help my team more—not that they needed much help.