Do It Better

Setup:

For this project me and two others decided to build a rope swing. The first thing we had to do was find a way spot to put the swing. We finally found a spot in my teammate's backyard on a tree that was about twenty feet up. We then put a rope up and around the tree. We did this by tying the end of the rope to a water bottle and throwing it over the tree branch. We tested out to make sure that the tree had enough strength to hold us up .

Building:

We got a piece of wood and sawed it to be the right length and then drilled holes in each of the four corners. Then we put both of the ropes through each of the holes and measured the height before we tied the knots. After we got the height right we dug down in the dirt to create a little path of where the swing was and then mounded up the dirt so we could start the swing.

Velocity and Force

To find the force of the swing as it bottoms out, I used the pendulum force equation, F = mg sinθ. We were able to find the starting angle with tools such as a protractor and proportioned diagrams of the swing. We used our average weight, 150 pounds, or 70.3 kilograms, as the mass. After solving, the force at the bottom of the swing was found to be about 344.5 Newtons.

To find the velocity forward, we used footage of one of us using the swing from the highest point. Using a combination of conversions and the velocity formula, V=d/t, we were able to find that the highest velocity that the swing reached was about 1.524 meters per second.

Reflection

While creating the swing, the group and I were faced with some unexpected challenges. Because this was the first STEM project we did away from school and without a driving force, our group struggled on what it was that we would work on. Without someone telling us else what to do, we had to create an idea on our own. The idea of the swing came from a friend, who was working on a swing for his own project. With our project in mind, we had to work with two different “c’s”. We were forced to show critical thinking while searching for the perfect tree, and we also had to use collaboration on all parts of the project. Honestly, one of the harder tasks of the project was finding a tree. Where would we find a good, non-rotten tree? We searched up a hill, as we knew we wanted to find a large slope, to make the swing lift of the ground father then it originally could. Eventually we found a tree in one of our backyards. However, there was an excessive amount of dirt blocking where we were going to be swinging, which we would later have to move. Using collaboration, we each had to work on different parts of the project to get it working. Darius worked on the seat, I worked on the ropes, Kash worked on a raised platform, and we all worked digging out the dirt that would have rubbed up against the seat. In doing this we showed an ability to use critical thinking and collaboration to create a pretty awesome swing.

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