Complete at least Requirements 1 and 2. Requirements 3 and 4 are optional.

1. Pick one type of engineer. With the help of the Internet, your local library, or an engineer, discover three things that describe what that engineer does. (To use the Internet, be sure that you have a current Cyber Chip or that you have permission from your Webelos den leader, parent, or guardian.) Share your findings with your Webelos den.

2. Learn to follow engineering design principles by doing the following:

3. Explore other fields of engineering and how they have helped form our past, present, and future.

4. Pick and do two projects using the engineering skills you have learned. Share your projects with your den, and also exhibit them at a pack meeting.

Complete Materials List

Craft Stick Launcher

You can build a simple machine with craft sticks to launch paper balls and other soft projectiles.

Materials: ☐ 10 craft sticks, ☐ 4 rubber bands, ☐ plastic spoon, ☐ Paper

Directions:

1. Stack five craft sticks together. Secure them at each end with a rubber band.

2. Wedge the sixth craft stick in between the bottom stick and the rest of the stack. Stick it out on one side about an inch.

3. Place the plastic spoon on top of the single craft stick - handle of the spoon meeting the smaller part on the single craft stick.

4. Secure the handle and the stick with the third rubber band.

5. To use the launcher, put a crumpled up paper ball on the spoon, pull the spoon down as far as you can, and then release it.

6. Does changing the design by adding more popsicle sticks or adjusting where the spoon is placed affect the accuracy or power of your catapult?

Aerospace engineers design aircraft and spacecraft. Among the challenges they face is making vehicles that are light enough to take off but also safe enough to carry humans. A stomp rocket is a fun way to test aerodynamics, which is the study of the effects of air on items in motion.

Mini Stomp Rocket (from babbledabbledo.com - https://babbledabbledo.com/juicy-diy-stomp-rockets/)

3. Launch

   • Inflate the juice pouch by blowing into the flexible straw.

   • Slide the rocket over the launcher.

   • Bend the straw to aim the rocket up.

   • Place the juice pouch on the ground and stomp!

Architectural engineers design amazing buildings and other structures—some reach a half-mile high! Ancient engineers built amazing structures, too, without using modern machines. The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt contains 2.3 million stones weighing 2 to 30 tons each! The builders used a block and tackle to lift very heavy objects that would otherwise not be movable.

One type of block and tackle works by using two pulleys to lift a weight. You thread a rope through the pulleys, and attach a weight to the bottom. You then pull on the other end of the rope. Because of the pulleys, you can lift a weight of 100 pounds by exerting just 25 pounds of force. Pretty cool!

Want to see how they built them? Watch:

Engineering Stability Challenge

Materials: ☐ 100 index cards

Challenge: Using only 100 index cards see how tall of a freestanding tower you can build.

• You can fold, tear, crumple, etc.

• You cannot use tape, glue, or scissors

Civil engineers design bridges, roads, tunnels, and other structures. Part of their job is planning for the different forces that will affect what they build. These forces include torsion (the twisting that happens when wind hits a building) and load (such as the weight of cars and trucks crossing a bridge). Sometimes they account for these forces by making a structure flexible. Sometimes they account for these forces by transferring them to other parts of the structure.

To find out how engineers build safe bridges watch:

Electrical engineers design, maintain, and improve products that are powered by or produce electricity. They will often design, assemble, and test new devices. Although some of the devices they work on are very complex, these devices are all based on simple electrical circuits. The lights in your house work by the switch closing a circuit.

Directions:

1. Draw a heavy lined shape that barely does not connect on two sides.

2. Mark positive (+) and negative (-) on each end of the lines.

3. Set the battery’s positive (+) and negative (-) ends on the corresponding lines.

4. Attach the LED wires to it’s (+) and (-) lines. Tip: the longer wire is the positive end.

Chemical engineers apply their understanding of chemistry and chemical processes to tackle all sorts of problems ranging from fuel production to the purification of drinking water. Sometimes their work involves creating chemical reactions; sometimes it involves preventing chemical reactions from happening.

Materials:

Directions:

1. Pour the salt and vinegar into the clear glass cup/ bowl. Stir until the salt dissolves.

2. Carefully dip 1 penny halfway into the salt/ vinegar solution and hold it there for 20 seconds.

   1. Remove the penny. What do you see?

   2. Pennies get dull over time because the copper in the pennies slowly reacts with air to form copper oxide. Pure copper metal is bright and shiny, but the oxide is dull and greenish. When you place the pennies in the salt and vinegar solution, the acetic acid from the vinegar dissolves the copper oxide, leaving behind shiny clean pennies. The copper from the copper oxide stays in the liquid. You could use other acids instead of vinegar, like lemon juice.

3. Put the other 4 pennies in the solution and let them sit for 5 minutes.

4. Prepare two plates and line them with the paper towels.

5. After the five minutes is up, put two of the pennies on one plate.

6. Take the other two and rinse them well under running water. Put these on the second plate to dry.

7. Wait one hour.

   1. Come back and check on them. What do you see?

   2. Rinsing the pennies with water stops the reaction between the salt/vinegar and the pennies. They will slowly turn dull again over time, but not quickly enough for you to watch! On the other hand, the salt/vinegar residue on the unrinsed pennies promotes a reaction between the copper and the oxygen in the air. The resulting blue-green copper oxide is commonly called 'verdigris'. It is a type of patina found on a metal, similar to tarnish on silver. The oxide forms in nature as well, producing minerals such as malachite and azurite.

Mechanical engineers touch almost every aspect of technology. They create machines, products, and

technological systems that benefit society in many ways. Anything that has moving parts was designed

with help from a mechanical engineer.

Directions:

1. Cut a square piece from the cereal box. From the leftover box, also cut and arrow point (a.k.a. triangle) and tail in the shape of a trapezoid.

2. Snip a slit into each end of the straw. Insert the arrow point into one end of the straw and the trapezoid tail into the other end.

3. On the blank side of the cardboard square mark North, South, East, and West on their respective sides.

4. Roll the clay into a ball and place it in the center of the cardboard.

5. Stick the tip of the pencil into the clay - eraser end up.

6. Use the pin to fasten the straw to the top of the center of the eraser.

7. Take it outside and use the compass to orient it correctly. Or, if you know where north is just put it facing that direction.

8. Now, sit back and observe! The arrow will point in the direction the wind is blowing.