Math Blog #3

Before the Experiments

The day of the Bungee Jumping experiments was finally here. My group and I were nervous, yet we were confident about our equations. We first began class when Ms. Ange told us each to tell our equations and how we got it. Every group except us, had about the same numbers and the same structure of equation. When we came to our equation, which was not only in inches, but different than the others, everyone was curious to find out how we came to these conclusions. Our first equation was  RB = ((h - 12) / 8) -2. We got this by pure logic. H represented the height of wherever we were going to throw it off. The number 12 was how tall our barbie was, and we subtracted that by the height. We then divided it by 8, the amount the rubber bands stretched, and subtracted that all by two. We subtracted it all by two because after multiple experiments we noticed that out rubber band wrapped around our barbie's leg wasn't tight (we always wrapped it 6 times around), so a part of it stretched too. Therefore we came to our random equation, that was actually reliable. Our second equation was y = .11x - 2.3.  We got this as everyone else did - we found a slope, found two points, then created an equation. Ours was different then others, because as I said before, ours was in inches rather than in centimeters. Furthermore, Ms. Ange was curious to know how we had two equations that weren't equal to each other. We weren't sure how to explain this, but all we knew was that every time we plugged a number into each of the equations, it would come out with the approximately the same answer. I say approximately because when we plug a number in, the answer isn't usually a whole number. It has many decimals, and when we plug a number into both of these equations, the decimals are slightly different. But this is okay because whether we round up or down (because we cant have .25 of a rubber band) it comes up to the same whole number.

Experiment #1

Afterwards we began conducting the experiments. We first went down to the lower school near the playground. The height was fairly small, which didn't seem very difficult. The total height was 104 inches. We then plugged it into both of our equations and came up with our final rubber band amount - 9 rubber bands. We were the first to volunteer, so everyone's eyes were on us. Will and I have always been pushing and holding the Barbie, so we were the ones up on the ledge while Lauren was recording. We pushed our Barbie off, and it didn't hit the ground, in fact it was very close to it. Furthermore, we tried it a second time, because we had the time, and the Barbie came even closer to the ground which was great. Other groups went, and succeeded as well, and all I could think about was how amazing this was. We all came up with such different equations yet we all got the same amount of rubber bands.

Attempt #2

Attempt #1

Experiment #2

We then continued to our next height which was near the lower school as well. It was off the third story. Everyone seemed to be nervous for this one because it was such a high height. The total height was 224.5 inches. We then plugged it into our equation and we were very surprised. Both of our equations had different answers. For example, for one of our equations the solution was about 26 rubber bands, while the other one came to about 22-23. We didn't know what to do at first, but we decided to go with the 22 rubber bands because it was better to be safe than sorry. We went up first, again, and stood on the ledge hoping that it will work. We dropped the barbie off the balcony and it did not hit. Unfortunately our first try was a bit far from the ground, so Will and I wanted to try something different - we wanted to throw the Barbie. On the second time Will tossed the barbie down, and we were informed that it was very close to the ground. We were very surprised by this turn, and we were very happy. Because of our equations, we were still surprised though. We came up with the solution that our first equation that we came up with was only useful with small heights. This is because when we were testing it out, we only tested with smaller heights - we never exceeded 15 feet.

Attempt #2

Attempt #1

Experiment #3

We then went onto our 3rd place, since we still had time. This was located up in the art center where we would throw the barbie off to the floor below. This was definitely much higher than anything we did before, but we weren't scared. We knew that we could do it. The total height was 324 inches. We plugged it into our equation, but this time only in the second one. We then added the amount of rubber bands which was about 33. We went third this time, as we eagerly ran up the stairs. Me, being afraid of heights, was shaking while holding the rubber bands when Will was about to drop it; I was so terrified of looking down. Will then dropped our Barbie and it was very close to the ground. We were really happy about this, and then we tried it a second time. We then slightly tossed it off again and it once again almost hit the floor, but not quite.

Attempt #1

Attempt #2

Conclusion

We were overall really happy with our project. I think that we had a lot of problems within our group but in the end we worked together to make this project fun and a learning experience. If I were to work on this project again I would definitely put more work into it, because I know that would've really helped our group a lot more. I would definitely take it more seriously, because it wasn't a good feeling to leave it until the day before the experiments. Furthermore, I think the one thing that didn't work with our group was that we didn't come up with an exact plan. While everyone was out experimenting, we were inside looking for exact measurements, which didn't help us in the end. What did help us was finding the amount of rubber bands for higher places. In the future, I would definitely want to do this project again because I thought it was really fun and suspenseful.