Tin Foil Boats

In our study of water, the students were charged with the task of creating a vessel that had to meet three standards: 1) be made of tin foil 2) float 3) carry cargo.  The students created vessels of varying shapes and sizes.  Some were rectangular and some were rounded, some were tall and some were shallow.  Next, they took turns floating their boats.  We added pennies one at a time to see how much "cargo" each vessel could hold before sinking.

The results were surprising!  We had three boats that held over 100 pennies!  The owners of these boats were very excited and proud.  They were all good sports, encouraging each other and cheering each other on as the pennies piled up.  Here are some photos from our activity.

100+ Pennies!

We decided that the best floating boats had large surface areas which helped the pennies to be spread out across a larger area.  The walls of the boats were thicker, meaning they were able to push back against the force of the water.  Who knew studying the properties of water could be so fun?