LESSON PLANS
Sail Away
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This lesson focuses on watercraft engineering and sailing. Students work in teams to design a sailboat that can carry a set load across water for 1 meter.
Age Levels: 8-18
Required Materials (Trading/Table of Possibilities)
Materials
Process
Pre-fill the water trough with enough water to allow for boats to float. Mark a starting point to place each team’s boat for consistency.
Test each team’s boat design by placing the set weight on the boat and placing the boat in the water trough at the starting point. Direct the hair dryer/fan toward the sail of the boat. Set the hair dryer/fan at the same speed for all tests and hold it the same distance from each boat. Team’s should measure and document how far their boat traveled before stopping or sinking.
Design Challenge
You are a team of marine engineers given the challenge of designing a sailboat that can hold a set weight while sailing 1 meter across a classroom waterway harnessing wind energy from a fan.
Criteria
Constraints
Re-design Idea
Consider having enough materials to allow students to redesign their boat after the first test and comparing results between their two designs.
Student Reflection (engineering notebook)
The lesson can be done in as little as 1 class period for older students. However, to help students from feeling rushed and to ensure student success (especially for younger students), split the lesson into two periods giving students more time to brainstorm, test ideas and finalize their design. Conduct the testing and debrief in the next class period.
Divide into teams
Review the challenge and criteria constraints
Brainstorm possible solutions (sketch while you brainstorm!)
Choose best solution and build a prototype
Test then redesign until solution is optimized
Reflect as a team and debrief as a class
Marine Engineering, Sailing, and Physics
What is Sailing?
Sailing is the skillful art of controlling the motion of a sailing ship or sailboat, across a body of water. The force of the wind on the sails propels sailing vessels. Today, for most people, sailing is recreation, an activity pursued for the joy of being on the water and pursuing the mastery of skills needed to maneuver a sailboat in varying sea and wind conditions. Throughout history sailing has been instrumental in the development of civilization. The earliest representation of a ship under sail appears on an Egyptian vase from about 3500 BC.
Sail Aerodynamics
Sails propel the boat in one of two ways. When the boat is going in the direction of the wind (i.e. downwind), the sails may be set merely to trap the air as it flows by. Sails acting in this way are aerodynamically stalled. In stronger winds, turbulence created behind stalled sails can lead to aerodynamic instability, which in turn can manifest as increased downwind rolling of the boat. Spinnakers and square rigged sails are often trimmed so that their upper edges become leading edges and they operate as airfoils again, but with airflow directed more or less vertically downwards. This mode of trim also provides the boat with some actual lift and may reduce both wetted area and the risk of ‘digging in’ to waves. The other way sails propel the boat occurs when the boat is traveling across or into the wind. In these situations, the sails propel the boat by redirecting the wind coming in from the side towards the rear. In accordance with the law of conservation of momentum, air is redirected backwards, making the boat go forward. This driving force is called lift although it acts largely horizontally. The lift generated by a sail can be resolved into two main components; forward force and sideways force. These forces act against opposing forces generated by the hull and the keel. On a sailing boat, a keel or centerboard helps to prevent the boat from moving sideways. The shape of the keel has a much smaller cross section in the fore and aft axis and a much larger cross section on the athwart axis (across the beam of the boat). The resistance to motion along the smallest cross section is low while resistance to motion across the large cross section is high, so the boat moves forward rather than sideways.
Marine Engineers and Naval Architects
Marine engineers and naval architects are involved in the design, construction, and maintenance of ships, boats, and related equipment. They design and supervise the construction of everything from aircraft carriers to submarines, and from sailboats to tankers. Naval architects work on the basic design of ships, including hull form and stability. Marine engineers work on the propulsion, steering, and other systems of ships. Marine engineers and naval architects apply knowledge from a range of fields to the entire design and production process of all water vehicles.
Internet Connections
Recommended Reading
Writing Activity
Write an essay or a paragraph about how marine engineers have to incorporate the range of water temperatures across the globe when designing a cruise ship that will travel all around the world.
Note: Lesson plans in this series are aligned to one or more of the following sets of standards:
CONTENT STANDARD A: Science as Inquiry
As a result of activities, all students should develop
CONTENT STANDARD B: Physical Science
As a result of the activities, all students should develop an understanding of
CONTENT STANDARD E: Science and Technology
As a result of activities, all students should develop
CONTENT STANDARD F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
As a result of activities, all students should develop understanding of
CONTENT STANDARD G: History and Nature of Science
As a result of activities, all students should develop understanding of
CONTENT STANDARD A: Science as Inquiry
As a result of activities, all students should develop
CONTENT STANDARD B: Physical Science
As a result of their activities, all students should develop an understanding of
CONTENT STANDARD E: Science and Technology
As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop
CONTENT STANDARD F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
As a result of activities, all students should develop understanding of
CONTENT STANDARD A: Science as Inquiry
As a result of activities, all students should develop
CONTENT STANDARD B: Physical Science
As a result of their activities, all students should develop understanding of
CONTENT STANDARD E: Science and Technology
As a result of activities, all students should develop
CONTENT STANDARD F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
As a result of activities, all students should develop understanding of
The Nature of Technology
Technology and Society
Design
Abilities for a Technological World
The Designed World
Build Your Own Watercraft
Engineering Teamwork and Planning
You are a team of marine engineers given the challenge of designing a sailboat using everyday materials that can hold a set weight and move 4 feet along a classroom waterway harnessing wind energy from a fan.
Planning and Design Phase
Each team has been provided with a set of materials. Review these as a group and draw your plan for a boat design in the box below. Think about how the weight your boat must carry should be distributed in the boat for stability during motion. Also, think about what your sail material will be and how it will be attached to the boat securely.
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Construction Phase
As a team, build your boat, and then complete the questions below:
Testing Phase
Your teacher has created a waterway for testing your watercraft. Test your boat! If you find your sail or boat design doesn’t work the first time, you’ll have an opportunity to redesign your boat and try again. Don’t worry if it fails the first time. Part of engineering is testing and designing products until the optimal design is achieved.
Evaluation Phase
Answer the following questions to summarize your experience with the Sail Away activity. Work in teams to come up with group opinions.
Presentation
As a group, make a presentation to the class about what you learned during this activity.