Lesson 5 of 10 · Engineering and Design
Experiment⭐ 30 XP🛠️ Engineer ShopPrototypes and Iteration
Engineering and Design.
🎯 Your mission
Run the experiment. Find out what really happens.
⚡ The twist
The first design always fails. That's the point.
Mind = Blown
🚀 The Saturn V rocket burned 20 tons of fuel per second at liftoff.
Make a hypothesis first
Guess: what's the weakest part of this build?
What You'll Learn
A prototype is a rough first build whose job is to fail early and cheaply. Each test shows one weakness, you change one thing, and you test again. Engineers expect several rounds — a design that works first time usually was not tested hard enough.
Key Words
Tap a word to see its definition.
Materials Needed
- paper
- tape
- coins
- ruler
- two books
Safety First
- Catch falling coins over the table so nobody's feet are underneath.
Steps
Read the explanation above and note the two key terms before you start.
Build a paper bridge spanning 20 cm and load it with coins until it fails. Record the load, change exactly one thing, rebuild and retest. Do three iterations and graph load against iteration number.
Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.
Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.
Check Your Understanding
Question 1
1 of 2The purpose of a prototype is to:
Where you see this in real life
Every bridge, building, and gadget you've ever used started with this.
Stretch Challenge
Try this in real life this week.
Find something that's broken at home and try to figure out *why* it broke.
For the dinner table
“What's something around the house you'd redesign — and how?”
Next Smart Experiment
We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.
Share this experiment
Send it to a parent who's looking for a 10-minute kitchen science win.
Ready?
Prototypes and Iteration
Run the experiment. Find out what really happens.
Full screen — no distractions
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