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To discover a wide selection of 4-H activities and experiences,visit 4-H.org/4HatHomeBUILD APOPSICLE STICKPADDLE BOAT
90 minutes Grades: 1-8Build a PopsicleStick Paddle Boat—Dive into the world of 3-D printingwith this activity from 4-H’s 2020STEM Youth in Action winner.About the ActivityThis fun STEM activity comes from Joseph Huff, the2020 STEM Youth in Action winner. Kids will builda self-propelling boat while learning the basic skillsneeded for 3-D modeling and printing – and they’llalso learn about water resistance, thrust, and thetransfer of energy.SuppliesPantry Supplies: Popsicle sticks Rubber bands Scissors SandpaperSpecialty Supplies: Hot glue gunOptional Add-Ons: Things to decorate your boat with,like stickers or glitter or googlyeyes (why not?)Grades: 1-8Topic: Physics, 3-D PrintingTime: 90 minutes4-H Holiday Activities Popsicle Stick Paddle Boat2
90 minutes Grades: 1-8Activity StepsDID YOU KNOW: Your boat now has three layersof popsicle sticks, giving it structural stabilitythat will be vital for the propulsion that therubber band will apply to it.Follow these steps to build your own,self-propelling popsicle-stick boat.ALSO: 3-D printing is all about layers – physicalobjects are made from a 3-D digital model usinga machine that lays down many successive layersof a material to create the designed product.—Build the Boat12 ay two popsicle sticks on the table; break orLcut another popsicle stick in half, and sand downthe rough ends where they have been cut. ay down the cut pieces in between the twoLuncut sticks so that they stick out in front of thetwo uncut sticks. This creates an opening in thecenter of what will be your boat. Push the uncutand cut sticks together so they are side by side,other than the gap behind the uncut sticks.—Make the Paddle Wheel:10 ut a popsicle stick into two pieces that areCslightly smaller than the length of the gap in themiddle of the boat.FUN FACT: The larger you make the paddlewheel blades, the faster the boat will go. It’s allabout water resistance and water displacement –a bigger blade can displace more water, pushingyour boat faster. Of course, here you’re limitedby the size of your boat’s opening, so if you wanta bigger wheel, you need to make a bigger boatwith a bigger opening!DID YOU KNOW: A pointed shape in front helpsthe boat cut through the water, minimizing thedrag, or resistance, the water gives to the boat.3 easure and cut strips out of another popsicleMstick that can lay across the width of your boat.4 ext, lay a strip of glue across the sticks, aheadNof the opening.11 tack the cut sticks on top of each other, thenSplace them on their sides.5 Place a cut strip across that line of glue.126 epeat this, laying down more strips of glueRand placing your measured and cut width-stripsacross the boat until you reach the part thatsticks out in front. old them tightly together on their sides,Hstill pinching them together (if you have aworkbench vice, use that).13 se a saw or file (a pocket knife saw is ideal)Uto cut a groove into the two stacked popsiclesticks. Be sure you’re cutting from the sides untilyou cut halfway through the two sticks.14 ow, sand down the two rough ends from whereNthey were cut; try to make them look like therounded ends of the popsicle sticks.15 Interlock the two sets of paddle wheel blades.789 epeat this in the rear, putting down dots ofRhot glue on the two strips in the back of theboat, and laying down strips across the width ofthe boat. Be sure to leave an open space in themiddle, about four inches long. ext, repeating steps 1 and 2, lay out and glueNdown another set of sticks that run the lengthof the boat on the outside, and make a pointedbow in the front. ext, cut two small strips to run in between theNtwo sides in the rear, or the stern, of the boat.4-H Holiday Activities PopsicleCookie ScienceStick Paddle BoatNOTE: This creates a smoothly interlockingwheel. But if you don’t want to saw, you canmake your paddle by cutting one stick to aboutthree inches long, then cut two smaller stripshalf that length, and glue their ends onto thelonger paddle piece. You’ll need to make surethe glue is dried and the wheels are firmlyattached before proceeding.3
90 minutes Grades: 1-8—Prepare the Rubber Band:16 oop your rubber band over the width of theLboat, across the opening in the center of theboat.FUN FACT: The rubber band is what stores theenergy that the boat uses to move the paddle.When you wind the rubber band up it is filledwith potential energy. Potential energy is energythat is stored, but hasn’t been released yet.When you release the rubber band the potentialenergy is converted to kinetic energy and thepaddle starts to spin. Kinetic energy is energy inmotion — like turning this paddlewheel.17I f you want to create an even snugger fit, andare comfortable sawing, you can saw smallnotches (about half the width of the sidepopsicle sticks) into each side of the boat, onand track the rubber band into those notches.4-H Holiday Activities PopsicleCookie ScienceStick Paddle Boat—Take Your Boat for a Spin:18 Fill up a sink or a bathtub with water.19I nsert one of the blades of the paddle wheel intothe rubber band, and wind it up in the rubberband until the rubber band feels tense.20 olding onto the paddle wheel, place the boatHinto the water.21 et go of the paddle wheel, and watch your boatLtake off across the water!22Whoa!FUN FACT: This works because like a fan,a propeller on a boat transfers energy bytransforming rotational motion into thrust, orpropulsive motion. The spinning of the propelleraccelerates the water to make force that pushesthe boat forward.4
90 minutes Grades: 1-8Test Your KnowledgeHow well do you knowpopsicle stick boats?QUESTION 1The scientific term ‘drag,’ which can apply to bothair and fluids, refers to what?a. How boring something isb. The science of how things are pulledc. The force of resistance against an objectQUESTION 2True or false? 3-D printing relies on machinesthat lay down successive layers of material tocreate a new object.a. Trueb. FalseQUESTION 4Potential energy and kinetic energy are which ofthe following?a. Eco-friendly energies, like solar and windb. Stored energy, and energy in motion, respectivelyc. How submarines workQUESTION 5The propeller made your boat go forward by doingwhich of the following?a. Transforming rotational motion into thrustb. Creating a vacuum that sucked the boat forwardc. Making the atoms inside of the water moleculesvibrate so quickly that the boat was pushedforward, almost invisiblyQUESTION 3True or false? The smaller the paddlewheel in apaddle boat, the faster it can turn, which will makethe boat go faster.a. Trueb. FalseReflection QuestionsQuestions to deepen wonder and understanding. What would happen if you made the point with aflat front, instead of a pointed one? How much larger could you have made yourpaddlewheel? If you wanted to make a muchlarger one, how would you need to restructureyour boat?4-H Holiday Activities Popsicle Stick Paddle Boat If you wanted to secure your rubber banddifferently, could you tie it somehow? Or loop itaround something? This boat had three layers, but what do you thinkwould happen if it had five layers? Or ten layers?Or one layer?5
90 minutes Grades: 1-8Investigate& ExploreTake your new knowledgeto the next level.sby companies of all kinds to create a wide array ofproducts – and is even being experimented with tocreate new human body parts.What you’ve created in this exercise is prettysimilar to how 3-D printers create any kind ofobject by putting down successive layers, followinginstructions from a digital design program. Butthat also means leaving spaces when they needto, just like you left space in the middle for yourpaddlewheel. 3-D printing is quickly becomingnot just a novelty or something used in limitedindustrial applications, and instead is become moreaccessible to consumers, and more widely usedOn the flip side of your experiment, you madea boat that floats in the water – out of popsiclesticks! That might sound crazy, but anything thatweighs less than the amount of water it displaces(pushes aside) can float. Of course, if you left yourpopsicle-stick boat in the water for an hour, itmight soak up a lot of water and sink – because theadded weight of the water in the popsicle stickswould make the boat weigh more than the amountof water it displaces.Brought to you by:4-H Holiday Activities Popsicle Stick Paddle Boat6
Dec 04, 2020 · Make the Paddle Wheel: 10 Cut a popsicle stick into two pieces that are slightly smaller than the length of the gap in the middle of the boat. FUN FACT: The larger you make the paddle wheel blades, the faster the boat will go. It’s all about water resistance and water displacement – a bi
