Distance and Height

Tuesday's Basketball run is really getting off the ground, quite literally. Today marked the halfway point of our project sessions and was an awesome example of how much we can accomplish when we work together. We began by taking measurements for the longest "run" of track needed for our design (over 3o feet). The length was so long we had to use a second measuring tape just to calculate the distance!

Isaac helps determine the length of track needed for the longest segment of the ball run. 

Then we broke off into teams. One team made all the cuts for the track length and perpendicular ties on the chop saw while the rest worked in groups of three-four to attach them all together. We discovered that the trickiest part of the track assembly is keeping the ties flush at both ends. 

Maite and Luca trade off making cuts for the track to keep everything moving along.

Natalie uses her body weight to hold the pieces flush while Adrian and Isaac drive screws to attach the ties to the track.   

We pause mid-afternoon to lineup all the assembled track segments. Checking for consistency in track alignment and celebrating all our hard work!

While some of us helped tidy up the left overs of such a successful construction session others put their heads together on determining how we would get our track into the air. This tough challenge was accepted with a lot of excitement by a few members of the group who had been patiently awaiting this problem since we began our design phase over a month ago. Designs were drawn up and measurements were taken to ensure the slope was steep enough to keep the ball moving from one segment of track to the next without gaining too much speed. In the end a "rise" of four inches between track segments was agreed upon and tested with success!

The team determines standard dimensions for a brace designed to hold suspended track in place. 

Lincoln shares with the rest of the group a plan to rise the track segments into the air.