Given: 50 toothpicks, four plastic straws, one piece of clay, one ping pong ball, scissors- the scissors may not be use as part of your structure.
You have six minutes to think, plan your strategy, and complete the problem. You may ask questions or talk to each other at any time. Questions count towards your time.
Your problem is to build a structure using only the given materials.
The structure must have the ping pong ball inside of it and the ball may not touch the base. The structure will support a plastic container on its top that will be able to hold nails.
Your structure will be scored on its height, ping pong ball presence and the number of nails it supports. You must place the nails in the container one at a time without removing them. Nails must be supported for three seconds to count for scoring. You will be finished when your structure breaks or when the time is up. For each four-inch height increment your structure reaches, your score will be increased. Your structure will be measured before you put the container on it.
Scoring: If your structure stands at least four inches high and successfully supports the container, you will receive 10 points. The total number of nails held will be multiplied by the total number of four-inch height increments. If your structure is four inches tall and holds 10 nails then 4″ =1 increment and 1×10=10 points. Increments must be a full 4″ to be counted.