PART I: Collect Experimental Data

•        Bend the provided 30 paper clips until they fail.

o   Follow the instructions presented in class on how to bend the paperclips.

•        Record the number of bends until failure for all 30 clips

•        Determine the frequency of failure from 1 to 20 bends

o   If the paperclip lasts more than 20 bends, note their frequency in the “20+ bends” row, and mention the frequency of this result in your paper.

•        Record any additional observations about the paperclips that might be useful.

PART II: Organizing the Data

Create:                                                   

1.       A table and histogram (using EXCEL) from your team’s data (30 paperclips).

2.       A table and histogram (using EXCEL) from the data collected from the entire class (300 paperclips).

3.       A table and histogram (using EXCEL) from the data collected from all 8 sections of EGR 186 (2400 paperclips).

Be sure your graphs are appropriately scaled.  i.e., don’t compare the # of bends of a group (30 paperclips) to the entire class (300 paperclips).  If you want to compare 30 paperclips to 300, convert to %.

PART III: Presenting the Experiment

Write a report to explain the experiment, show the data collected, and discuss the results.

1.       Include a cover page with appropriate information.

2.       The report must contain a 1) problem statement, 2) methods section, 3) results section, and 4) conclusion (make a conclusion by writing a short paragraph to answer the provided questions).

a.       Conclusion: discuss your observations regarding the frequencies of paperclip failure.

                                                               i.      Is there a distinct trend or trends?

                                                             ii.      Discuss why such a result may have occurred (re-examine the paperclips for any possible clues to the trends observed).

PAPER FORMAT NOTES:

·         Write your paper in 3RD PERSON!  i.e “The data show…”, NOT “I saw a trend in the data…”.  In engineering technical papers, the data is the focus (not you…).

·         Properly label title and axes of every graph.  No legend is required.

·         Explain what each graph and table is in the text.  Refer to each graph in the text (Figure 1, Figure 2, Table 1, etc.). 

·         Each graph must also have a caption centered directly BELOW the figure (i.e. Figure 1: Team results of…).

·         Each table must have a caption centered directly ABOVE the table (i.e. Table 1:  Team results of…).

·         Refer to the journal articles you read for the Tech Comm Project for format, header, figure, table, and caption examples.