Have you ever seen smoke coming out of semi-trucks or out of factories? This “smoke” is called pollution. Pollution is very bad for the environment. Pollution harms trees, plants, crops, water, animals, and much more. Cars powered by gasoline cause a lot of pollution. For this reason, engineers are creating electric cars powered by batteries, which don’t cause as much pollution. One issue with using batteries for power, whether it’s in your phone, laptop, or car, is that the cas
ing around the batteries sometimes fail. There are many reasons why this happens. The chemicals inside the battery create gas, which makes the battery blow up like a balloon. When the battery inflates like a balloon, the battery stops working and sometimes even catches on fire or blows up. A good battery casing doesn’t let the battery inflate like a balloon. Engineers are working to fix the problems with the battery casings.
Balloon Batteries TEK8 Student Guide
The student handout will be given to all students working on the design challenge. It gives a brief recap of the story, it helps the students identify what they are attempting to achieve, and it recaps the design process.
Balloon Batteries TEK8 Instructor’s Guide
This Instructor’s Guide provides the instructor additional information on how to run the design challenge with alternatives for materials and test setups as well as information to help make the design challenge a good educational experience.
The Telling the Story Video conveys the societal impact of the student’s research that is the basis for the design challenge and will set the problem-solving context for students.
The Design Challenge Video leads students through the design process. It indicates materials available, states what the criteria are for success and any constraints. It also gives a second ‘level’ of the design challenge that allows ‘early completers’ to move on to a slightly more difficult challenge.