Pringles Ring Physics Challenge

This super fun engineering activity only takes one class period to complete – 55 minutes. There is some real math with this as well. I used this as my physics final this year. This is a terrific activity to reinforce engineering concepts and could really be put anywhere in your IPC, physics, engineering, or physical science class

Students work in pairs or alone to build a vertical ring out of Pringles Chips/Crisps with a minimum diameter of 12.0 cm and the least number of chips possible. Students are in competition with one another for the smallest possible number of chips.

In pairs, each student needs a 5.5 oz tube or one 7 oz tube for a pair.

30% of their grade is building it, 70% is completing the analysis that goes with it. You can change the values that go with this to suit the level of your class in this editable file.

The analysis includes measuring in the metric system, calculating the mass of structure from the mass of one chip, calculating percentages and analyzing the forces on chips in 3 locations.

With this product, you get:

· 2 PowerPoints to drive the activity – one the day before to introduce it and a short, let’s go! the day of the activity.

· Teacher instructions

· Student hand out

· Key with sample data