Saturday, January 15, 2022

While most zip lines are now used for entertainment, they were created to transport people, carry supplies across rugged terrains, and for biologists to research rainforests without disturbing animal habitats. In this session, we will be making zip lines to transport small objects across a room! Learn about physics, friction, and the safety engineering behind these fast contraptions.

Preparation: single hole punch or a wooden skewer to puncture a hole in a cup (with adult supervision), scissors, tape, string (dental floss, shoelaces, fishing line, or other smooth string), chair or elevated surface, a pile of books (or other weights to anchor zipline), one (1) plastic or paper cup, three (3) paper clips or binder clips, one (1) paper or plastic straw, one (1) toilet paper roll, small objects to transport (batteries, ping pong balls, candies, small toys, etc.)

Expert: Joelle Javier is an elevating and amusement devices safety engineer who designed a new rollercoaster for Canada’s Wonderland.