1
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I would never suggest breaking a law, but it looks like we will have to average about 227 miles per hour to make it to the ceremony on time.

2
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I think you should check your numbers, Jacob. We should be fine. Remember, we have moved.

3
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Well, Jacob does have a point. If we sit in traffic for very long, the car becomes useless.

4
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What do you mean?

5
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Well, no car can travel safely at 227 miles per hour.

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Race cars can.

7
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But not on the highway.

8
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Good point, Catherine. Eventually you will discover certain limitations to any technology.

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Look at all the different forms of transportation that have been invented over the years.

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For example, hot air balloons, helicopters, flying cars, my own personal hovercraft, skateboards, pogo sticks.

11
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Wait a minute, Dr. D. Did you say your own personal hovercraft?

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That's right.

13
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Where did you buy a hovercraft?

14
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I didn't buy it. I designed it and built it.

15
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Wow, Dr. D. How did you build a hovercraft?

16
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And did it take long to build?

17
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Slow down, kids. Let me start by having you look at the device on the back seat. It's called a marble twister.

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This doesn't look like a hovercraft.

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Yeah, but it's pretty cool. What does it do?

20
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Put a marble on the track at the top and tell me what you see.

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It's going around in circles and gradually getting closer to the bottom.

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Very good. The marble twister illustrates iteration.

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What did you say?

24
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Iteration. It's part of the engineering design process. It's like a cycle.

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Wow, we've seen lots of cycles before, like the rock cycle and the water cycle.

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In this cycle, you develop a plan for your project, design and build a model, test and evaluate the model,

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and then begin the cycle again by redesigning the model based upon your test results.

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I get it. Then you test the redesigned model, evaluate the results, and redesign the model again.

29
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That's just like the marbles. Each time you go around the cycle, you get closer to a finished product.

30
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Just like each time around the circle, the marbles get closer to the bottom.

31
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How many times do you need to go through the cycle?

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Well, the product is never perfect, so you just have to decide when it's close enough.

33
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This engineering design process sounds an awful lot like the scientific method,

34
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except the step about identifying or recognizing a problem isn't included.

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Actually, I just hadn't gotten to the first steps yet.

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In the engineering design process, the first step is called identifying a need or want.

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Then you brainstorm ideas, like we did in the invention process, in the case of the Rice invention.

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Very good. The engineering design process is very similar to the invention process.

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After brainstorming, the next step is select a solution and do research.

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And then you develop a plan.

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That's it, and the cycle begins.

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Whenever you are facing a design challenge, the process we have just discussed will be very helpful.

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I can't imagine a more difficult challenge than this traffic jam.

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Trust me, Jacob, there have been bigger challenges.