Now I guess the follow up to this is “why?” Why would about a third of the way filled result in the greatest bottle-flipping success rate?

Mr. Meyer,

Perhaps we could justify working out the mathematics if we were attempting to build a machine that could “flip” a bottle repeatedly with landing success. Understanding those variables would then be key! Let’s dy/do it!

I think that is a seriously awesome idea! I remember having a teacher in high school telling us about a class she used to teach that was combined with Math and Physics. It was actually a double block, and the first block was more of learning the math and the second block was more of an application/lab using the math. Now that I’m studying education and am seeking to be a math teacher, this thought gets me really excited! I would honestly love teaching in a class where this sort of stuff happens because I feel like it would just be an amazing opportunity for students to engage with what they’re learning. Have you ever been in or worked with a school that has something similar to this? I’m wondering if it is implemented frequently anywhere.

Denese – That label wasn’t helpful. It should have said fill ratio or some label to indicate how much of the bottle was filled with water. The next column is the rate of successful bottle flips. It wasn’t clear at all. Thanks for the help.

This looks like great fun and I am planning to do this in the next week with my classes. I have many senior “bottle flippers” and as long as they stop when the bell rings I only give a warning that if the bottle breaks, they are cleaning up the water! We just started a one-to-one initiative and all of our juniors and seniors have their own Chromebooks so this will be a great way to incorporate them. I do have a couple of questions…what is the data in columns labeled “rate” and the very last column. I am sorry if it is obvious and I am missing it! Thanks for the idea!

No need to apologize, Mary. I was looking for any kind of mathematical lesson in the bottle flipping, not necessarily a three-act task. I like where you’re going with the bottle flipping contest.