Seismograph Project

So we were given a task of trying to create a working seismograph or able to create a strip of paper with all the spikes drawn on using anything from tape to boxes.
We gathered couple ideas on the internet like adding weights to the drawing part of the so it doesn't jump while you're shaking it.

Day 1

We have just finished planning what we’re going to do.  We're going to get a cup, cut a hole near the top and put the string through to hold it up, and through the top of the box so it hangs. And have stones to hold it down so it doesn’t wobble if people walk past and a hole in the middle to have the pen to sit through and hot glue to hold it in place.

Day 2

We finished designing the box and about to make the bit that draws on the paper next lesson we will make the drawing part.

Day 3

We have started to work on the drawing part of the seismograph. Our first attempt didn’t do very well because when we shook the seismograph the pen didn’t just go in one direction. We continued to try to make it go one way but we haven’t been very successful so far, next time we will try to stabilize the pen by tying the string through the cup so it goes one way.

This is our first attempt:

Day 4

We tried again at getting the drawing part to work. We have it going the right way but sometimes the pen doesn’t stay on the paper. Next, we are going to add more pebbles so the pen will stay on the paper constantly.

Day 5

Our pen dried out because we forgot to put a lid on it, so we had to try remove it from our seismograph and swap it. We added more weights to the cup so that the pen will stay on the paper and tested it out.

These are our last and best attempts. They aren’t the greatest but it worked way better than we thought and the pen managed to stay on the paper the whole time.The last one worked better because the pen didn’t get stuck in some places like the first one, but the lines are curved instead of straight.