We had many challenges and many successes in our project. Our biggest challenge was getting a pump that was strong enough to move the "blood" through the tubing. To solve this, we switched to a smaller tube system and used a hand pump that more closely resembled the heart than the electric pump with which we started the project. Another challenge was getting the dye to diffuse through the dialysis tubing in a short enough time period. Here our success was to experiment with different types and concentrations of dye until we found one that worked.
In the end, everything in our project worked well, including the blood vessel model, the presentation, and the diffusion. The only shortcoming was in preparation for the presentation; we started preparing late and barely finished in time.
The judges mostly had the same feedback: both of our functions were good but next time we might want to consider using a pump that functioned even more similarly to the heart. Overall they really liked our project though.
In the end, everything in our project worked well, including the blood vessel model, the presentation, and the diffusion. The only shortcoming was in preparation for the presentation; we started preparing late and barely finished in time.
The judges mostly had the same feedback: both of our functions were good but next time we might want to consider using a pump that functioned even more similarly to the heart. Overall they really liked our project though.