Hey, there future engineers who's ready for a little pin action at the lanes. Bowling, I am talking about bowling. Anyway, it's finally time to test out the solution to our problem of how to get a strike at our neighborhood bowling alley.

We know that engineers solve problems and that part of the process engineers used to solve problems involved deciding on and then testing a solution so what exactly are the steps that engineers take to see if the solution really works.

First you'll remember that we talked about variables things we could change in order to in this case a strike in bowling, and we also set the criteria that we can use to determine if we get a strike, in this case, those criteria are: A) we have to knock down the pins and B) we have to do it in just one turn. A challenge, maybe, but we total got this.

Now we also said that as good engineers were going to choose one variable and isolate it and set it apart from all from all the other variables to see if and how it changes things and the variable we choose to isolate was the angle of the ball. In order to isolate this variable, we have to make sure that: All of the other variables are constant, that is, they didn't change.

That way we will know for sure what effect the changing of the angle of the ball has on the outcome. Whether we get a strike or not. So we're keeping the mass of the ball consistent by using the same one every time, and we're going to keep the speed of the ball consistent by using a ball ramp.

Now we're ready to perform a couple of trials to see if we can meet the criteria of our solution. All of which is a fancy way to say let's bowl.

 
For our first trial, we'll aim the ball ramp so that the ball will roll directly down the middle of the lane. When we let the ball go, we see that we knock some pins over but not all. We might be able to get them with a second try, but that would mean that our solution didn't meet both criteria.

Let's give it another go. This time, we'll change the angle of the ball ramp so that it's pointed pretty far on the right side of the lane. Yikes, gutterball. We missed both criteria completely. Let's go with one more trial.

This time, we'll split the difference by setting the angle of the ramp, so the ball hit the pins just slightly to the right of the center pin. That did it we met both criteria. We hit the pins and knocked them all down with one ball. A strike. Yes.

Not only is doing several trials helpful at the bowling alley but it's also an important part of the process engineers use when solving a problem. After engineers figure out the criteria that a solution has to meet to be successful. They isolate one variable to test then they change that variable between trials and if the criteria are met, then the solution is a winner. Just like we are at bowling.