Event Failures (With Solutions)

Failure:
The car didn't travel in a straight line. This caused it to avoid the balloon.
Solution:
Placed a row of small Popsicle sticks along the path we wanted the car to follow (a straight line).

Failure:
The weight did not fall onto the fulcrum, to lift the Popsicle stick out of place.
Solution:
Place borders along the path the weight will fall. This lowers the area on which the weight can land.

Failure:
Needle punctured, but did not pop the balloon.
Solution:
Inflate the balloon more, to increase likelihood of it to pop. Note: Too much inflation could cause premature popping, or accidental popping.

Failure:
Final mechanism in Popsicle stick reaction did not fall.
Solution (1):
Place the final mechanism on a more precarious angle. This turned out to be inconsistent and hard to recognize.
Solution (2):
Change the design of the final mechanism in order to distribute the weight more evenly along the object. Much more reliable.

Failure:
Marble did not fall into path.
Solution:
Make sure the marble comes to rest in the balloon more. Also made use of a larger, heavier marble that was more likely to follow the path (larger volume made it less like to miss the path).

* Pictures of changes included in later posts.