In order to conduct their experiment in mechanical advantage, the student teams -- working closely with Mr. Beiter, Mr. De Leeuw, and Mr. Prime-- had to first construct a simple machine using an adjustable block and tackle system (the line and pulleys seen to the right), a spring scale (upper right), and a lead ballast ingot (seen hanging in the image below).

The experiments were conducted on Day Six while each team was off duty, shortly after they received their orientation session.

The simple machine was rigged to hang from the cargo hatch, with the teams working below on the orlop deck. Each team collaborated to rig different combinations of pulleys and leads to see how these affected the force needed to lift the 60-pound lead ballast ingot up off the deck. With each configuration, they record the force needed to lift the ingot (as measured on the spring scale) and the distance they need to pull the line to hoist the weight to the same height. There was a catch: on a single lead, the full weight of the ingot would overwhelm the spring scale, so the students did not start knowing the actual weight of the ingot and could not measure it directly. In order to discover its true weight, the students would have to work backwards from the output of their simple machine.