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Bubble Wrap
In 1957 Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes sealed two shower curtains together with air bubbles trapped between them, hoping to sell a textured wallpaper. It did not sell as wallpaper, nor as greenhouse insulation; it sold as packaging, and their company became Sealed Air.
**US 3,142,599**, "Method for making laminated cushioning material", Chavannes, assigned to Sealed Air, filed 27. November 1959, granted 28. July 1964: plastic film heated above its softening point but below melting, drawn into the "discrete depressions" of a moulding roller, and sealed to a second film so each pocket traps air.
**You measure what the air does**: an Arduino accelerometer rides a wooden block, and for bare floor, 1, 2 and 4 layers and 2 popped layers you find the drop height that reaches 16 g - and from it, how far the air lets the block slow down.
Intermediate
2 hours
Instructions
1
1
The drop block
The drop block
Cut a pine block 100 x 100 x 40 mm and weigh it. Tape the MPU-6050 flat on top, and zip-tie its four wires along the block so they cannot pull the sensor.
Materials for this step:
Pine Board1 piece
Masking Tape1 roll
Cable Ties4 piecesTools needed:
Hand Saw
Digital Kitchen Scale2
2
Wire and flash
Wire and flash
Use 1 m of jumper wire so the block can fall freely: VCC 5V, GND, SDA A4, SCL A5. Microswitch between D2 and GND. Open the serial monitor at 115200.
drop_peak_g.inocpp
Materials for this step:
Triple Axis Accelerometer and Gyro Breakout - MPU-60501 piece
Microswitch (Lever Actuated)1 piece
Dupont Jumper Wire Set (M-F)1 setTools needed:
Arduino Uno R3
SparkFun Cerberus USB Cable - 1.8 meter3
3
Cut the cushions
Cut the cushions
Cut 200 x 200 mm squares of bubble wrap: seven for the 1, 2 and 4 layer stacks, two more to pop completely for the control.
Materials for this step:
Bubble Wrap1 rollTools needed:
Scissors4
4
Climb to 16 g
Climb to 16 g
Tape a tape measure up the wall. For each landing - bare floor, 1, 2 and 4 layers, the popped pair - drop the block flat, sensor up, from 10 mm, then 20, 40, 60 mm and so on, pressing the switch before each drop. Record the lowest height that reads 16.0 g. Use fresh wrap if bubbles burst.
Tools needed:
Tape Measure5
5
Stopping distance from your ladder
Stopping distance from your ladder
Loading Jupyter Notebook...
6
6
History & Context
History & Context
**What the patent specifies:** heated thermoplastic film formed into a roller's depressions and laminated to a second film to seal in air, continuously. **Modern build (derived):** commercial polyethylene bubble wrap.
Its big early customer was IBM, shipping the 1401 computer. Its limits: bubbles slowly leak and burst under long static loads, it is bulky to store, and most of it is thrown away after one use.

Materials
7- 1 piecePlaceholder
- 1 rollPlaceholder
- Cable Ties10% commission4 piecesPlaceholder
- Triple Axis Accelerometer and Gyro Breakout - MPU-605010% commission1 piece$35.71
- 1 piecePlaceholder
- Placeholder
- 1 rollPlaceholder
Tools Required
6- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Arduino Uno R310% commissionMagento Legacy Storeships internationallyPlaceholder
- SparkFun Cerberus USB Cable - 1.8 meter10% commission$5.70
- Placeholder
- 1 vendor sell this, none ship to you yetPlaceholder
Estimated Total
What the maker bought. Materials shown without a price are sourced wherever you buy them.
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