Grades 7–8
Fantasy/SciFi, NarrativeWritingIn the year of 5176, a horrible accident involving the newest version of the hoverboard happened. The hoverboard actually hovered in mid-air, unlike the version created in the 2000s. The next hoverboard in line hovered about an inch off the floor and had short battery life. As more and more upgraded versions came, the hoverboard started to increase its battery life and was able to move faster and hover farther off the ground. It was very popular transportation until May 16th, 5176.
On that day, people were flocking into shops to buy the newest hoverboard, the Hoverboard Jet 5000. It was the lightest board, and people grew fond of it minutes after purchase. Because it was solar-powered, people didn’t use the screen as much to check the battery. Its battery was cut down to keep it light.
Hours after they started using it, people started to drop from the sky with the new hoverboard strapped to their feet. Since most of them were floating above ten feet, more than one million people were injured.
This was one of the worst backfires of technology in history. After scientists looked into the hoverboards, they found out that the solar panels were put in a bad position, in a place where the legs of the rider blocked them from the sun, thus limiting the hoverboard battery life. The company decided to pay $10,000 to every injured person to prevent further problems. They took each of the hoverboards bought, fixed the solar panel problem, and then sent them back. The problem cost the company a lot of money and caused many setbacks.
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