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Hey! Yes you! Is your backpack too heavy? Then try a Rollie Pack!

Do you have a super heavy backpack and do you ever get tired of lugging it around? For a school project, we had to create an invention that help or entertain others. Our invention was backpack to help with posture and to solve that problem of super heavy backpacks. call it The Rollie Pack. The Rollie Pack is a backpack with wheels that extend down to the ground to help support the weight from your backpack.

 

The design process is a series of steps taken to create a product or invention.  The design process we used was to Empathize, Define the Problem, Ideate, Patent, Prototype and Test, Product and Packaging Design, Market and Share our product.

 

First, we found the problem. We found that backpacks are getting too heavy and we wanted to solve that problem. To ideate a solution, we thought about what could we do or add to a normal backpack to make the backpack lighter and easier to use. We decided we could have a backpack with wheels that extend down from the backpack from a standing position adding support and to aide the user in carrying the backpack.  When we patented our idea, to do this we searched for patents similar to ours. Since there were not any patents similar to ours, we sent a patent application to the teacher which she approved.  Next, we designed our backpack and logo by drawing them on paper. After we designed our idea, we tested our product by asking our classmates if our prototype would be useful to them and what they would add to it. We decided to remove the weight sensor that was original in our design after hearing people didn’t want one. After we tested, we made our product and packaging.    We made our product miniature  version of the backpack by using a pencil case. We then designed our packaging. We used an old pretzels container and decorated it with our logo and information about the Rollie Pack. Finally, we made a marketing video/ infomercial to try and sell our product.

 

In conclusion, we used the design process Empathize, Define the Problem, Ideate, Patent, Prototype and Test, Product and Packaging Design, Market and Share our product to create our invention and advertise our product. After doing so, we had our product, The Rollie Pack.

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Helping the Citizens of City X

I created a device for a citizen of City X using the design process to solve the problem that they had. City X is a city on a different planet that has nothing but a 3D with them.  Milo, the citizen I was helping, had a problem where the sun was too hot and their sunscreen wasn’t working. First, I had to empathize, so I put myself in Milo’s shoes to see what I would do if I were in his situation. Next, I had to define his problem. Milo’s problem was that the sun was too hot and his sunscreen wasn’t working.

 

 


Then, I had to brainstorm or ideate to come up with some new inventions that will help Milo to not get burned by the sun. The idea I eventually decided on was a hat with an umbrella on it, that when you press a button a sun-resistant bubble forms around you. After I brainstormed, I had to draw a sketch of 3 different revisions of my idea. On the first sketch, my umbrella was too small and the hat was too big, so on the second sketch I fixed the unevenness. On my third sketch I added the bubble.

 

Once my sketches were done, I made clay models of the design and then started working on my Tinkercad. While I was working on my Tinkercad, I tested the prototype by asking my friends what I should change. In conclusion,  I used the design process to create a new invention for a person of City X who had a problem.

 

 

 

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The Truth About Fast Food

Did you know that there are 836 calories in an average fast food meal? That’s almost half the calories needed for a 2,000 calorie diet! By producing and consuming fast food we are harming the environment and our health.  Fast food harms cows, increases our chances for coronary heart disease, causes depression, and produces just under half the litter in the U.S.

By consuming and supplying fast food, we are harming the environment. With the demand for more fast food, cattle have been given steroids in order to be slaughtered at a young age. According to Eric Schlosser,  to make cows gain weight and be profitable to be slaughtered at a young age, growth hormones have been administered to 80% of the U.S.A feedlot cattle. To explain, fast food has a higher demand, which means that many more cows are being administered growth hormones, to be slaughtered at a younger age.  One Green Planet says, fast food creates an abundance of litter from the packaging it uses.  Many people throw the packaging from fast food on the ground after they are done eating. Packaging from fast food counts for more than 40% of all litter with the most common being styrofoam, which takes 900 years to biodegrade.  In other words, when people throw out the packaging from their fast food, they are causing an abundance of litter. In conclusion, fast food packaging is 40% of all litter, and to get meat for fast food, cows are given growth hormones to be slaughtered at a young age.

 

Fast food is unhealthy and has a negative effect on our body. By eating fast food, we are increasing our risk of dying from coronary heart disease. According to John Lundy, people who eat fast food once a week increase the risk of dying from coronary heart disease by 20%. The risk of dying from coronary heart disease is increased by 50% for people who eat fast food 2 to 3 times a week and by 80% for those who eat 4 or more times a week. In other words, People who eat fast food have an increased chance of dying from coronary heart disease. Junk food is also directly linked to depression. One Green Planet says, results show that consumers of fast food are 51 % more likely to develop depression or another form of mental illness. This has affected an estimated 121 million people worldwide. To explain,  people who eat fast food have an increased chance of developing depression. In conclusion, fast food increases your chances of dying from coronary heart disease, and can cause depression which has affected 121 million people worldwide. 

While it tastes delicious, fast food has negative effects on the environment and our health. When we consume fast food we produce an abundance of litter,  can increase our chances of getting depression, and increase our chances for coronary heart disease. Fast food also distributes growth hormones to cows to kill at a younger age. Even though fast food is unhealthy, you don’t have to get rid of fast food completely. You can eat in moderation to not get all the unhealthy effects of fast food.  Would you giving up fast food completely after reading its effects?

Works Cited

Geer, Abigail. “10 Ways Fast Food Is Destroying the World.” One Green Planet. N.p., 07 Jan. 2014. Web. 08 Feb. 2017.

Lundy, John. “Health Notes: Study Examines Health Effects of Eating Fast Food.” Duluth News-Tribune 05 July 2012: n. pag. Newspaper Source. Web. 8 Feb. 2017.

Schlosser, Eric. “Cheap Food Nation.” Nov.-Dec. 2006: n. pag. Middle Search Plus. Web. 8 Feb. 2017.

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Coastal Barrier Project

In 2011, a massive tsunami with over 10 meter waves crashed down on Japan and destroyed almost all the cities along the shoreline. All the cities that were destroyed had seawalls that were less than ten meters high, except for the city of Fudai who had built their seawall 15.5 meters tall after their mayor, Kotoko Wamura, had barely survived a tsunami in 1993 and vowed to protect their city from other dangerous tsunamis. When the tsunami struck Japan in March of 2011, Fudai was the only city left standing after the tsunami had destroyed and taken all the other cities along with it. Our design challenge was to design a prototype of a coastal barrier device that will protect the shoreline from a tsunami.

 

The criteria for our coastal barrier include, the device should stop the water from going over the wall and it must be able to deflect any water away from the shoreline. It must also be sturdy and durable enough to withstand the waves. The device must be made out of materials offered in class and must use 3D-printed parts. Lastly, the wall must be able to withstand up to two gallons of water, the maximum that will be used in the testing area. A constraint of the design is that it has to built with 3D- printed components and materials offered in the classroom. The 2011 Japanese tsunami was caused by the Pacific and the Okhotsk plates. The Pacific and Okhotsk plates started to push against each other until eventually the Okhotsk plate snagged under the Pacific Plate. The Okhotsk plate started to bend until it eventually snapped, forcing the water to move upward causing a tsunami. To start the process of designing our wall we made a sketch of what we wanted our wall to look like from the top, side, and front views. We also included measurements in our sketch. After our sketch was approved, we started building our walls on Tinkercad. First, I put a box on my tinkercad platform and contorted it to the size I wanted my wall to be. Then, I made the curve of my seawall by using a cylinder cut-out and added an extra curve by putting an upside down ramp at the top.

 

There were many parts in this project that were easy, but there were some that were also challenging. For example, I found it difficult to come up with creative ideas that would differ from everybody else, but I found it surprisingly easy to learn how to use tinkercad. While it was easy to learn, tinkercad also had some difficulties. For example, it was difficult for me to maneuver the objects so that they faced the right way, lined up with each other, or were the size I wanted them to be. Despite the difficulties, once I had the base of my wall sized and built correctly, it was very easy to add extra features, like the ramp on the top that my wall more of a curve. If I could do this project again, I would change many things. I would change the height of my wall and make it taller so that it is a few centimeters shorter that the box. I would also try to find a way to make my wall more of a curve so that the wave flows back to the water.

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Flower Dissection

In this lab my partners and I dissected a flower and labeled the different parts of the flower. First, we gently peeled of the sepals of the flower. Then, we peeled of the petals and the stamen. Next, we peeled off the leaf and Mrs. Conner came and cut of the stem, ovary, style, and stigma. Lastly, we labeled all the parts of the flower on a piece of paper.

Sexual reproduction in flowers takes place by the stamen making pollen. Then pollinators come and take the pollen and drop in the pistil of another flower. Fertilization occurs and the ovules grow into seeds.

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