Category: Collaborate
Tech Team
H.A.T.S. Hyland Innovation Showdown 1st Place
Dodecahedron of Antigone’s story
Fun with non-newtonian fluids (Oobleck)
Drone building
Bluetooth Speaker (first year)
AP GOV assignment
Personal speakers
Lamp of mat board and wood
Physics Reflection
My first impressions of AP Physics was the complete change from every other class that I had taken previously. Physics connects to everything in life on a deeper level than every other class, because as you learn more, you see more in the world. Other classes like chemistry and biology, enjoyable as they may be, do not apply as much in everyday life on such a scale. Physics shows the world through different eyes, sometimes fascinating, other times confusing.
Physics has shown me how to plan out a problem before even applying the numbers. I have recognized that sometimes, even though I plan the equation, something goes wrong along the way and I get the wrong answer. I plan to slow down and do the equation in parts so I can see where I go wrong.
On one of the physic’s homework about gravitational forces, there was a problem where all you were given was that a satellite takes 5 years to orbit, and with that I found the mass of the Sun. That was literal rocket science, toned down for college/high school students.
Outside of class, the physics of how a car works struck me. That the force I feel when going around a turn is not actually a force, but only an effect of the forces at play. I found it interesting that a car only holds onto the road in a turn by static friction of the tires on the pavement.
Tech Team Reflections Q2
Over Christmas I got a wood burner from my girlfriends family. Having no artistic talent I used the laser cutter to create a outline for the mountains in the photo below. Then, doing a little investigating, learned how to use a wood burner and create different effects in the wood. I intentionally had the knot in the wood become the Sun or Moon, and the no-longer-apparent water stain become the horizon that the mountains loomed over.
Also for Christmas, but from my family, came a speaker kit. I am still working on the speaker casing, which is just glue together birch plywood. However, any good speakers have a crossover, shown beyond, which essentially only allows low frequency sound to play out of the subwoofers, and the high frequency sound out of the tweeters. Instead of giving you a crossover, you have to assemble it yourself with all the parts provided. They also give you a circuitry diagram so that you can assemble the crossover. I had to make two for the two different speakers in the kit.
One day while talking with Mr. Kaminski, Willie Norton and I noticed his speakers playing music and saw the way the speaker cone vibrated. We immediately decided that we wanted to put Oobleck on a speaker and then see what different sounds did to it. The video below is in real time and shows that different high and low frequencies do to the cornstarch mixture. Our end goal is to figure out a mixture of notes that will make the Oobleck look as if it is dancing.
For the Cleveland Clinic Expressions challenge a kid did different cancers suspended on different hearts under a large heart. I helped to laser engrave the names of the different cancers onto the hearts, one by one.
Below in the Fairview Shield in two parts as it was nailed to two different doors made for the counseling office. The shield is about 18 inches wide and 22 inches long. This is a problem as the laser cutter can only do 12 by 24 inches at a time. So I had to make a design that did half the sign at a time.
Damion Zody, Willie Norton, and I entered into the Hyland Innovation Challenge. Our idea was to innovate on the wind turbine that we have today. Our idea was to turn the turbine sideways, so it is parallel to the ground and have each blade rotate independently. These rotating blades would allow for all the blades except one to be parallel to the ground while the other is perpendicular to the ground. The wind would catch this blade and turn the turbine. As it spins that blade would rotate down and the next would rotate to be perpendicular. This way we have minimal drag on the all the blades expect one, which would have maximum drag to force the turbines to turn. That is one one of the modular pieces. Each piece would be 20 feet wide and 3 feet tall, and stackable, creating a tower of these turbines, matching the height of turbines today.
Last but not least, all the teachers got these paperclip holders as a Holiday gif from the principle. I was the one to laser cut the Fairview Shield, and Fairview Warriors onto the holders. I also created a template to hold 30 of them at a time as there was 90 to make in total.
Eagle Scout Project
I am in Boy Scouts, and I when going for my Eagle Scout I planted trees in Bain Park.
I had 5 native trees planted by the pavilion in Bain Park. A Bur Oak, Bald Cypress, Pecan Hickory, Eastern Red Bud, Summer Sensation Maple, all of which can be found in this area. I planted these trees because through some investigating I found the trees in that area where planted by the CCC back in the 1930s to combat the Great Depression. I decided I wanted to replant the trees to help restore the dead part that can be seen in the picture above.
Eagle Scout candidates are required to lead the project in all parts of it. This means I led the scouts and adults in the tree planting on May 13th. Through collaboration and communication I got the trees to the work site, the city to donate gator bags, and the scouts to show up at the right time and do the work I needed the to do. Before all this could be done I had to research where to plant trees, how to plant trees, when to plant trees, and many other important questions. I found these answers through investigating by talking to tree experts, and computer research.
Tech Team Q1
This english poster is on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and is completely laser cut. The project had to be broken into 9 layers, one for each individual photo and then groups of quotes. The entire process took almost 3 hours to complete. This took a lot of problem solving, and investigating the problems I encountered.
Willie brought in the shell of a lighter to have a picture engraved onto it. He decided on a dragon, so I designed the cut job to print on the bottom part of the lighter. The same image is mirrored on the other side so both dragons face the same direction. This took communication, creativity, and small problem solving as the lighter had a hinge on the one side.
I did research on how to cast molds using a CNC machine and found an article that explained that if you cut MDF wood you can pour molten metal into the mold. Mrs. Houser provided the Hot Pot to melt the metal, and the amount of tin I needed. However, she required that I find the volume of the mold, then find the amount of mass I needed to fill the mold before I could melt anything. This small project took creativity, communication, investigation, and problem solving.
Last, but not least, my speaker for this year thus far. I took two old computer speakers and designed a casing around them with bendable wood in the shape of an oval. The first picture shows the wrapping thats around the speaker. It was a test to see if my design actually bent or broke. The second photo is all the pieces together before it is all assembled. There are the speakers, circuit board, top and bottom plates, rings, and the bendable wood wrap. Sadly, I didn’t have a bluetooth setup this time, so the speaker has to be plugged into the wall, and use an AUX cord to work.
The almost finished project shows the inside of the speaker before completely assembled as it plays music. This project took months of planning, designing, and assembly. The pins had to be the right size and the holes had to be slightly bigger. The bendable wood had to fit into the rings. Everything came together in the end.
AP Lit Frankenstein
This is a theme poster on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. My group decided to laser cut the project, but had some problems along the way. The laser cutter could not handle the amount of graphics on the entire poster, so I had to break the collage into the individual photos and quotes to print it all.
Tech Team Reflection Q3
I made this sign for the academic challenge team. We hang the sign on our table when we are doing the
challenges. It took some problem solving to figure out how to focus the laser cutter because the wood was not flat. I decided that if I focused it on the middle height, thinking that it would be only a little too unfocused instead of focused and really unfocused. The gradient-like effect was caused by the unfocused laser. I also had to communicate with Mrs. Kim on the size of the sign.
This was a poster for AP Government that I made with the help of Damion Zody. I had to work with him on how the poster should look. No one had printed on or cut paper until then so I had to use mat board settings and change them to what I thought would not catch the paper on fire. I got it just right so I did not cut through the paper, yet made it dark enough that it could be seen. It took two class periods to make and print.
This is a little hex bug robot. The two motors have a semicircle of wood attached to the spinning rod. When the rod spins, it will vibrate from the unequal forces of the imbalanced piece. The second motor is the same way, but I plan for it to be slightly ahead of the other motor to create more vibrations. These vibrations make the robot move by shaking its little feet. At the moment I am having a hard time making or getting a battery to run both motors. I created the box that is the bug’s body using interlocking pieces of wood. The pieces fit together and are locked down with hot glue.
This is my test piece of bendable plywood. I researched patterns that could allow the wood to bend and being a little lazy, went with an easy one. The wood was a test trial to see if I could make a speaker case out of plywood. It proved a success and work began on the casing.
This is the completed speaker I made. I took some innovation, and problem solving to get it all to work. THe speaker is accessed via bluetooth, with a 50 foot connectivity, and simply needs a USB power source. The original idea was to have the speaker have a battery pack to provide power anywhere, however a problem while soldering caused that to not be possible. It took some problem solving to find how to adjust to the new design I had to go with. In the end, the speaker plays everything but heavy bass as the speaker cone hits the wood casing.
This video is simply me cutting a magnet and it throwing sparks everywhere. I believe the sparks are simply from the coating on the magnet that sparks easily.
Standardized Testing Debate
During the debate heard the pros and cons of standardized testing. I learned that standardized tests are meant to compare students to others nationwide. These tests allow different racial groups to be compared. The test also allows teachers and schools to be held responsible for the students’ scores. Schools can be judged on how the students do overall, and the teachers can be judged on how their students did on the test. The better the school, the better the community. It was pointed out that when a school does not do well on the testing, they lose federal funding. This leads to more failures, and thus, less funding. Supposedly, the flaws in the system will be worked out in the future. The point was never raised, but I learned some of the extents standardized tests have on the health of children. These include stress, enough that Standford-9 exam sends out packets on how to clean up throw up because enough kids threw up on the test it was needed. What I did not hear was if it would take a year, a decade, a generation, two? I also did not learn why students have to be compared to students, beyond to see who does better. Although standardized testing is nationwide, I believe it is not the right was to judge progress, because it can hurt students, hurt schools, and hurt communities.
There were a couple skilled that were needed for this assignment. Being able to read an article or essay and understand which way they lean on the subject was needed, which I believe I mastered being I am able to tell nine out of ten times. Another skill was public speaking, which I am still working on a bit because sometimes I feel my voice shake and sometimes I lose the words and thoughts. Being persuasive is necessary, otherwise, your argument is pointless. I hope I have mastered that skill, in my opinion, being the opposed sometimes have no comment to block my comment. This course connects to the outcomes of this course, partially because the outcome of this course is decided by a standardized test, but also because being able to use information and history to back up and make your case is a needed skill.
These skills can be used through the future. For a job interview, you have to make an argument as to why you should be hired and not the five hundred other people applying for the job. When buying a car or comparing insurance companies, being able to find facts and compare them is important, and arguing for a better deal is nice too. Being able to speak in public is a necessary skill for a multitude of jobs. Wanting to be an engineer, this is a needed skill, as I will have to give presentations to colleagues or at large conferences. One way to improve on this assignment would be to have a larger pool of data and numbers to pull from when confronted with a topic the other side gives. I like to learn the other sides facts first si that I can structure my argument around then and tear each fact down into nothing.
E. Coli Results
This petri dish is our LB- dish which contains no ampicillin and no bacteria that are immune to ampicillin. This dish had growth because the bacteria had no antibiotic fighting them and so they flourished, with or without resistance.
This petri dish contains ampicillin and bacteria without the resistance to ampicillin. No bacteria grew on this dish because the ampicillin inhibits bacterial growth and without resistance the bacteria died.
This petri dish contained ampicillin and bacteria with the resistant gene to ampicillin. There was small bacterial growth because some of the bacteria took up the ampicillin resistance gene and grew immune to ampicillin, while others did not and then died.
This petri dish contains no ampicillin but ampicillin resistant bacteria. This dish had unhampered growth from no antibiotics. The resistant gene that some held was not used as their was no ampicillin.