As promised

I have made and uploaded the physics video.

the link Here should take you to it

If it doesn't load or play comment somewhere and I'll fix it.

This may be my final post.. so don't forget to feed the fish

Phunsics day pics

Here's the pictures I didn't have that I have now.
They belong in this post.
Phunsics Day 2012

Video soon to follow!

A random post to finish off the year

To anyone that may read this...
A very productive year if I may say so, spent an entire quarter building, testing and working with my team on a hovercraft. That went quite well, even though designs for a bigger, off-tile design never left the Penultimate iPad app. Flying just above tile is just as fun though, not as dangerous either.
(not as cool as the rest of the post because this is already explained in another one)

2nd quarter
A good chunk of the second quarter first semester went to rocketry! And a lot of failed attempts at putting barbie into space with baking soda and vinegar jet packs. After which, my group experimented with actual model rocket engines and achieving a personal record of approximately 4 feet high.

 While we were making barbie an astronaut, I was doing a little side project and making a two stage rocket from scratch. Took about 2-3 weeks to build it... the first time... needless to say, it came out very nicely

Launch #1 results

So.. I rebuild, 5 of the 8 fins fell off, with one hanging from glue (i don't know how this happened). Spent a few weeks on other projects before devoting a week to fixing up Phunsics1, (the unofficial name that never got painted on)

a lot of Lego bricks and learning how to properly align wings later..

I also learned that if the nose of the rocket is too light, it can cartwheel off the launchpad (solution: filling hollow nose with metal)

BALANCE ISSUE FIXED!

100% successful launch
mid flight ignition of second stage was a failure though and the rocket became lost in the neighborhood.... 2 weeks later it's found

This cannot be saved
a third build is out of the question

Rocketry came to a sudden end..

3rd quarter
(I got pictures!!)
My group had a very busy third quarter though. Starting off with lasers and then moving to renewable energy and then barbie "bungee jumping."
The laser was supposed to be able to transmit sound to a receiver that would play it back if hooked up to a speaker. We plugged in an iPod into the laser and set the receiver on the opposite side of the room and it was attached to an old karaoke machine. With few instructions we weren't quite sure how it worked but it was successful, even though it only transmitted the bass in heavy bass songs.

Renewable energy kit comes in:
This was very useful in getting to understand how renewable energy works, for me anyway. spent about a week trying out all the different ways to make energy. there was: wind turbine, electrolyzer and hydrogen fuel cell, and a solar panel. the goal for each of these was to either a) make LED lights blink or b) turn a pinwheel. After some experimenting, we brainstormed a way to scale up any one of the sources for renewable energy... they ended up being out of the budget...

Next project! Barbie Bungee jump
Materials:
barbie, countertop laboratory lattice pipe things, accelerometer, zip ties, long springs.
Procedure:
hang barbie from ceiling on long spring, drop from certain height, adjust spring so barbie doesn't hit floor. Measure the acceleration from the fall and the de-acceleration from the sudden stop (leave data collection running while spring stops bouncing, can help calculate the springs resistance) Unfortunately we were interrupted in our experiments and data analysis by Phunsics day.

Phunsics Day!
This was a day of all of the physics project put together to show to the public to help them see what we have done in the class and get the community involved.
The main attraction was the trebuchet that had trouble launching. Many people also came to see and ride the hovercraft because it was a very unique experience, how often do you get to float?
Along with those there were also rocket launches, make your own slime, make your own duck call, an alternative energy table to show the possibilities of it, a potato "accelerator", and a few other stations.
It was a very successful day and was full of fun and learning.




4th quarter will be an awesome video in another post to show what physics is

Hovercraft awesomeness

Hovercraft! on Prezi

First few weeks of physics class

These first few weeks of physics have been interesting. Mostly it has been the class getting prepared for the upcoming year, figuring out projects and the like. Three major projects have been decided on for the year and I'm sure many more will be worked in as the big ones come to a close or the project teams need something else to work on if they get bored. The big projects are; trebuchet, hovercraft, and a wifi network that can be broadcast throughout the town. All that is being worked on right now is the trebuchet and the hovercraft.

I am part of the hovercraft team. The hovercraft was the first project to be prototyped. The prototype was very successful and got a lot of attention through the halls. Many people were taught the ways of the inertia, especially with this type of craft having almost 0 friction.
The design was a round, 4' diameter piece of plywood with a center assembly that held plastic sheeting in place. This sheeting was our bubble under the craft to provide lift.
Basic layout of the materials.



Source: Image 1

Side view showing the airflow:

The short black line is the plywood, the blue in the center is what holds the plastic in the middle, the gray rectangular thing on top is the shop-vac providing air, the green lines represent air flow and the red dots toward the center are the holes the air escapes through. If the holes aren't at this part of the bubble then there will be no air passing under between the plastic and floor, this is what provides the lift.
{poorly drawn by me on penultimate (didn't like what google had to offer)}

That was two weeks ago. Over this past week I have been reading up on hovercrafts and how they work, trying to find a low cost plan to build a bigger, better craft. Results in next post hopefully.