Homemade Electromagnetic Speaker
For this little project I decided to make a homemade speaker. Although it didn't end up working I learned a lot about electromagnetism. This device was supposed to work through a magnetic connection. This device simply works through three parts: the electricity, wire, and magnet. When the wire is connected to the auxiliary cord there's a transfer of energy that results in creating a magnetic field around the wire. This makes the wire into a magnet and hypothetically when the two magnets touch the sound is heard.
Home-Made Battery
This homemade batterie includes three main parts. The cathode, anode, and the electrolytes. The anode is the negative electrode whereas the cathode is the positive electrode. Meaning the cathode gives off electrons and the anode takes the electrons. The battery works when the electrolyte mixture flows through the anode and cathode. In my battery, I had a copper anode, aluminum cathode, and a soda electrolyte mixture.
Satirical Rube Goldberg Machine
This project was a whirlwind of deadlines and lots of learning. We started off the project focusing on simple machines and energy conservation/transfer. We learned about the six simple machines such as an inclined plane, wheel, and axel, etc. We then made rough draft rubes and began to get the feel for what good rube Goldberg machines were like. Lastly, we were challenged to incorporate satire into our final Rube Goldberg machine.
Rube Goldberg:
Project Reflection
This project was very confusing if I am going, to be honest. Although I definitely know that I learned a lot from this project. One of the things that stood out to me was energy transfer. Energy transfer is when energy is transferred in a different direction. For example this would occur if something was moving one way and then got switched mid-movement in a different direction. This can be seen in my rube in a couple of places but the most important place is definitely my pulley. As the weight is messed with in my pulley the energy is transferred. Meaning that as the weight goes up or down the energy is transferred in the opposite direction. For example, in my rube when the tree falls down the parmesan container attached to the pulley goes up. This shows energy transfer because as the tree goes down the parmesan container goes up. The energy in this example goes from kinetic to potential energy. Now, what is the conservation of energy? The conservation of energy proves that energy cannot be destroyed nor created though it can be altered from one form to another. Meaning that this idea was heavily incorporated into my rube Goldberg. For example, throughout my rube, the energy was altered with and changed but it was never destroyed. Each step made the energy change in my machine. For example, the energy started out as potential energy on top of the inclined plane but as the car rolled down the plane the energy began to convert to kinetic energy. This means that there was a switch in energy but never complete destruction of the energy. This happens to show that this theory is accurate.
The six simple machines consist of the inclined plane, screw, wheel and axle, lever, pulley, and lastly the wedge. They are important because they make up the essentials of what Rube Goldberg machines are. Without these machines, there wouldn’t be any rube Goldberg machines meaning that they are essential in creating a good rube. These simple machines are all used in my project. They all are very important because they make up aspects of my rube Goldberg. Meaning that these machines are essential in creating a worthy Rube Goldberg. Each simple machine is used differently in my rube Goldberg. This helps strengthen my satire aspect as everything is unique and means something else. My challenge step in my rube was the 720 spiral. This step was pretty hard to make but very rewarding. I made the spiral out of cardboard and hot glue. This step works because the ball rolling down the spiral will stay on the outside giving the ball a better chance of making it down. I chose it because of two things. First off the spiral helped increase my usage of satire in my machine. I also picked this step because I wanted to challenge myself which came from making a very confusing spiral.
This project was very confusing but also very engaging and fun. I learned a lot about the six simple machines and energy as a whole. Though my greatest takeaway from this project is definitely my capability to do things that are challenging. For example, making the final video for this project was very intimidating. I wanted to make sure that the video was good enough but I honestly was very stuck as I had no prior editing skills. I challenged myself in creating a video that was above my expectation but in a way that made myself nervous. Leading up to making the video I was feeling pressured though after the video was complete and I turned it in and I was relieved. I knew instantly that pushing myself was a very rewarding thing that paid off. I aced the video which proved I could do anything I put my mind to. The greatest challenge during this project definitely was when I was trying to master my final step. During the creation of my Rube Goldberg, I was very stressed if my final step would work or not. It took me the most time when I was trying to figure out a place where the dry ice could rest that was easy to knock into the water. I spent hours trying to brainstorm ideas on how to fix my heart aching problem. I soon thought making the platform out of playing cards would be a good idea. Sure enough, it worked and I was stoked because my whole rube worked. My greatest strength throughout this project was problem-solving. A common frustration with Rube Goldberg machines is things not working. Believe me, I had plenty of things that didn't want to work on that pissed me off. Though I used my problem-solving skills and after a while for each problem I had, I would eventually find a solution. This made my mind very good during the project which allowed me to feel confident throughout the entirety of this project. This meaning I was able to solve the problems that I ran into.
The six simple machines consist of the inclined plane, screw, wheel and axle, lever, pulley, and lastly the wedge. They are important because they make up the essentials of what Rube Goldberg machines are. Without these machines, there wouldn’t be any rube Goldberg machines meaning that they are essential in creating a good rube. These simple machines are all used in my project. They all are very important because they make up aspects of my rube Goldberg. Meaning that these machines are essential in creating a worthy Rube Goldberg. Each simple machine is used differently in my rube Goldberg. This helps strengthen my satire aspect as everything is unique and means something else. My challenge step in my rube was the 720 spiral. This step was pretty hard to make but very rewarding. I made the spiral out of cardboard and hot glue. This step works because the ball rolling down the spiral will stay on the outside giving the ball a better chance of making it down. I chose it because of two things. First off the spiral helped increase my usage of satire in my machine. I also picked this step because I wanted to challenge myself which came from making a very confusing spiral.
This project was very confusing but also very engaging and fun. I learned a lot about the six simple machines and energy as a whole. Though my greatest takeaway from this project is definitely my capability to do things that are challenging. For example, making the final video for this project was very intimidating. I wanted to make sure that the video was good enough but I honestly was very stuck as I had no prior editing skills. I challenged myself in creating a video that was above my expectation but in a way that made myself nervous. Leading up to making the video I was feeling pressured though after the video was complete and I turned it in and I was relieved. I knew instantly that pushing myself was a very rewarding thing that paid off. I aced the video which proved I could do anything I put my mind to. The greatest challenge during this project definitely was when I was trying to master my final step. During the creation of my Rube Goldberg, I was very stressed if my final step would work or not. It took me the most time when I was trying to figure out a place where the dry ice could rest that was easy to knock into the water. I spent hours trying to brainstorm ideas on how to fix my heart aching problem. I soon thought making the platform out of playing cards would be a good idea. Sure enough, it worked and I was stoked because my whole rube worked. My greatest strength throughout this project was problem-solving. A common frustration with Rube Goldberg machines is things not working. Believe me, I had plenty of things that didn't want to work on that pissed me off. Though I used my problem-solving skills and after a while for each problem I had, I would eventually find a solution. This made my mind very good during the project which allowed me to feel confident throughout the entirety of this project. This meaning I was able to solve the problems that I ran into.
Photographs of Physics
Project Description:
The end goal of the project was to make a photograph using one of the scientific terms we learned about. The terms are commonly known as refraction, reflection, waves, color, light waves, and lastly light emission. For my project, I decided to do an underwater refraction picture.
Underwater Refraction
Image Description:
The photograph above is an underwater photo showing refraction. I took this photo with my phone camera inside a plastic bag to protect the phone from the water. The light refracts when the light travels through the medium which in this case is water. The light refracts because the air is thinner, whereas the water is denser. When the light goes through the medium, which in this case is the water. The light slows down which causes the bend of light.
Project Reflection:
During this project, I feel that my biggest strength was my problem-solving skills. I also enjoy photography and like editing. It helps that I enjoy photography as this project is based on photography. In the last stages of this project, I was editing my photo. This stage was probably the toughest for me because my photo was a little blurry. I was stuck for a while trying to make it less blurry but soon realized I didn’t know-how. I then thought for a while and soon decided the best move would be to highlight other things in the photo to drag the viewer away from the blurriness. This worked in my mind and I really like how my photo turned out. Another area where I used problem-solving was when I made a darkroom for my pinhole camera. The light kept on shining into the room from the window even after being smothered in towels. I then thought of a solution. Soonly after thinking about what would work better I thought of cardboard which instantly saved the day.
The biggest challenge during this project was definitely when my pinhole camera didn't work. This mentally affected me as I was very disappointed that it didn't work after many hours of preparation. I at first thought that the whole experience was useless and that I didn't learn anything from it. Though soon after I realized that if something fails it isn't necessarily useless. I was still pretty upset that it didn't work but I got through it as I realized that there was nothing I could do and I should just leave it in the past. In the future, if a similar situation should occur I will try and be more optimistic from the get-go as life is so unpredictable and the only thing that can make failed situations better is being optimistic in my eyes. I do think from this experience I have grown. I believe I have grown in the sense of being less naive. I now know that if something fails it isn't useless and instead it is a learning curve that could help you succeed the next time.
My biggest overall takeaway is the new knowledge I learned from this project. The thing I really enjoyed was learning about refraction. Refraction is such a cool phenomenon that can be seen in so many ways. I also enjoyed learning about color and reflection as both of those can also have a mass variety of examples. I learned all of the properties of reflection/refraction and how they both work which was extremely intriguing. The reason why I chose the knowledge aspect for my biggest takeaway is that I feel that I will remember it and may be able to teach others down the road. The biggest example of the knowledge I learned can be seen in my final photograph. The photo I took shows refraction as the light bends through the medium. There is also evidence of the concepts I learned in my image description as it proves how the refraction works.
When it comes to growth as a scientist, I feel that I have grown in the sense of following directions in projects using science. When it came to science projects before this project, to be honest, I didn't follow most of the instructions unless it was a lab. For this project, I learned and have grown to follow the instructions way more. This was very important because one of the big parts of our project was the pinhole camera part. There were two pages of instructions for the darkroom. As well as for the fixer and developer solutions. At first, I wanted to ignore the instructions but after being lost I knew that I had to turn to the instructions. Using the directions I made a good darkroom and successfully made the fixer and developer. This project helped me realize that following the instructions fully is the way to go.
Personally, I feel that I excelled in this project. I really enjoyed the topic and in more depth photography as a whole. So starting off a project already invested in the topic helped me thrive way more. I also feel that I excelled in learning new information. In most classes, I was very engaged and definitely tried to learn something new each time. The new knowledge I gained was because I enjoyed our topics and wanted to learn more. I feel that I gained as much as I could have from this project and definitely excelled in the learning process. Although some of the things during the project failed like the pinhole camera. I do feel that I tried my hardest and used the most effort I could have. The last reason why I feel I succeeded was that I am genuinely proud of my final photograph. I know I went outside of the box by taking a photo underwater which in my eyes is very cool. I also don’t get bored looking at it and that is another reason why I am proud of the work I created.
The biggest challenge during this project was definitely when my pinhole camera didn't work. This mentally affected me as I was very disappointed that it didn't work after many hours of preparation. I at first thought that the whole experience was useless and that I didn't learn anything from it. Though soon after I realized that if something fails it isn't necessarily useless. I was still pretty upset that it didn't work but I got through it as I realized that there was nothing I could do and I should just leave it in the past. In the future, if a similar situation should occur I will try and be more optimistic from the get-go as life is so unpredictable and the only thing that can make failed situations better is being optimistic in my eyes. I do think from this experience I have grown. I believe I have grown in the sense of being less naive. I now know that if something fails it isn't useless and instead it is a learning curve that could help you succeed the next time.
My biggest overall takeaway is the new knowledge I learned from this project. The thing I really enjoyed was learning about refraction. Refraction is such a cool phenomenon that can be seen in so many ways. I also enjoyed learning about color and reflection as both of those can also have a mass variety of examples. I learned all of the properties of reflection/refraction and how they both work which was extremely intriguing. The reason why I chose the knowledge aspect for my biggest takeaway is that I feel that I will remember it and may be able to teach others down the road. The biggest example of the knowledge I learned can be seen in my final photograph. The photo I took shows refraction as the light bends through the medium. There is also evidence of the concepts I learned in my image description as it proves how the refraction works.
When it comes to growth as a scientist, I feel that I have grown in the sense of following directions in projects using science. When it came to science projects before this project, to be honest, I didn't follow most of the instructions unless it was a lab. For this project, I learned and have grown to follow the instructions way more. This was very important because one of the big parts of our project was the pinhole camera part. There were two pages of instructions for the darkroom. As well as for the fixer and developer solutions. At first, I wanted to ignore the instructions but after being lost I knew that I had to turn to the instructions. Using the directions I made a good darkroom and successfully made the fixer and developer. This project helped me realize that following the instructions fully is the way to go.
Personally, I feel that I excelled in this project. I really enjoyed the topic and in more depth photography as a whole. So starting off a project already invested in the topic helped me thrive way more. I also feel that I excelled in learning new information. In most classes, I was very engaged and definitely tried to learn something new each time. The new knowledge I gained was because I enjoyed our topics and wanted to learn more. I feel that I gained as much as I could have from this project and definitely excelled in the learning process. Although some of the things during the project failed like the pinhole camera. I do feel that I tried my hardest and used the most effort I could have. The last reason why I feel I succeeded was that I am genuinely proud of my final photograph. I know I went outside of the box by taking a photo underwater which in my eyes is very cool. I also don’t get bored looking at it and that is another reason why I am proud of the work I created.