Science and Engineering

Science Energy Transfer Project: Reflect and Share

How well I met the success criteria:

I completed my project within the given time limit.
The dice spins and the result is randomized.
The motor is powered by a battery and is activated by a switch.
The product is quite durable and can be used over a long period of time.
It is also customizable – Can put multiple dice and remove them with relative ease.

How my product works:

A switch is pressed and it activates a motor that spins a plate that helps roll the dice.
The battery is chemical potential energy and it is transferred into kinetic energy to spin the motor. It also has some sound and heat energy as its waste energy.

Reflections:

I am glad I changed the initial design so that the battery is changeable and is flatter (not just a cup shape)
If I were to improve my product in the future, I would probably 3D print a container or some way to enclose the battery and hide it. (To make it look more polished.) Currently, the battery is just sitting out in the open which is not super appealing.
I believe that adding the bumps on the plate with hot glue was a good decision, as otherwise, the dice wouldn’t really roll randomly. It would just spin in a circle without changing the surface. I think this was a massive oversight when I was designing my product.
After I added the bumps, however, the dice roller became super loud due to all the vibrations and bounces in the device. I would try to at least make it a bit quieter as the loud noise is quite annoying once you spin it repeatedly.
I might change the activation method. Right now it is activated by a switch that you turn on and off. However, it may be wiser for me to make a button that spins the dice only when it is held down. This would make the product more interactive and would save people the hassle of trying to push down the switch.
The aesthetic of the roller is nice, but it looks very homemade and DIY. If I had more time, I probably would add paint or decorations or some LED lights when the dice roller spins. This could make the product seem more professional or polished.

Impact of my product on the environment and potential client:

My product could be used in casinos or arcades where a dice roller would be nice to have. It could also be a personal product that people keep at home for board games.
The product is made from all recycled materials, like spare wood, and plastic bottles that otherwise would’ve gone to waste. It is built with the environment in mind. However, the battery is not the most environmentally sustainable. It could be replaced with other methods of energy but the battery is the most compact and simple method that I had.

Science Energy Transfer Project: Create and Improve

Day 1:

Before I begin actually building the structure of my roller, I first want to make sure my circuit works, so I got a switch, battery, and motor and soldered the circuit together. It spun and worked well. Then, I took it back apart, because I need to reroute some of the wires under my structure to hide it.

Learning how to solder was quite fun and I was pretty bad at it at first. However, I started to get the hang of it after a few tries. It’s oddly satisfying to be completely honest.

Day 2:

I took Andy’s leftover single-use plastic cup and washed it. I then cut the bottom to get only the top lid. This lid will come in quite handy as I can take the lid off the ring to insert dice into my project. There is also a small hole on top which people can also use to put dice inside.

I then cut out a wooden circle with the help of Ms. Amanda to build the base of my dice roller. This is where my lid will be attached to and where my motor and components will be hidden. I hot-glued it to a piece of cardboard and routed my wires back through. I had to solder them with the structure which was a bit of a struggle but it worked out all right.

Day 3:

I fully assembled the technical part of my project. The motor and switch were soldered together and hot glued to the base as well. I noticed that the switch could fit right against the base, which ended up working very well.

Here’s a picture of the build with the lid on:

Day 4:

I did some testing using dice, and I noticed a problem with my design. When the dice were spinning, they spun against the wall and were not really getting shuffled. It was just being spun around due to the speed of the motor. To fix this, I decided to add some bumps to the surface to vary how the dice would spin to make it actually roll and randomized. I used a hot glue gun to add small spots where the dice would bump and fling upwards too. This definitely helped as afterward the dice would give me a randomized result, rather than just staying the same and spinning.

Some feedback I got from others:

Andy: It’s alright. You might want to use a dice that doesn’t just have the letter C and a dot. Also, I wonder what would happen if you put in multiple dice?

Bowen: I’m sorry Eddie, but I feel like this is a bit unnecessary as you can literally just do this: *shakes dice in container*
But the idea of adding bumps to make it randomized is very creative.

Austin: Very fancy.. very.. fancy. Maybe the casino can use this in the future.

Andrew: woahh.. very cool. It’s a little bit loud though when it spins. But it’s like super satisfying watching the dice roll around.

Here is a video of my final product:

Science Energy Transfer Project: Develop and Plan

After concluding that I would make this dice roller, I started drafting a plan and seeing how I would build it. Initially, I thought I could fit everything inside one plastic bottle (like the one the cafeteria has) but after getting some feedback from my peers I realized that the switch would be placed inconveniently and the battery would be inaccessible. These are all bad ideas and are not very user-friendly.

Because of this, I thought that it would be smart to move the battery outside so the user can replace it once it’s out. Also, I made the entire structure flatter to make the dice more visible.

With this new layout, I had to settle on how the technical stuff would work. I spent some time looking at the available materials and decided that a motor, battery, and switch would do the trick. A wooden circle plate would be attached to the motor and spun.

Success Criteria:

The dice must be rolled randomly.
The dice must be rolled effectively and efficiently.
A button should power the contraption and it should be powered by a battery successfully.

Science Energy Transfer Project: Define and Inquire

Energy transfer is a fundamental concept in science and engineering, and it’s important to understand how it works in our daily lives. In this post, I’ll explore some potential ideas for my science project that I could undertake to showcase energy transfer.

Idea 1: Rube Goldberg Machine

A Rube Goldberg machine is a complex machine that performs a simple task in a convoluted way. Rube Goldberg machines can be incredibly complex, and they’re a great way to demonstrate how energy transfer works. I could build one, but it might be a bit too complicated and annoying to make. (way too time consuming)

Here’s a picture of a Rube Goldberg machine that I found:

Crazy Contraption Physics Article for Students | Scholastic Science World Magazine

Pros: Rube Goldberg machines seem like they are fun to build, and they can be very entertaining visually. They also allow me to showcase multiple energy transfer concepts in a single project.

Cons: Rube Goldberg machines can be time-consuming to build, and they require a lot of trial and error to get right. They also require a lot of space, so I’ll need a large workspace to build one.

Idea 2: Wind Turbine

A wind turbine is a device that converts wind energy into electrical energy. I could build a small-scale wind turbine using PVC pipes, a motor, and some other electronics.

I found a video of a small-scale wind turbine on YouTube:

Pros: Wind turbines are a great way to demonstrate how renewable energy works. They also seem relatively simple to build and I could just follow this tutorial.

Cons: Wind turbines require wind to function, so I’ll need to test mine in a location that gets a lot of wind like in the OLE (which isn’t practical.)

Idea 3: Small DIY Car

I could build a car using a small motor, a switch, and some wheels.

Pros: it’s a moving car… who doesn’t like moving objects? It shows energy transfer from a battery to a DC motor which powers the car.

Cons: I probably do not have the ability to control the car’s speed and direction which is upsetting. I don’t want to build a car that only goes forward with no freedom of movement.

Idea 4: Dice Roller

This is something that I thought of when researching and brainstorming ideas for this project. I could make a dice roller out of a motor, battery, and switch. It would be functional and unique.

Pros: Unique, creative, and a fun project. Not too complex but not too simple.

Cons: Getting the right materials and dimensions to fit my motors and materials. The design part is going to be difficult.

In conclusion, there are many potential DIY projects that I could undertake to demonstrate energy transfer. Rube Goldberg machines, wind turbines, and DIY battery-powered cars are just a few examples. Each of these projects has its pros and cons, but the dice roller idea definitely stood out the most. I’ll probably do it since it’s unique and I haven’t seen anyone else do it before.