Throughout the Grade 9 year, I have fully read a two works of fiction and is currently reading my 3rd fictional novel for independent reading of the 9th grade school year.
The books that I have already finished are called “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” and “Around the World in 80 Days”, with the prior being a gothic story from the perspective of Mr. Utterson and revolves around the investigations and mysteries of the “two” main characters: Jekyll & Hyde. On the other hand, the latter is a travel adventure novel describing and from the perspective of Phileas Fogg’s trip around the world.
The work of fiction that I have started and is currently reading is called “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.” Which is a fictional novel that revolves around this so-called “sea monster” that seems to be enormous in size and is also responsible for many shipwrecks and disappearing submarines in the Atlantic ocean. An expedition (or so-called hunt) then commences as the characters try to find out what might be the truth lying behind this wild phenomenon.
The main mechanism of the Newton’s Cradle is that the released marble hits its adjacent marble, which then acts as a chain reaction causing the energy to be transferred down the line of marbles, ultimately resulting in the upwards swinging motion of the last marble. This mechanism is also a simple yet effective way to show the energy transfer from potential (when the initial marble is held up) to kinetic (when the energy is being transferred through the marbles causing the movement).
Much of my initial planned out structure for my Newton’s Cradle design was changed in terms of its dimensions and positioning. The original plan was to have a 2cm thickness for all pieces of the wooden structure with 4 supporting pillars touching the edge of the base. Due to material thickness limits, my new plan cut the thickness to either 10mm or 5mm, and also cut the width of the higher supporting pieces from 2cm to 1cm. Similarly, the positioning of the pillars were also adjusted inwards as otherwise the length of the higher supporting pieces would not be enough to be able to touch both sides of the structure.
As for the main area of improvement for my project, it would definitely be the material of the string used for the Newton’s Cradle. The string that was threaded through the marbles of my project was elastic string, which caused some problems as it was too stretchy. This impacted the result of the my project as it decreased the efficiency of the energy transfer through the marbles, which resulted it potentially less swings of the finished project. If I were to change this I would choose a string material that would not be or does not even stretch so that I can minimize the wasted energy from the string material aspect of this project.
Something that I learned throughout this project is to always have a backup idea for your designs. In terms of this project, time was an essential issue, which meant that the design could not be too complicated since it had to be finished within the allotted time frame. My initial design had to change many times as I was trying to find fairly balanced dimensions. The thickness then also had to change due to the material, which costed even more time.
Overall, I think my Newton’s Cradle project was successful as I was able to finish within the allotted time frame, and the finished project can indeed show functionality similar to the original Newton’s Cradle mechanism. The dimensions and pillars are quite balanced, and the glass marbles can be adjusted into one line.
Created front/side view models for Newton’s Cradle design
Ordered glass marbles for Newton’s Cradle design
Laser cut wood framework of the Newton’s Cradle design
Initial Design (Side View)
Initial Design (Front/Back View)
Feb 27:
Starting Part 1: Wood Framework
Adjusted wood framework dimensions* according to the maximum material thickness of the Laser Cutter
Glued laser-cut wood pieces according re-adjusted Newton’s Cradle design
* The maximum thickness for wood was 5mm, so I cut the thickness of the base to 1/4 and the higher supporting pieces to 1/2 of their original thicknesses. The thickness and width of the pillars also got cut to 1/2 of their original dimensions.
I decided on one of the projects from my research: the Newton’s Cradle. Mainly because there isn’t much time allotted for this project which meant that this plan had to be viable to finish in less than 3 classes. The Newton’s Cradle would be a simpler design and would take less time that my other projects and plans researched. For energy transfer, it would show the potential energy when you lift up a marble from one side transfer into kinetic energy when you release the marble. Kinetic energy would then be transferred through the mechanism resulting in the marbles on the two sides to move for several repetitions, which makes up the core mechanism of the Newton’s Cradle.
Materials:
String * 1.4m (approx.)
25mm Marbles *5 (preferably fully transparent)
20cm*15cm*2cm wood *1
14cm*2cm*2cm wood *4
20cm*2cm*1cm wood *2
Tools:
Laser Cutter
Wood Glue
Hot Glue Gun
Plan:
Feb 23: Order glass marbles, laser cut wood bases/pillars
Feb 27: Glue wood pieces together to form the overall structure of the design, Cut string and thread the string through the marbles, hot glue threaded marbles to the structure of the design
Mar 1: Finalize project, finish missing steps/components of the Newton’s Cradle design
This would be an ambitious idea to execute for me as within the allotted time I would have to learn many new skills and techniques regarding how to use solar panels and how to use electrical circuits to connect and piece together the battery pack.
Some pros of this idea is how it contributes to a good cause – learning how to use and how sustainable energy functions. It also might have a better purpose as battery packs can be really useful for the many technology products we use today.
As for energy transfer, the battery pack would harness solar (light & heat) energy and transform it into electrical energy.
Potential Energy to Kinetic Energy Transformation – Newton’s Cradle
The Newton’s Cradle is known for how it demonstrates the conservation of momentum and the conservation of energy with its swinging spheres. It should also be a good idea for this project as it transforms potential energy (when it starts) to kinetic energy (when the ball maintains the swinging movement).
Some pros of this idea is how it should be simpler compared to other alternative as tutorials online are available and the practical part of this idea is pure hands-on without needing much new technical skills to be learned. It will for sure not function as the original toy since the swinging motion takes away energy from the mechanism but it should definitely look quite good and interesting.
Wind energy transformation – Wind Turbine/Windmill
This would also be an interesting idea for this project, as it also focuses on one of the sustainable energy sources: energy from the wind. There are also many tutorials online on how to construct and make a functional windmill, but it would also require certain skills of understanding and skillsets of using circuits, which would definitely be quite hard within the given time allotment.
Some pros of this idea is also that it serves a good cause of using sustainable energy sources. The design and final product would also look fairly cool and should be adequate prototype to something that could be very useful in generating sustainable energy at a much larger size.
As for energy transfer, the windmill would use the kinetic energy from the air (wind) and transform it into electrical energy.
This is my video for my capstone project regarding the issue of plastic pollution. Since half a century ago, plastic usage has increased by an exponential amount with no end in sight. As the main cause of this issue, we have the power and obligation to work together and come to a solution.
Plastic pollution has been a serious issue especially as we enter the 21st century. A time period designed for the further pursuit of automation and convenience. Plastics, emerging into everyone’s perspective through its 2 big words: “Cheap and Affordable.” Although this convenience made many modern inventions and products possible, it also without a doubt that plastics came at a cost that is much harder to pay for than pure money. Not only can plastic pollution contaminate our oceans, but it can also harm us and the health of our society. Therefore, as we are the main cause to this worldwide issue, we have the power and obligation to fix this. This sway eBook above is my capstone essay, discussing the impacts of plastic pollution and how we can possibly fix this worldwide phenomenon.
This journal follows the perspective of a French baker named Travis Bonnet. Throughout the 3 journal entries you will be able to find the change in attitude of Travis towards the revolution from fear to determination and then to disappointment. From the ‘eyes’ of Travis, you will be able to discover a new point of view towards the French Revolution: Not from either side of the conflict, but rather as a bystander to this whole situation. From a common citizens’ perspective, what might the French Revolution look like in its entirety? From the perspective of someone from the Third Estate, what consequences might the French Revolution bring? When survivability becomes a concern, is the mere chance of freedom even worth the price? This is the French Revolution through the ‘eyes’ of Travis Bonnet, a common citizen baker from the Third Estate.
Was the French Revolution Worth It? This has always been a question ever since historians started to study the French Revolution. And to that question in my perspective a simple answer is no. The French Revolution did not accomplish much as to what initially thought, the initial goal was only to overthrow King Louis XVI’s monarchy because of his incapability to govern and bring back France from its economic crisis. What actually happened due to the success of revolution against King Louis XVI was the increase of authority of the Jacobin Party, which meant Robespierre had very much power over France. A revolution against a dictator should end in freedom, and not in the rise of another. Not to mention the death of hundreds of thousands of lives during Robespierre’s ‘dictatorship’. Even after the Reign of Terror, with Robespierre guillotined, the rise of the French Directory and later the rise of Napoleon came next. This revolution started in a mere hope of liberty, equality, and fraternity. But the result of this ‘successful’ revolution brought one dictator after another, with no one seeming to care about the original economic crisis that sparked this whole chaos throughout France. This is why I believe that the French Revolution was a total disaster and was not worth it at all.
“If the attribute of popular government in peace is virtue, the attribute of popular government in revolution is at one and the same time virtue and terror, virtue without which terror is fatal, terror without which virtue is impotent.” – Maximilien Robespierre. We stand here today in 1789, and no one is safe against the continuous laws of one ruler to another. Things are going way too extreme to what everyone had originally thought. No one wanted another dictatorship or monarchy. This is the French Revolution. Sometimes it is worthwhile to sit down and think, what is the difference between theory and practice? Or in other words, was the revolution genuinely worth it? From King Louis XVI to Robespierre to Napoleon. What has actually changed, and what was the price of that change? This video below contains 5 of the most significant events of The French Revolution; The Tennis Court Oath, Storming the Bastille, The Declaration of the Rights of Man, The Reign of Terror, and The Rise of Napoleon.
In the previous unit, we were tasked to choose a literary non-fiction book from the collection of books provided. As for myself, I choose the book “Bomb” by Steve Sheinkin. This historical non-fiction read is a perfect representation of the sophisticated events during WWII and the devastating effects of nuclear weapons. Before 1938, no one knew that nuclear fission was possible. After the famous discovery by radiochemist Otto Hahn of how uranium atoms could split in half and produce a substantial amount of energy in the process, everyone knew that a race to build this new powerful weapon was destined to begin. This is the story of the atomic bomb.
Below are pages from my notebook that reflect my thinking throughout this read. I have selected 3 pages discussing topics around the theme, central idea, issues, and extra research about the book. Thank you for reading in advance!
