Science 9 Energy Project Create / Improve

Posted on by William

Day 1:

We start brainstorming what type of helicopter we should be making. We decide to make a CH-47 Chinook, and I begin to prepare materials.

Day 2:

Gavin finished the design, I found some motors, and Alex found propellers. We just started making our product. Also, 3D printing is completed. We begin to assemble our propellers and attach them to the motor.

Day 3:

We finished making the motor part, and the laser cutting of the skeleton of CH-47 is finished. Gavin and Alex assembled the first motor onto the skeleton. I did some soldering of the motor and picked some good-quality 9-volt batteries.

Day 4:

We assembled the second motor-propeller system to the skeleton. After a few tests, we don’t think the helicopter will lift up, but there is no time left for us to change that day.

Day 5 Last Day:

We tried our best to make two new propellers. But the helicopter is still struggling on lifting up. We can’t find a better motor in such a short time.

 

Improve:

I think we can choose a more potent motor. The major problem for our helicopter is that the weight is too much for our motors to function. If we can solve that, I think there is a chance that it can fly.

 

Science 9 Energy Project Reflect / Share

Posted on by William

Success criteria:

  1. The helicopter is able to lift off and fly.
  2. Me and my teammates learned something that meets our expectations.
  3. Me and my teammates considered safety issues during the design and building process

I. Lift off

We tried our best to let our helicopter lift off. But as long as the motor is not strong enough, we can’t lift it, even though we applied only a little weight on it. We were having a hard time struggling with how to increase the speed of the propellers. Our final solution was to use a 9-volt battery, which is quite a lot for our weak motor, but still, it worked, and the motor spun faster. On the last day of our building, we wondered if the propellers were too small, so we designed two new propellers using the popsicle stick. After installing these onto the helicopter, We found that it works even worse. We think those new popsicle propellers may be too heavy (You can see how weak the motor is…)

 

II. Learning

Even though we failed on the first criterion, we still learned a lot. First and most importantly, we knew that flying was such a tricky thing. Also, I improved my soldering skill; my teammates learned more about electronic design and circuit making. The new skills learned make me think that we probably succeeded at this point.

 

III.Safety

I considered safety as always first place. Since we are playing around with electrics, it’s really important to ensure the voltage is OK for the human body. Although Alex was accidentally cut and bleeding by the spinning propeller, that was the only safety issue. After Alex was injured a little because of that, he also started to focus on safety. Overall, I think this was pretty successful, but not as successful as the second criterion.

 

Pic. Final Product

Science 9 / Develop and Plan

Posted on by William

DEVELOP & PLAN 

Materials:  

Required: 

  • Electric soldering iron
  • Solder wire
  • Glue gun/Super glue
  • Lithium Battery
  • 2 brushless motors (at least)
  • Signal transmitter (2.4G)
  • Cardboard/Pressed plastic
  • Popsicles/Plywood

Optional: 

  • Light-curing 3D printer (if we need to use Resin)
  • Controller (if we have time)
  • CNC machine
  • Laser cutting machine (if we need to use metal or cardboard)
  • LED lights (for flex)
  • Mother board
  • Plastic film

Techniques: 

Ability to debug motors 

(Ability to) Use of soldering irons (soldering techniques) 

(Ability to) Use of hot melt glue gun 

(Learn how to) Create lift using propellers 

(Optional) Use of Ultimaker Cura 

(Optional) Use of 3d modeling software such as fusion 360 or else 

Plan: 

  • Gather materials (Listed above)
  • Build different types of propellers based on research
  • Test how much weight twin propellers can lift (Using a piece of cardboard and weights)
  • Design and distribute weight of the helicopter based on the findings above
  • Start laser cutting pieces
  • Connect electrical appliances
  • Build outer shell
  • FLY!

 

 

Science Project Grade 9/ Define and Inquire

Posted on by William

This task asks us to make a machine or tool that can transfer energy.

 

Idea 1: Gun with short-stroke gas piston (Gun is also considered an energy conversion device.)

However, the Chinese standard of identifying a “real gun” is if the muzzle has a kinetic energy of more than 1.8 J/cm2, and if you want to make a short-stroke piston, it needs too much more kinetic energy than this, so it is not possible.

Not possible: Breaking the law…

Gas-operated reloading - Wikipedia

 

Idea 2: Flying machines, such as biplanes or helicopters (scaled down)

It is possible but super hard: it requires 3D Modeling(fusion, etc.), 3D printing(Ultimaker Cura), Programming(Java/C++), Designing(Blender, etc.), Circuit Design, and a lot more. The money to buy materials may be several thousand RMB.

Possible: Highly difficult

重型运输直升机传动系统构型与技术特点- (国内统一连续出版物号为CN10-1570/V)

 

Idea 3: REAL Rocket (2-stage rocket or 1-stage rocket)

Possibly, But if you want to play for real, you need propellant and an engine, and these civilians can hardly buy. But there are other ways to consider.

Possible: Most Difficult

Rocket Parts

 

Idea 4: Water Rocket

It is considerable. There are no items you can’t buy, nothing illegal, and it’s safe. All that is needed is water, a container, and some 3D-printed parts.

Possible: Not hard

 

Final Idea: Helicopter (In idea Flying Machines)

Alex and Gavin also want to make a helicopter. It’s hard, but we are willing to try. We grouped up.

LNF Humanities

Posted on by William

Book Title: Flowers in the Gutter

Author: K.R. Gaddy

Topic: Nazis, Resist, German, WWII

Whole Topic: When tyranny comes, There have to be someone or a group who stands up for civilians, write anti-tyranny flyers, do speech publicly, and wake up the resistance thinking of other citizens who are also struggling hard with life, to fight against those unfair and wrong rules.

Central Idea:

1.Nazis was making citizens’ life really hard on their homeland (Germany), There were lots of unfairness and violence happened, lots of citizens died for no reason or an accusation imposed by others: Some were sent to jail, some were been executed, some were been looted money. these things are all happened by no reason. People live in fear that time

2. people have to stay calm, have their own thinking and not follow others when their homeland is having problem, unfair laws, large conscription and brain washes.