Ping Pong Launcher

Apparently the 40-50 degree range would get you the furthest, but when you get to the extremes it starts going to high or not high enough to get some serious distance.

I purposely made mine small and had the black cubes on the poles so that they could swivel making it easier to aim right and left as well as up and down when launching.

RoBO Pro: Subprograms and Meters

Again I apologize for the crude nature of my program.

-The challenge was to create a master program that encapsulates our previous program to make it easier to use and less time consuming to create.

-What are the benefits of using subprograms within your team development projects?

The subprograms allow you to create a main program a lot faster and easier because you don't have to go through all the complicated processes that the original program would make you have. Instead of several variable here and there and all over the place, you can consolidate them all in a combination of subprograms.

RoBo Pro: Variables and Branch Functions

-Sorry for the crude appearance, I had to recreate this at home. But basically my caveman program here would cycle 5 times incrementing the variable every second until it got the the stop.

-Kody and I did the first project which was the start/finish line. We attempted to create a machine that would record the time it would take the "runner" to go from start to finish and beep once he crossed the finish line. Once the "runner" crossed the wires to the bar would send an electrical current from the creation of a circuit and causing the beeper to go off. We had some initial designs and other graphics but I lost them and don't remember how they were drawn out.

1. What was the most difficult part of the problem?

2. List and describe two features that were not part of the design problem that could be added to improve your design.

1. The most difficult part of the problem was figuring out how to set up the wiring for the electronics that we were using.

2. We could have added a multiply stop watch counter so that we could have more than two "runners" at a time and it would count the time it would take for each one instead of just the first. Also, we could have added a camera that would automatically flash when the connection was made to catch who made the beep first, if it was a close race.

Flowcharting

-How is flowcharting similar to using a map to plan a route for a trip?

Flowcharting is like using a map because you label and "map" out the route of what your supposed to do.

-Describe a process you do everyday.

In the morning, I get up, go straight to my dresser, get some boxers, go to the shower, get out, put some clothes on, then go to school. This happens every day except saturdays and sundays.

3.1.1 Activity

5. 0, not present, no check

6. one, present, check
7. switches outcomes of 5 and 6
9. 38 to 5000
11. 1756
12. 1632
14. the red and black wires get switched
15. the reed switch is turned on by electromagnet
16. normally closed
18. photo-resistor closed makes the light shine
19. more light means more resistance in the photo-transistor
20. reverse programming
21. leave alone

Conclusion:
1. Examine the wire diagram on the mini switch and describe how the diagram relates to the concepts of normally open and normally closed.

2. If computers only understand digital signals, then how is a computer able to interpret the analog signals coming from the interface?

3. Why does resistance decrease as the NTC Resistor becomes warmer?

1. It shows the difference between normally open and normally closed switches based on whether or not the metal touches and the switch creates a circuit or doesn't.

2. A computer understands analog signals by utilizing an A/D converter.

3. It gets warmer as the electricity flows through more freely and faster because it can move through more quickly.

Systeme International Units

l (distance) = meters

t (time) = seconds

m (mass) = kilograms

a (area) = square meters

v (velocity) = meters/second

(density) = kilogram/cubic meter

g (gravity) = meters/second squared

F (force) = Newtons

E (energy) = Joules

P (power) = Watts

Challenger Explosion

-The cause of the explosion was really weather and slight miscalculation. The o-rings, which are just rubber rings that insulate the inside of containers so that nothing can get in or out, on the rocket boosters became to cold and fractured allowing gas to leak out and, with it being so volatile, get lit and explode.

-The big picture problem was that scientists did not account for the unusually cold weather that day and the fact that rubber becomes slightly brittle when it gets frozen then heated back again. Simply changing the o-rings to something more reliable and unaffected by weather would have saved the seven astronauts.

-NASA and the nation faced similar problems. NASA's space missions became less popular with common Americans because of the fear of another tragedy and thus didn't send another shuttle for a while. The United States themselves were unsure about NASA and the safety of the people that work there as astronauts, and furthermore other countries would have heard of this and that was not good for a leading scientific power.

-Other problems have come with the hardware interface module, other weather conditions, and safety issues but with the explosion of the challenger stricter regulations and weather checks have prevented other major disasters of that caliber from happening with shuttles again.

-Just a cool little fact: my father worked at the manufacturing company that made the o-rings on the challenger, he remembers federal agents coming in and asking him and several other people questions and looking at the paperwork that he stamped verifying the quality of the rings.

Cars are King

-My passion in life is to work on and repair and restore and watch and drive cars. I love knowing how the internal combustion engine works and how it creates enough energy to drive a vehicle weighing upwards of 1 ton to speeds greater than 200 miles per hour.

-There is an entire online blog website for news updates and Chevrolet cars and how people respond to thier performance and new updates on products. Here is the link if you like cars as much as I do. http://chevroletcarblog.com

-I know for sure that if I was assigned blogs to do about automobiles and how they work I would do every single one everyday, 25/8.

Stranded Dude with a lot of Stuff

-In this activity, all we had to do was list what we thought would be most important on a scale from 1 to 15 on items that we would salvage if we were stranded out in the ocean.

-1. Water
2. Army rations
3. Trasistor radio
4. Sextant
5. Fishing kit
6. 10 liter can of oil/petrol mix
7. 15 ft nylon rope
8. Can of shark repellent
9. Mosquito netting
10. 20 square feet of Opaque plastic sheeting
11. ONe bottle of 160% proof rum
12. Shaving mirror
13. Floating seat cushion
14. 2 boxes of chocolate bars
15. Maps of the Pacific Ocean

-I chose water and army rations for the obvious reasons that I believe that having sustinance are of the utmost importance. There were a few items that were difficult that choose like the fishing kit and the shark repellent.

-Our team agreed on water being the most important item on the list, and we also ranked maps of the Pacific Ocean the same also because they would have been useless in the Atlantic Ocean. we differed on the 10 liter can of oil/petrol because they found no use for it but I thought of making a wick and use the it as a light source or even to flag down a ship but we were pretty consistant for the rest of them, we differed on a couple and even if we did it was only by a few numbers. At first we just did the worksheet ourselves then in the end we compared and shared our reasons and made changes based on the collaborative agreements we came up with.

-My choices and the Expert's choices were almost completely opposite. He ranked the Shaving mirror as number 1 while I ranked it as number 12 so that surprised me the most of all the choices that he said. Also, some of the stuff he said made perfect sense and made me feel dumb for not thinking about it at first. Of course I consider the Expert's opinion valuable but I still feel that personal experience outweighs it just because you know what to do and how to do it rather than just based on what somebody else said or believes would be the best.

AAR for the Tennis Ball Team Building

-The challenge of this game was to get the ball to pass through everybody's hands in the shortest time possible. Also it had to at least touch the person's hand, at first, and it it couldn't be just in one person's hand and everybody just touch it at the same time. The second challenge was pretty much the same as the first except that the ball had to leave the person's hand before it could touch another and be passed on. Finally, for the last challenge it was the same constraints except the ball actually had to be in mid-air before it could reach the next person's hand and one person had to touch it twice on our team.

-We collaboratively, in a sort of football huddle way, came up with the idea to make a sort of ramp for the ball using our hands and the force of gravity and tested it several times to make the necessary adjustments. We all stood next to each other in two parallel lines to be able to fit our hands into the ramp formation without being uncomfortable. Then with the second challenge we used a different technique that we came up with where again using the force of gravity we would let the ball start with one person and that person would flip their hand and let it drop to the next person and so on until it reached the end. Our third and final idea was our best, our best friend gravity came along again and starting from somebody holding it at the top we arranged our hands in vertical order with our fingers like bristles. The person let the ball drop and on the way down the ball would just push through our hands as if they were doors all the way down. It was extremely effective.

-As for our team ideas, the thing we did that worked out for the best was toss ideas around test them and make adjustments accordingly and we just chose the best idea.

-I would add just more challenging constraints like minimum amount of time in the air or a minimum distance between the players simply to make it more fun and to make us think a little harder on our strategies. It would be a good way to learn to think outside of the box to attain ideas we might have not thought of before.

-Our plans couldn't have worked better, we won the first challenge and the third challenge fair and square and way before the other team.