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First Day of Tech 7

Last year, in 6th grade technology, I made a flashlight. Mr. Calvert got this idea because a soccer team in Philippines was stuck in a cave with no light. We made a waterproof, portable flashlight as an idea to help the kids. For this project, I worked alone. I used a saw, PVC pipes, batteries, a soldering iron, LED lights and wires. I did not use this for anything, but I could use it because the light is very bright and the battery lasts very long.

Flashlight – #10

For my last project, I made a flashlight. Mr. Calvert got inspired by the soccer team that was stuck in a cave during monsoon season. Our flashlight had to be waterproof and fit inside a box that measures 6.25 inches x 6 inches x 7.75 inches. First, we made our diagram. Second, we made the outside of the flashlight. To do this we cut tubes with a saw and connected all the parts we needed together. Next, we drilled holes through the plastic for the lightbulb and the switch. After, we made the circuit to go inside with a battery, wire, lightbulb, switch, and a battery holder. We put all the parts together by soldering them. After, we put the circuit inside the flashlight. Finally we decorated it. Over all, making a flashlight was really fun.

Switches- #9

A few weeks ago we brainstormed ideas for switches. With the switches, we had to turn on a lightbulb. The way you turn on the light bulb is you have to have two pieces of aluminum foil touching. Our class came up with creative ways to turn on the light bulb. We had to make three switches. We were making switches for the car game we were going to play. The light bulb had to start  off off, then turn on. Then with an action or just leaving the switch the light bulb had to turn off again. I made two that were like a lever, and one where when you pushed down it turned on, but when you let go, it turns off. Overall, the process of making circuits was very fun and helped me learn a lot of things.

After making the switches we played the car game. The way we play this game is depending on what card comes, we had to turn on a switch.

 

Solder People – #8

Hi guys!

For the last couple of days we have been working on little people made out of wire. We made a mini wire-figure using pliers to bend the joints. Once we did this, we took hands and we soldered them on. Soldering is when you melt a certain type of metal, called solder. When you melt the solder, it is like glue for metal. The soldering machine gets up to 850 degrees hot, so you have to be careful around it. When you solder the hands on, you can make your solder person do whatever you want. I made my solder person running. Since one of the legs were of the ground I had to make a base for it to be able to stand. Over all I had an amazing time making the solder people.

Self Driving Cars – #7

I feel that the new invention that many car companies are trying to invent, the self-driving car is very important. I think so because many people have a struggle of driving because they cannot see well. Self-driving cars are important because they help people drive, and you don’t need to be an expert at driving, but you should know how to drive in case you need to take over. Even though all the car companies are working on the self-driving car, the hardware will pretty much be the same, the thing that will change is the software. The way you use a self-driving car is you say or you put in where you want to go and it will drive you there. To stop at the red light or brake when there is a car in front of you or if there is a pedestrian in front of you, they have sensors and switches. Self-driving cars can be the new future for driving.

Making Circuits – #6

In order to make a circuit, you have to have a complete circle, meaning all the wires have to connect to make a full circuit. We started off with a lightbulb, batteries and a switch, along with stripped wires that we stripped a few days before. The goal was to connect everything together to make a full circuit. We had to connect the wires to the lightbulb then connect those wires to the switch. Then we took different wires and connected those to the switch to make a full circle. We had thirty minutes to do so and you had to make sure your battery was not dead and your light bulb was working.

Here is a photo of what we did –

Multimeters – #5

Hi everyone,

For the past few days, we have been using multimeters. Multimeters measure voltage. If you have never seen a multimeter, it is the sie of a big calculator and has dials on it. The red wire is positive and the black wire is negative. When you plug both wires into the multimeter you take the red one and place it on top of the positive side of the battery and you take the black one and place it on top of the positive side. Before this, you look at the battery or lightbulb or anything else and check the voltage of it. For example, if the voltage is 9 then you move the dial to 20 because the number is under twenty or you move it to ten because it is under ten. You need to move the dial to the closest number over 9. Once you do this the multimeter says a number which is your voltage. Even though the battery says 9v that is before you used it, but after you used it you have less voltage on the battery and with a multimeter, you can check that.

here is a photo of a multimeter.

Circuits – #4

Hi Guys,

For the past few days, we have been discussing circuits. Today I am going to tell you a little bit about circuits and batteries. To start off, I am going to tell you about batteries. Like I said in my last post, negatives and positives like each other. So the power comes from the negatives trying to get to the positives, but when all the electrons are there, there is no more power and the battery erodes. This is just a little bit about batteries. Circuits. When you light up a light bulb, there has to be a complete circle for the bulb to light up. Also if you connect the negative side directly with the positive side, the battery gets hot and eventually pops. When the battery gets really hot you can burn yourself. If the voltage of your battery is 9 volts and it has to charge two lightbulbs, the voltage of both the lightbulbs are each 4.5 volts because it splits it evenly.

Atoms – #3

Hi guys,
Today I am going to tell you about atoms. There is a lot scientists do not know about atoms but many scientists are studying them. But today I am here to tell you what I know about atoms.  Atoms are made up of three things. They are protons, neutrons, and electrons. The protons and neutrons make up the nucleus. The nucleus is impossible to break apart without a nuclear force, like a nuclear bomb.  The protons have a positive charge, a way you can remember this is ‘pro’ from protons means positive. The neutrons have a ‘neutral’ charge, which means it has 0 charge, a way to remember this is from the name, ‘nuet’rons.  The electrons have a negative charge. Negatives and negatives do not like each other, and positives and positives don’t like each other either, so when you connect two things that have positive charges they will be pulled apart. But negatives and positives like each other, which is like magnets, they stick together. But when you rub a rod, you can remove the electrons and then you can make the rod a positive charge. But you cannot remove all of them.

I hope you enjoyed! This is just a little bit about atoms.

 

Breakout EDU – #2

Hey guys,

A few days ago in my Technology quarterly class, we did an activity called Breakout EDU. This challenge is where you try and find clues to open up a box. The box has a letter and symbol code locks and you are supposed to find clues to open the box up. The challenge was to open up the safety goggle box to be safe in the room. There were many challenges which include, including everyone, finding the clues, and of course, to beat the other team. Mr. Calvert gave this challenge to us because we had to persevere and work as a team. Towards the end, the other team finished the challenge while we were trying to unlock the second lock. The reason we unlocked the lock was that one person said to listen to someone who wasn’t being heard, and it turns out, we unlocked the lock. Overall, we had an amazing experience and we learned things about teamwork too.

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