Capstone Post #6–Working On The Final Product

“Capstone is a process, NOT a result,” was what my teacher said when we first started Capstone. I’ve come a long way, you’ve come a long way, (whether it’s capstone or your life) and now, I’m sorry Mrs. Cooper, but I’m going to go against what you said: I LOVE MY RESULT! After research was due (which was on my birthday, June 5th) we all know that instead of having a mad rush on the printer, printing articles, we’d have a mad rush on Google Slides, practicing, editing our presentation, and, on the most stressful day of Capstone,**?** presenting day, on June 20th.  Anyway, there are three styles that you can present in: movie style (WeVideo) or a LIVE presentation (TED Talk or Ignite presentation). I chose to do a TED Talk because I have a LOT of information, so I want the freedom of a TED Talk (there is NO WAY I can fit ALL my information in 3 minutes) and I just want it to be live, because if  my project is in a gallery walk, I’m afraid no one will look at it ?. I’ve already written my script and, well, there’s no turning back. I’ve also practiced a LOT, and I practically memorized my presentation. So if you’re going to CapCon, (anyone reading this probably will, because this isn’t a public blog) then you’re going to see Arianna’s presentation on roller coasters! 

 

Capstone Post #5–Answering Main Inquiry & Sub Questions

It took me a VERY LONG time to answer my main inquiry and sub-questions; it’s a lengthy process! But anyway, it’s finished now. So enough talking and here they are!

Sub question answers:

  1. What are electromagnets?

 

Electromagnets are special coils, that are wrapped around a conductor of electricity (usually a nail, or a screw, because coils fit better on a long and skinny cylinder than a fat and short one, for example, a penny), and then connected to a battery with a couple of wires, one connected from the coil to the plus side, and one connected from to coil to the minus side. The electricity passes through and causes the coil and the nail or screw to have a north and south side because it interferes with the magnetic north and south pole like all magnets do. This means that the coil becomes MAGNETIC!

 

  1. How do wooden and steel roller coasters compare?

 

If you’ve been on a roller coaster, you’ve probably encountered steel and wooden roller coasters. Wooden coasters are a traditional style, with steel rails and a  wooden track. These coasters are a thrill, loved for their wildness, steep drops, and more! On the other hand, this type of roller coaster often lacks corkscrews, over-banked turns, and loops, because wood is more likely to collapse under the weight of the cart and the people. But, steel roller coasters often contain loops, over-banked turns, which are turns that face the inside of the coaster, corkscrews, which are similar to loops, but they kind of twirl you upside down without the huge oval, tunnels, and high speeds.

 

  1.  How can electromagnets be used on a roller coaster?

 

Electromagnets have two uses on a roller coaster: to break (electromagnetic brakes are called eddy-current brakes) and to accelerate. Eddy-current brakes work by having an electromagnetic connection between the car and the track. The operator reverses the current, so the car and the track are attracted to each other, creating a braking force with the help of FRICTION! Electromagnets can also be used to accelerate the car up the first hill instead of using a chain. The ride operator does the same thing to break, but instead of turning the current to attract them, he/she switches it to repel them, therefore, it will burst forward!

 

  1.  Are electromagnets better than a chain?

 

Electromagnets are safer than a chain, because of the attraction between the car and the track is a lot stronger than a chain, so the chance of it de-railing is lower. Not only are electromagnets safer, but they’re more efficient. Instead of having a chain drag you up a hill building more potential energy, you can stock up a good amount of kinetic energy, and BURST up a hill! Therefore, you are gaining potential and losing kinetic energy at the same time/speed. They are also better brakes because friction brakes need to be replaced more often, due to the metal wearing off, which will lead to a bigger cost. Electromagnetic “launch pads” will also make you go a LOT faster. Obviously, any old house magnets aren’t strong enough to propel an ENTIRE roller coaster ‘cart line,’ so the operators send a high voltage to make the magnets REALLY strong.

 

  1. How has technology affected roller coasters?

Technology has affected roller coasters in many ways. It affects the safety, efficiency, and the amount of time it takes to design one. There is special roller coaster designing software that you can design your roller coaster on instead of drawing it all out on a blueprint that took three months to draw, and then spill your coffee on it. These software programs also tell you the elevation (the X, Y, and Z) of your roller coaster. So if your initial hill (the first one) is 65 meters in the air, and your second is 999,999,999+ meters in the air, you know that there’s a problem in either the cost, the physical possibility, the program, or your brain. Technology has also affected the safety, because now there are improved restraints, instead of a measly seatbelt. Electromagnets have also made roller coasters safer and more efficient. They’re safer because the connection between the cart and the track is REALLY strong, so it’s going to be harder for the cart to de-rail. They’re also more efficient, because as breaks, they take a LOT longer to wear off than friction brakes, and, instead of waiting for a chain to bring you up a hill, which takes about 15 seconds, you can be BOOSTED up a hill at 128 mph, which takes 1.5-5 seconds, depending on the speed, and the hill.

 

NOW! The moment we’ve all been waiting for… THE ANSWER TO MY MAIN INQUIRY QUESTION! (How do roller coasters work and how has technology impacted them)

 

Most people have been on a roller coaster at some point or another. Some are really fast, like 128 mph, and some are less intense, maybe they go 60 mph instead. But how did roller coasters all start? In the 1600s, people enjoyed a roller coaster/attraction called Russian ice slides. These slides were basically sculpted blocks of ice, about 40 feet tall, that people slid down. This was the main type of roller coaster, until June 16th, 1884, when LaMarcus Adna Thompson built the Switchback Railway in Coney Island, located in Brooklyn. This was the start of the roller coaster ‘Golden Age,’ which was when people started building all kinds of roller coasters.  The first steel roller coaster, called Matterhorn Bobsleds, was built in 1959, in Disneyland, California. This roller coaster evolution continued until the first roller coaster with an electromagnetic launch pad, called

Montezuma’s Revenge, located in Knotts Berry Farm, located in Southern California. But, what even are electromagnets? Electromagnets are special coils, that are wrapped around a conductor of electricity (usually a nail, or a screw, because coils fit better on a long and skinny cylinder than a fat and short one, for example, a penny), and then connected to a battery with a couple of wires, one connected from the coil to the plus side, and one connected from to coil to the minus side. The electricity passes through and causes the coil and the nail or screw to have a north and south side because it interferes with the magnetic north and south pole like all magnets do. This means that the coil becomes MAGNETIC! Electromagnets have two uses on a roller coaster: to break (electromagnetic brakes are called eddy-current brakes) and to accelerate. Eddy-current brakes work by having an electromagnetic connection between the car and the track. The operator reverses the current, so the car and the track are attracted to each other, creating a braking force with the help of FRICTION! Electromagnets can also be used to accelerate the car up the first hill instead of using a chain. The ride operator does the same thing to break, but instead of turning the current to attract them, he/she switches it to repel them, therefore, it will burst forward! But, most rides use a chain to pull a car up its initial hill. So, are electromagnets better? Well, electromagnets are safer than a chain, because of the attraction between the car and the track is a lot stronger than a chain, so the chance of it de-railing is lower. Not only are electromagnets safer, but they’re more efficient. Instead of having a chain drag you up a hill building more potential energy, you can stock up a good amount of kinetic energy, and BURST up a hill! Therefore, you are gaining potential and losing kinetic energy at the same time/speed. They are also better brakes because friction brakes need to be replaced more often, due to the metal wearing off, which will lead to a bigger cost. Electromagnetic launch pads will also make you go a LOT faster. Obviously, any old house magnets aren’t strong enough to propel an ENTIRE roller coaster ‘cart line,’ so the operators send a high voltage to make the magnets REALLY strong. Electromagnets have been a big advancement in technology that affected roller coasters, but, how has other technology affected roller coasters? Technology has affected roller coasters in many ways. It affects the safety, efficiency, and the amount of time it takes to design one. There is special roller coaster designing software that you can design your roller coaster on instead of drawing it all out on a blueprint that took three months to draw, and then spill your coffee on it. These software programs also tell you the elevation (the X, Y, and Z) of your roller coaster. So if your initial hill (the first one) is 65 meters in the air, and your second is 999,999,999+ meters in the air, you know that there’s a problem in either the cost, the physical possibility, the program, or your brain. Technology has also affected the safety, because now there are improved restraints, instead of a measly seatbelt. Electromagnets have also made roller coasters safer and more efficient. They’re safer because the connection between the cart and the track is REALLY strong, so it’s going to be harder for the cart to de-rail. They’re also more efficient, because as breaks, they take a LOT longer to wear off than friction brakes, and, instead of waiting for a chain to bring you up a hill, which takes about 15 seconds, you can be BOOSTED up a hill at 128 mph, which takes 1.5-5 seconds, depending on the speed, and the hill. Also, there are many types of roller coasters; wooden and steel, but how do they compare? Wooden coasters are a traditional style, with steel rails and a  wooden track. These coasters are a thrill, loved for their wildness, steep drops, and more! On the other hand, this type of roller coaster often lacks corkscrews, over-banked turns, and loops, because wood is more likely to collapse under the weight of the cart and the people. But, steel roller coasters often contain loops, over-banked turns, which are turns that face the inside of the coaster, corkscrews, which are similar to loops, but they kind of twirl you upside down without the huge oval, tunnels, and high speeds. In conclusion, roller coasters can work in many different ways. There is a specific way to make it physically possible, but never a right way to make it fun.

 

Capstone Post #3–Interview

I FINALLY got my interview! Yaaaaaaay! I interviewed Crystal, an engineer at The Gravity Group via email. She was only able to answer 5 out of 11 of my questions, but I requested an interview to four different companies/people, and I forget some of their names… ANYWAY, back to the interview I actually got: Crystal was REALLY nice about taking her time to answer my questions. Her answers were fairly lengthy, about a paragraph long, and to the point. Speaking of ‘to the point:’ I LOVED THE ANSWERS!! I can’t put them on this post, though, because the document she answered them in is on my dad’s drive, and there are two problems with that:

  1. I don’t know his password
  2. I have no clue about the first thing about hacking drive accounts if that’s even possible

 

I had attempted to interview two people before I found The Gravity Group, which was someone at Six Flags: Great Adventure (I had mentioned that in my first post) and the biggest roller coaster company in America, (“Yeah, you’d be extremely lucky to get those guys,”my dad had said) S&S Worldwide. The hr (human resources) viewed the questions from the link we shared with her, and apparently, she wasn’t able to answer most of them, and this was one of their busiest years, PLUS (as if there weren’t enough reasons) she’d have to get many people from the company to answer my questions, and she couldn’t do that. Now, the reason that I couldn’t get an interview at Six Flags, a reason that is unspoken, THE UNSPOKEN REASON, IS ABOUT TO BE SPOKEN: no one replied to my email. 🙁 The other reason it took me SO LONG (dramatic flare) is because I was waiting for a while before I gave up on the company/amusement park for an interview. This interview affected my daily life! This was the average walk home from school with my dad:

“So, did I get a reply?”

“No”

“Awww…”

“You need to start looking for a backup!”

“I’m trying, and I gave a list of phone numbers and emails to you.”

“BUT THIS IS YOUR PROJECT, NOT MINE!”

“I KNOW, I JUST WANT YOU TO SEND THE EMAILS BECAUSE I DON’T HAVE AN EMAIL!!”

“YOU NEED TO TAKE INITIATIVE!”
“I AM, I CALLED A COMPANY YESTERDAY, AND THEY COULDN’T ANSWER THEM, REMEMBER?!?!”

“Oh yeah…”

“AUUUGH!! WILL YOU SEND THE EMAILS PLEASE?? FOR THE LAST TIME, I DON’T HAVE AN EMAIL!!!”

“Okay, fine…”

“GOOD!”

YEESH! Now that I write that conversation out, I realize a very important lesson about being nice: I need to politely ask my dad to give me an email. ANYWAY! Crystal even managed to answer a couple of questions that I thought were meant for an amusement park staff, for example, “How often do you maintain a roller coaster?” She answered that with “We check that everything is working every day. In the winter, we take the cart off the track…” (I don’t remember the rest). Anyway, I plan to get more answers if I manage to get all extra four of my interviews!

 

Capstone Post #2–Choosing Main Inquiry Question & Sub Questions

Today I made my last edit to my main inquiry question and my sub-questions.  When we first started, with the main inquiry question, I had mine right away: ‘How do roller coasters work?’ I knew this would be my main inquiry question in mind since the fourth grade, so I gave up with trying to come up with a backup question. After that, I started with my sub-questions. After I came up with about three, I was thinking, ‘Hey, this is actually pretty easy!’ so I came up with five. But I didn’t realize that some of them didn’t quite fit with my main inquiry question, for example, one of them was ‘What is the most efficient material to build a roller coaster?’ So after a bit of work, I managed to take away and add a few sub questions. But there were still a couple that didn’t fit that well, so I made my main inquiry question a bit broader. Now my main inquiry question is ‘How do roller coasters work and how has technology impacted them?’ Now, all of my sub-questions fit with my main inquiry question! Here are my sub-questions:


  1. What are electromagnets?
  2. How can electromagnets be used on a roller coaster?
  3. How does technology keep rides safer?
  4. Are electromagnets safer than a chain?
  5. How do wooden and steel roller coasters compare?
  6. How has technology affected the safety of roller coasters?

Capstone post #1

I have finally chosen my capstone topic!! (I actually chose it last year) My topic is rollercoasters, and I found the phone number for Six Flags, Great Adventure, in Jackson, New Jersey (I plan to call them to schedule an interview). Conveniently enough, I built a K’nex rollercoaster a couple of years ago. Another convenience is that after I went to Hershey Park with my friend, my dad studied how roller coasters work, and taught me the physics behind rollercoasters. Thank you, dad. My sub-topic (which is also my backup topic) is the history of Action Park from the 70’s to the 90’s. It was considered one of the most dangerous amusement parks in the world. I’ve actually been there before, after it reopened, of course, in 2014. I watched a video on YouTube and a documentary about Action park, and there were some rides that are still there, and some rides that were just completely eliminated. One of the rides that are still there is the wave pool. Of course, now all amusement parks have a wave pool, but Action Park was one of the first amusement parks to have a wave pool, but they didn’t really estimate things accurately, so you would see 30, 40 people clinging on the ladder, while you see waves taller than a grown man all over the pool. Sadly, 3 people died on this ride. In fact, 6 people died within only about 20 years of operating, which is a lot of deaths, when you think about it. This is the documentary that I watched:

http://goo.gle/YxD1Rg

 

You’ll learn more about both of these topics in my TED Talk on presenting day!

The Final Rube Goldberg Post (#6)

I forgot to mention a really important thing we changed: our task. Originally, we were going to put stuffed animals in a box, a.k.a. “OPERATION PUT YOUR TOYS AWAY!!!” But not anymore! Now, our task is to put a rubber ducky back in it’s lake, (which is a bowl of water) while all it’s friends waiting. Sadly, he only has 2 friends. Anyway, we call this task, “OPERATION 1 DUCKY LEFT!!!” We actually changed it about a week ago, which still is a bit late, considering the fact that today is 1/28/17. Eventually, IT WAS A  SUCCESS!!!! Hooray! It was on 1/27/17, at about 4:00 p.m. We got it right on our third try. Hooray! Again! The next day, (today) we tried it again, to make sure it was correct. Somehow, we got this one on our 16th try. Yay? It’s Maya’s job to knock over the first domino, and on the 14th try, she got so upset, that she launched into SUPER-INSANE-CAPTAIN-FALCON MODE!!!! She punched the first domino with all her fifth grade strength, so much, that it made the box of pasta that it was standing on, collapse. She got even more upset when that attempt failed.

4th Rube Goldberg Post

First thing first: if we went with our original Rube Goldberg design, you might as well say in a public newspaper, “Piranhas live on Mars!” (that means that it’s a lie that we went with our original design). It will take forever to  list all the changes we made, so I will. First of all, originally, there would be a see-saw activated by a ball falling into a cup, causing the cup on the other side to slide on the other side, knocking over Jenga blocks. But, we figured out that it’s impossible to keep a cup, resting on one side of a wooden plank that’s in the sky, without having the cup slide by it’s self. So, we decided just to put a screw, attaching only one cup to the plank, which will then fall one the ball falls inside it, knocking over the Jenga pieces, and so on. Also, we ended up getting lots of wood from my dad’s building workshop, or as I like to call it, the building “woodshop”.  Also, we did a few experiments on the slide part; a yo-yo, that unwraps around a pole, is supposed to hit a -tennis ball, resting at the very beginning of the slide, blocked from going down by a staple slightly poking above the slide “floor”.  I had two different tennis balls- one smaller than the other- we figured that the bigger one is better because it could poke out of the slide even more, allowing the yo-yo to hit the ball easily. Anyway, this is the picture(s) of our sketch:

(About 90 percent of this is physically impossible)

 

 

3rd Rube Goldberg Post

I wonder about many things in the universe, like, why is Earth the only planet that can support life right now? But in this post, I’m only going to talk about our Rube Goldberg. We have so many steps, over 13, and I’m worried we wont finish building in time! So far, I think this project id fun and challenging. I can’t wait for what’s down the road! I think searching for materials will be the most fun. So far, I’ve learned that a great result only comes with hard work, unless somebody did the hard work for you. My favorite part so far is writing these posts because I get to unleash what the final product will be like!!!

Some questions I have on this project are:

  • Why does designing feel like I’m an architect designing another Empire State Building rather than a fifth grade project?
  • How did Rube Goldberg come up with the idea of the Rube Goldberg?
  • Can we have more time???

 

 

Rube Goldberg Post #2

Currently, my partner (Maya Regenstreif) and I, are almost done with our sketch, and will start building soon. Our Rube Goldberg will need LOTS of marbles and cardboard. We have lots of weight-activated steps, which means we’ll be using lots of pulleys. The most important material we need is…STUFFED ANIMALS, because that’s the main material we need for the task, which we call “OPERATION PUT YOUR TOYS AWAY!!” I expect t o face many challenges, because some parts of our design go against the laws of physics, apparently. I predict that we’ll have about 20 fails. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but if something dangerous happens, I have no idea what could’ve caused it, because the only kind of weapon we’re using is a mallet. Wish us luck!!

 

Goals For Rube Goldberg Project

My class is supposed to make a Rube Goldberg, which is basically an over-engineered machine to do a simple task, like push a button. We could either work alone, or in partner ships, or any form of a group that contains at most four people. I decided to work in a partnership, with Maya Regenstreif. We are almost done with our design. The task we want to perform is to put stuffed animals into a bucket, which we call “DA BUCKET”. We call this task “Operation Put Your Toys Away!”. Since were only at the beginning, I want to put down some goals I have.

  1.  We were given a rubric, that shows what goes below the expectations, meets the expectations, and what exceeds the expectations. I would like to exceed in all.
  2.  I want to create lots of weight activated steps in the Rube Goldberg, because I think that would be pretty cool and over-engineered.
  3. Finally, I would like to have a successful Rube Goldberg somewhere around try #20