Category: 6th Grade

Tech Post #9: Nikola Tesla

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This is, sadly, my last post. I thought it would be nice if I talked about another great inventor in this post, and that inventor is Nikola Tesla. Tesla was born July 10, 1856. In his later years, he was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, and a mechanical engineer. He was most known for his contribution to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system. He studied engineering and physics in the 1870’s without receiving a degree. But the lack of the degree didn’t stop him since he became one of the world’s most renowned inventors of all time. Some of his inventions were the discovery of radar technology, X-ray technology, and the basis of most AC machinery. Now his life story is pretty long and I mostly just wanted to express my gratitude towards him since he is an amazing inventor and made technology that we still use to this day. All in all, I think he was a great inventor. Again, this is my last technology post, and it deeply saddens me that we didn’t do that many projects but I still loved this quarterly and it’s probably my favorite quarterly I’ve had so far.

Tech Post #8: Mechanical Engineering

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Hello everyone! This post is going to be about our new topic, mechanical engineering. The Coronavirus is still spreading, thus having us stay and work from home. Anyways, the new topic I think is pretty fun. So far, we are learning about how different shapes can affect how durable a structure is, and we learned that triangles are the best shape to use since all of the angles rely on each other, so the angles would only move if the corresponding sides move. I honestly think this is really cool and I now have a totally different view on triangles. I can’t wait to see where this takes us, but with the end of the marking period rolling around, I’m afraid that it would have to be cut short. I am also very sad that we barely got to build anything in this technology class and all the other classes got to. But I’m still grateful since I’ve learned a lot about atoms, metals, and now mechanical engineering.

Tech Post #7 (Metals and Substances)

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Hello everyone!

We still have not gone back to school, and I wonder if we will continue the rest of the year like this…

Anyways, we just finished our atoms unit, and we learned about metals. I thought it was really cool to learn new stuff I never knew before this, like steel is actually an alloy made of iron and carbon, and people are inventing new metals such as metal foam which may or may not have a huge impact on the world. We also learned that the atoms in certain types of metal (like copper) are arranged in rows and columns, and when metal (like copper) conduct electricity, the subatomic particles known as electrons pass through the spaces and move towards the electrical current. I really loved this unit, and I thought it was very interesting. It’s so cool to imagine that everything in this world is made up of small particles, which we still don’t know all about to this day. I can’t wait to get to 8th grade and learn about more atoms! 😁

Tech Post #6: Leonardo da Vinci

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Hello! I thought I might take a break from posting about online learning and technology, and instead focus on one of my other favorite inventors, Leonardo da Vinci. Many people know him for his fantastic art pieces such as The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa, but not many people know he was also an amazing inventor. One of my favorite inventions he has made is the Scythed Chariot. His first impression of this idea was ink on a paper sketch showing how this amazing war machine worked.

If you read my post about Archimedes, you may know that I am fascinated in anything war related, and this chariot is nothing different. The spinning blades would move courtesy to the pulleys and cams in the box under the blades. This chariot would take out entire infantry lines, and due to added protection on the back, no one could possibly attack the charioteer from the rear. Though this invention may not have existed, it is still one of my favorite inventions, and in my opinion, a great idea for an ancient war tank.

Tech Post #5: Atoms

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Hello everyone. Due to the coronavirus, all students were permitted to stay at home, and so, the teachers started online learning. I’m so sad that I can’t go to school to work on the cool projects in Tech, but we still get to learn at home. We started a unit on Atoms, and it’s actually really interesting. So far, I’ve learned that an atom is made up of subatomic particles, protons, neutrons, and electrons. As you may (or may not)  have guessed, protons have a positive charge, neutrons are neutral, and electrons have a negative charge. In the middle of an atom, there is nucleus, which is super small. It’s so small, that (for example) if you were to enlarge say, a grapefruit so you could see every atom that makes up said grapefruit, it would have to be the size of the earth. Each atom would then be the size of a blueberry. If you looked and looked for the nucleus in that blueberry, you would have to then, enlarge it again to the size of a football field, and the nucleus would be dead center, and it would be the size of a marble. Yeah, it’s that small. Anyways, that’s all I’ve learned so far, and I hope to learn even more. I can’t wait!

Tech Post #4 (Sauntering and Jewelry Making)

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Hello! We haven’t finished our Automates, but that is an ungoing project, so now we are making jewelry. We started by making some designs and we had to keep in mind that we could only use 5 wires for the first design we make, but after we are allowed to use any amount of wires we want. I am making a necklace for my mom since her birthday is coming up. I really can’t wait to see where this project is going to go, and so far, I’m having lots of fun! I hope my mom likes the necklace. 😁

Tech Post #3: Automates (continued)

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This is my 3rd post for Tech, and we are still working on automates. We hot glued the box together, which houses the gears that make the motion happen, and my teacher used a laser cutter and cardboard to create my cam and my follower. My cam is a circle that has a hole in it, and my follower is an avocado shape, also with a hole in it. To make these, we used an app, Vectornator, and we made shapes for our cam and follower.

So far, this is a really fun project, and I can’t wait to see my final product. The motion that is going to happen on top is a warrior with a sword that is in a chopping up and down motion. I can’t wait to finish this project, and I can tell it’s going to be really fun from here! 😁

Tech Post #2: The Automates

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Hello, this is my second post for Technology. We are currently working on Automates, which are kind of like small boxes that house a small contraption that has a reaction to something else.

In these Automates, there are things called Cams and followers, which are kind of like gears that make something move. For example, in the picture there is an Automate that when you spin the dowel on the side, the duck on top of the box moves around the small bridge. This automate uses a cam and a follower to make the duck move.

I’m really excited for the next steps in this process, and I really can’t wait!

Tech Post #1: Archimedes The Inventor

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Hello! This is my first post for 6th grade Technology, and so far, it’s been s blast. I just read this article about this Greek inventor, mathematician, physician, and engineer, Archimedes. He was really cool, but I wanted to post about one specific thing he created the worlds first “death ray”. During the Siege of Syracuse (Sicily) during 212 B.C., the Romans were taking over Syracuse, but most of the Roman infantry were frightened out of their minds, and they had a reason to, because they’ve heard the stories of Archimedes’ inventions…

He made many other battle inventions, like the Archimedes Claw, which basically picked up giant warships and drowned it’s passengers, but lets not get off track. This invention was supposedly made by sanding giant bronze shields, and soldiers would hold these gargantuan shields and use the reflection of the sun to their advantage and would burn down Roman ships. This ancient “death ray” would make one of the greatest empires in the whole world petrified out of their skin.

Archimedes made a huge impact on the world with his intelligence and his inventions, and this is why I wrote about him in this blog. Sadly, these inventions didn’t stop the mighty Roman Empire, and they eventually took over Syracuse, but Archimedes’ legacy will stay in the minds of many knowing inventors around the world.