Blog Post #6: Cranks

Last week I started working on my crank. A crank is very similar to a cam, but the mechanics inside of the box is different and a little more complicated. To make your cam, first you make the box, which has the movement inside of it. Then you have to fold, cut and glue all of the little parts, put them together and you put them inside of the box. Finally, you put the ends on and you crank is finished! Well, not quite, you need to put some sort of animation on the top. I chose a plane is the sky. Mow you are done! Here is my finished project:

and here is the back:

Beams: Blog Post #3

This week I worked on a project involving beams. First, we had to create two beams. The first beam I had to create was a classic I-beam. Next, I had to create a beam of my choice. So I decide to created a different type of I-beam, that looked sort of like a smushed-down I. Once I had finished these two beams I had to start the test. I took two little tables with even heights and put them a bit less than a foot away from each other. Then I took a plastic reusable bag and put the first classic I-beam through the handles. I put the I-beam laying across the space between the tables with a little less than an inch 0f the beam on each table, the bag hanging down under it with out touching the group. Then I started, one by one, placing books in the bag. Finally, I had put in 14 books. At this point I decided to stop putting in books because the beam was tilting to the side, but it showed no signs of breaking, which means that this I-beam is very strong! Next, I re-set the books and took off the first I-beam. I slid the next beam through the handles of the bag and set it across the tables. I started out putting the books into the bag and soon noticed that the beam was tilting a lot! So much in fact that it was about to fall! Even though both of they beams were technically able to support 14 books, the first beam, the original I-beam was obviously stronger. So in doing this project, it helped me realize that I-beams are very strong and I now understand why I-beams are used in a lot of structures!

Final Project

I chose to do the spreadsheet for my final unit 1 project. The spreadsheet I chose was the U.S. State Data spreadsheet. In this spreadsheet, the columns are state, state abbreviations, area of the state (in square miles), and the state’s population. All of these columns are filled out for each state. I added a knew column, which was people per square mile, for each state. To do this I had to divide the population by the area by first putting an equals sign in the cell, then I clicked the cell that holds the state’s population, and the cell coordinates  appear. Then I type a slash, and I click the state’s cell that has its area and that cell’s coordinates appear. Finally I press return and it calculates the state’s people per square mile. To do this to every single state, you highlight the whole column and press auto fill. Another thing I did to the spreadsheet is I sorted the state’s population Z-A. Everything I wanted to do to the spreadsheet I was able to do. So, that is what my chart shows, and here is a screenshot of it!

Spreadsheets: Wellness Log

This week, we have been continuing our work with spreadsheets. Here is a spreadsheet that I created, and a chart that I made using it:

To create this spreadsheet, I  first created the rows and columns, then I wrote in my categories, (days of the week and activities) and as the week went by, I filled in however many minutes I did of each activity that day. Lastly, I created the totals of minutes I did of physical activity each day, and averages of how many minutes I did of each activity in the week.

To create a total, you don’t have to do the math yourself, you just have to use a function. The create the function, you start off with an equals sign in the text box, and click in the boxes one at a time to add them together. They should appear in the text box after the equal sign. Make sure that you type a plus sign before clicking the next box you want to add. An example of what your function might look like after doing these steps is: =C1+C2+C3+C4 Then, the last step is to press enter/return, and your total will replace that function in the cell.

Another topic a spreadsheet might be helpful for would be if you were on a diet, you could use a spreadsheet to help you keep track of how many calories you ate each day.

Launching and Graphing Rocket #2

In this blog post I will be talking about our launch of rocket #2, and graphing it. Since it was the 2nd time doing everything, it went a lot quicker than the 1st launch because we now knew that we should get more people to get videos of the launch. For graphing, it was a lot faster because we already knew how to do it, so we didn’t need explaining. Also, we didn’t mess up the graphing as much. So, now, I’ll tell what happened during all of this.

 

At our 2nd launch, I was the rocket launcher, and the rocket retriever. Again, I wanted to be the countdown master, but I was at least the retriever, which is one of the things I wanted to be. I think that our rocket went really high, but the clinometer readers for our group said that it wasn’t as high as I thought it was. It went lower than our 1st rocket. Our rocket went at least the 3rd highest. I think it went the highest, but I’m not sure. I think that when I was a clinometer reader, I got it perfect. I also think that it’s fun being a clinometer reader. My group didn’t really argue at all, and it was easy to figure out what jobs each person was going to be.

 

The clinometer readers on the field said that our rocket went 36 meters high, and the clinometer readers opposite them said that our rocket went 42 meters high. When we used the graphing chart, we ended up seeing that our rocket went 41.5 meters. When we used a computer to convert it into feet, we saw that it went 136 feet high. For rocket #3, we are changing the fins to bigger fins. This is because we know that our nose cone is very good, and we have tried both types of bodies, and we think that if we make the fins bigger, then the air will repell off the rocket more. My team didn’t argue at this stage, and we agreed on everything, so that made it easier.

Plant Post #1

My class has been learning, and experimenting with plants. We had to come up with a question to experiment with. My group decided that we would, instead of providing our plants with plain water, we would provide our plants with salt water. My hypothesis was that if we put salt in the water, then the plants would die because the salt would soak up the water. Our controlled plant has plain water, sunlight, fertilizer, soil, and two seeds. The manipulated, has salt, water, sunlight, fertilizer, soil, and two seeds.

 

Our controlled plant grew 3 ½ cm over the past week. The plant has always been green. Now, the plant is medium sized and is leaning a little to its side because of its weight. Before our manipulated died, the salt water made it stop growing. Our plant kept shrinking, but then it grew up to 6 cm. Our manipulated plant was green, but the stems started turning white. The plant slowly dropped lower and lower as the days went by, and eventually, the plant died and was not standing up at all.

This is a picture of our controlled plant and manipulated plant. The controlled plant is the one that is green and healthy, the manipulated is the one that is drooping a lot.

Maglev Post #2

What we did today that worked was we got the train across the track! We put two strip magnets on the edges of the track. That allowed the train to run smoothly. On the train, we put two strip magnets aligned with the strip magnets on the track. Before we tested it, we made sure that the all of the magnets had the same pole facing each other.

What we did today that failed was that the edges of the magnets on the train, attracted to the edges on the magnets on the tracks. Because of that, I learned that even the edges of the strip magnets are magnetic. To fix the error, we moved the magnets on the tracks toward the middle of the tracks a tiny bit. This aligned the magnets on the train to the magnets on the tracks perfectly!

 

In our next design, we are putting weights on our trains. We have to improve our train so that it works with weights on it. My goal for next session is to put more strip magnets on top of the other strip magnets on the tracks. This way, the force of the magnets on the bottom will be stronger. Hopefully, it will work and be able to hold the weights!

Maglev Post #1

A maglev train is a train that “floats” or levitates. This is possible because if you face two like poles towards each other that causes them to repel. Therefor, the magnet on the top, levitates. My group’s idea was that we could put three strip magnets on the track, and a disc magnet on each corner of the train.

What I did today that worked was that the train levitated above the tracks. This means that the magnets were facing each other the right way. What I did today that failed was that when I gave the train a little tap, it moved a little bit, but then stopped. We need to find a way to get the train all the way across the track.

 

My experience working with my group was good. We all did a great job of taking our turns of sharing our ideas.What was challenging for my group was agreeing on our final idea. Eventually, we came up with our idea. Overall, I think my group did a good job!

My Expert Book – 3L

This is my expert book about cats. I chose this topic because I have a cat at home so I know a lot about them.

I had to think about what I do for my cat, and what he likes and doesn’t like. Then I had to make my chapters. When I was done making my chapters, I started writing them. I thought about the facts that I needed to know to care for my cat. I figured out a way to put them into my book. For my pictures, I found pictures that matched my writing. I wrote captions that matched my pictures.

I enjoyed putting all I knew about cats into my book and finding really cute pictures! What was challenging was writing detailed captions.

I hope you learn a lot about cats from my book and that you enjoy reading it!