Archive | May 2020

Tech Post #6

This week was shortened because of Memorial Day. Since we had Monday off, we weren’t able to learn a new topic for the week, which means this week we didn’t have a tech project. During class on Tuesday, we continued learning about gears. I am still unclear if gears are officially a simple machine or not, because some people say they are, but some people say they aren’t. So are they really simple machines? We learned about how to find the mechanical advantage of gears, and what specific types of gears do. It was a fun week, but I’m looking forwards to next weeks project, because sadly this week we didn’t have one.

Tech Post #5

Yesterday for tech homework we had the choice to build a catapult or a shaduf. In class we have been learning about levers, and catapults and shadufs both are made up of levers. I chose to make a catapult. There were two types of catapults that we could make, and to be honest, I chose the one that looked easier, although the other catapult had a frame and I wanted to try it out as well. Building the catapult was really fun, and so was testing it! The marble inside of the bottle cap went really far, which made it more exciting! I can’t wait for next weeks project! Below is a picture of my catapult.

Tech Post #4

This week was my first time creating something with fab maker studio. It was kind of confusing when it came to folding the paper, so I decided to start out easy and create a rectangular prism. After printing the shape out, I cut out the shape of the unfolded-rectangular prism. Once I cut it out, I folded it, which was the hardest part, because the lines of where to fold weren’t there. So I had to fold it where I thought was correct. It turned out pretty good for my first project using fab maker studio, but I don’t think I folded it right because some sides didn’t match up to the other sides. Next time I use fab maker studio, I might try something more complicated and fun. Below I attached a picture of my rectangular prism.

Tech Post #3

Yesterday, I built two cubes. One just a plain cube, and the other one a truss cube. The truss cube could hold more weight then the plain cube could, because it had triangles, which doesn’t collapse since the angles are locked and won’t break unless the opposite side of an angle breaks. I used toothpicks and cut up carrots to build the cubes. It was a tough process, since my toothpicks weren’t sharp on both ends, and the toothpicks kept getting loose. I had to re-build the cubes quite a few times before the toothpicks would stop falling out of the carrots. It was challenging, but also fun. Below I attached a picture of my two cubes: