We did two projects in technology, electroscope, and wire cutting. Today I’m going to talk about how to make an electroscope, and what it does. First, take a glass and put it on cardboard, cut out a circle in the cardboard that is the dimensions of the glass. Cut a line to the middle of the cardboard and spread out the paper clip except for a little hook. Put a conductor, like tinfoil on the end and flip the glass over. Put the cardboard contraption on the glass, and then put a statically charged ballon to the clip, the foil will move. This is due to the electrons entering the tinfoil and charging it enough that it gives a little jitter.

This week in tech we learned a whole lot about atoms, and electricity. We learned about the periodic table, what it is, and how it is organized. We learned how small atoms are, and we also learned how big the universe is. We learned about the origin of how atoms was discovered. We also learned what an atom is made out of and what role electrons play in atoms.

In tech class this week we learned and cut out cams. This week, I learned how to use that sharp pencil thingy, to cut out my cam. These cams are supposed to power automatons. Automatons are basically clockwork robots, and they can do amazing things. We watched a video in class a few weeks ago, that said and showed automatons writing, dancing, living and even playing a flute. This is super exciting, because it shows a real possibility of complex robots.

This week in tech class we learned about different types of levers, and built our own levers, shaduf or catapult. Today I’m going to talk about the lever i made. I built a catapult then turned it into a game, the game was an aiming type competition. In class, we learned about the mechanical advantage of levers. Mechanical advantage is basically, how much strength you put in, to how much force you get out. The point of a lever is to give you the biggest possible mechanical advantage.

This week in technology, we built trusses. This was an interesting topic, because we learned about the structural strength of shapes. Our trusses were built out of baby carrots and toothpicks, yet they could carry books. We learned that triangles are a powerful shape. This showed how structure can affect the maximum load of an object.