Energy Resources

1. The thing that surprised me the most was the fact that energy is conserved. It can neither be created or destroy and only a percent of the energy created is actually useful to us.

2. One thing that surprised me was that natural gas accounts for 1/5 of energy production in the word. It also is 90% efficient meaning that only 10% would be considered waste, but it counts for 60% of pollution.

3. Describe and defend what you believe to be the best energy source(s) to be investing in.
I definitly believe we should be investing our time and money into using all the inexahaustable energy sources espicially solar beacuse solar panels can easily be placed on top of houses and building so everyone would be producing their own energy and there are very low bad consecuences to using this type of energy source. It won't have effects on the enviroment like those of using nuclear energy or coal powered energy.

Cardboard Canoe

13 ACHIEVEMENTS (Potentially 14 or 15)

Tape Selection

• 2'' by 60 yds =      $ 10 = 4320 in square          $1  = 432 in. square
• 1.88'' by 45 yds = $ 6 = 3045.6  in. square       $1 = 507.6 in. square

Achievements:

Design Process:

• Define the Problem: Build a canoe out of cardboard that follows the above constraints.
• Brainstorm:
1. Lightest person inside the canoe
2. Not to long(hard to maneuver)
3. Not to low on the sides (water can get inside)
4. Not to high on the sides ( too heavy)
5. Calculate buoyancy
6. Trimaran
7. Catamaran
8. Box inside so that person can sit
9. Person lay flat on canoe
10. Outside people push the canoe to make it move
11. Make Paddles
12. Bend big piece of cardboard hotdog style, cut ends in half and tape them
13. Cut big piece of cardboard in half, cut each half into trapezoid
14. Incorporate origami so it can fold into a good shape with fair structure
15. Have canoe be shape that can glide through water (not like a box shape)
16. stable side so bending is avoided
17. Use cardboard strips that span the width of the canoe to hold sides up together\
18. Have a rudder to help steer
19. Tape the whole outside of the canoe so it won't disintegrate
20. Tape should be vertically place
• Criteria & Constraints
• Criteria: Build a canoe out of cardboard on which one person stands on it for 10 seconds whilst it moves. 
• Constraints
• You may only use Cardboard and Duct Tape for this event.
• All Staples or other foreign material must be removed from your cardboard. If we trash the pool, we will not be invited back for other activities during the year (yes, we have other activities in mind for 2nd semester).
• Cardboard must meet our quality standard and be approved by the instructor (more info to follow)
• Each boat must have a minimum of a 3" tall "sidewall" (no completely flat designs).
• All exposed cardboard must be covered in duct tape (this will reduce cardboard disintegration in the pool).
• Each team will be provided one "versa table" cardboard box piece and two 60yrd rolls of duct tape. Any materials beyond this (likely need more cardboard) need to be resourced by your team.
• + Person cannot grab on to sides of the boat. Person on the boat has to make boat move not have someone push the boat
• Sketches:


• Prototype:
• Select an Approach:
• Positives: Matches the V-bottom
• Negatives: Sides open to wide when sitting inside the boat.
• Ideas: Make a seat or connect top of sides with a cross bar.
• Questions: Will it float?

Building Achievement:

• Build it!

• The Early Bird Gets The Achievement: Yes!
• V-Bottom: Yes!

Test Achievements

• Testing was a fail because we had difficulty getting in the boat first. Once it got wet it was practically destroyed. Although, we did improvise and used it as a surf board which lasted the rest of the time.

• Videographer
• To be posted later

Reflection Achievements: 

• Feedback -
• Positives: According to calculations it would have been able to support a lot of weight.
• Negatives: Not stable
• Ideas: Should have put the hulls on the sides to help stablize it.
• Questions:
• How Low Did You Go?
• The water roughly went half way up the canoe.
• Yes, it was surprising that it didn't go down to far into the water we thought it might spill in.
• What is the unit weight of water in pounds? 62.4 lb/cu. ft
• How much did your pilot weigh (roughly)? 105lbs. 
• Since our boat was roughly 24 cu. ft it should have been able to hold (62.4*24)= 1497.6 lbs. so that is plenty enough for us not to sink.
• Redesign
• 
• I'd probably build a flat bottom design because it would have increased the surface area and made it more stable for it to turn.  And maybe add wings to also prevent it from flipping.
• Make Your Own Achievement:
• "Improvisation" : although our canoe sunk, our team was able to convert it into a surfboard style design and continue competeting.

Rules of the Road

what Criteria (rules) would you add to the Mousetrap Racecar Challenge to help "level" the playing field?

• Who can build a working car faster?
• Maximum amount of pieces that can be used or maximum price
• Lightness of car in weight

Character: True Grit

Grit ScaleDirections for taking the Grit Scale: Please respond to the following 17 items. Be honest – there are no right or wrong answers!

1. I aim to be the best in the world at what I do.
Mostly like me   +4

2. I have overcome setbacks to conquer an important challenge.
Mostly like me   +4

3. New ideas and projects sometimes distract me from previous ones.
Very much like me  +1

4. I am ambitious.
Somewhat like me  +3

5. My interests change from year to year.
Very much like me  +1

6. Setbacks don’t discourage me.
Mostly like me   +4

7. I have been obsessed with a certain idea or project for a short time but later lost interest.
Somewhat like me  +3

8. I am a hard worker.
Very much like me  +5

9. I often set a goal but later choose to pursue a different one.
Mostly like me   +2

10. I have difficulty maintaining my focus on projects that take more than a few months to complete.
Mostly like me  +2

11. I finish whatever I begin.
Mostly like me  +4

12. Achieving something of lasting importance is the highest goal in life.
Very much like me +5

13. I think achievement is overrated.
Not much like me  +4

14. I have achieved a goal that took years of work.
Very much like me  +5

15. I am driven to succeed.
Mostly like me  +4

16. I become interested in new pursuits every few months.
Mostly like me  +2

17. I am diligent.
Very much like me +5

Avg Grit: 3.4
Consistency of Interest: 1.8
Perserverance of Effort: 4.5
Brief Grit: 3.25
Ambition: 4

Feedback:

• Positives: I do put effort into the work I do.
• Change: I should be more consistant with my interest.
• Ideas: Once I have an interesting idea, I should follow through with it instead of changing to a complete new subject.
• Question: Why don't I follow through with all my interests/ideas/etc.
• PS. As for consistancy of interest, I think it will always be changing because as time moves on, new things pop up and catch your interest and you tend to forget about your old interest because the new one seems better to you in your mind. And to answer to my question: Usually I think of somethng else whilst being in the middle of a project that I think is better so I end up switching and leaving the old one half done. 

Mouse-Trap Race Cars!

We've been studying the concept of using mechanical advantage to trade force for distance or distance for force. Our challenge was to build a race car following the next instructions:

Criteria: Design, build and compete with a Mousetrap Race car (A "car" uses at least two axles).
Maintain a clean workspace.

Constraints:
One mousetrap
No more than 12" of masking tape
Fischer technique robotics parts
No more than 24" of string
You must work through the stages of the event (see Achievements below)
Additional materials by Instructor approval

I completed 10 Achievements, as follows:

Design:
Brainstorm:

• will need 4 wheels
• Firm chassis
• hold the mouse trap down in place (or else it will sling-shot back)
• lever
• trade force for distance
• balanced
• fair amount of friction on wheels
• fair amount of traction
• minimum of 25 pieces

Visualize it:

Build:
Build it:

 "Price of Glory":

    First built car- Total Price: $32.00 :

• Wheels(x4)
• Red pieces for wheels(x8)
• 5 millimeter spacer(x4)
• Red cubes(x4)
• Yellow long pieces(x2)
• Little Red hooks(x4)
• Separate pieces of string(x3)
• Axle(x2)
• Mouse Trap(x1)

    Improved car- Total Price: $36.00

• Wheels(x4)
• Red pieces for wheels(x8)
• 5 millimeter spacer(x4)
• Red cubes(x4)
• Yellow long pieces(x4)
• Little Red hooks(x4)
• Separate pieces of string(x3)
• Axle(x2)
• Mouse Trap(x1)
• Pencil(x1)
• Tape(x1)

Feedback:

• Positives: Holding the mouse trap down to the frame of car
• Things to Change: a way to tighten the string onto the wheel properly
• Ideas: More weight in the back of the car
• Questions: What is the best way to attach the string to the axle ?

Iterate:

Re-work:

"Game Changer"

• Who can build a working car faster?
• Maximum amount of pieces that can be used or maximum price
• Lightness of car in weight

Name it:

     Instead of "The Price of Glory", it should be called "Debt"

Clean Up:

Leave it cleaner then you found it:

     I think Carly and I did a good job of cleaning up. There was always extra things on our table that we ended up picking up. We always picked up our stuff and didn't leave the room till we were done putting things away.

Reflection:

Design/Build:

     The Design/Build process is the idea that once you start building something the design tends to mold/ change to fit extra requirements or to improve and get better efficiency, etc. This was something definitly experienced since the beginning of the building of the race car. Parts that were thought to be used weren't used and new parts were found to fit better in some areas. This might not be experienced as much in a career related to technical innovation because there is not an unlimited amount of money to always be removing, adding, or exchanging parts of a structure.

Emergency Preparedness List

This is the Emergency Preparedness  List I have created:

• Fireproof Box (found at home depot; saves important items)
• Water
• Flashlight
• Non-perishable food
• Radio
• Batteries
• First Aid Kit
• Morse code tapper
• Glow sticks
• Fire Extinguisher
• Clothes

Positives:

• Non-perishable food
• Water
• First Aid Kit

Changes:

• Morse Code Tapper(Irrelevant; most people won't know how to use)

Extra Ideas

• Candles
• Money(in cash)
• Meeting Place( whole family knows to meet at specific location in case of disaster)

If you have any ideas. please comment and contribute.

My First Blog Post!

To whom it may concern,

     Welcome to my(Isabel Diaz-B.) blog spot. This is my first year of studying principle's of engineering and my fourth year at Coronado High. I am also in CoSA Dance and invite you all to come to our performances.

http//:cosadance.weebly.com