Make Cycle #3:

for my make cycle 3, I felt as if I would have no trouble finding a toy to hack, and relating it to the mechanical heart replacement...  That however, was not the case.  After searching for toys to hack, I realized that I had no toys...  My room mate was kind enough to lend me his only toy, Bucky-Balls.  I first decided to make a human heart out of the Bucky-Balls and make a stop animation, but it was very difficult to arrange the magnetic balls in such a complicated shape, so my search continued...  I went into my other room mate's room, and saw a crumpled and smashed set of headphones and it hit me.  I could do the math to find the frequency that a human heart beats at and recreate it with pulses through the headphones.  As I did the video, things went perfectly.  That stopped very soon though.  As I was uploading, my iPhone decided to flip the video 180 degrees.  After downloading new software to flip the video, I finally was able to upload the video.  All-in-all, I feel good about my project, and feel that it represented the science questions that I posed very well.  I really enjoyed this make cycle.

Edit:  This is a picture of some of the testing that I did before I actually took apart the headphone for Make Cycle #3.

I used the big speaker to easily hear and see the pulses made by the computer and confirm that the headphone wasn't completely broken  I cut up the headphone jack and wired everything so that the bass and treble sounds were both run through the speakers.

Midterm Assignment

As I have read over my blogs, I see that I have portrayed myself as a very proper and sophisticated tinkerer. I see that I am very thorough with my explanations. When we made the drawing bug, I analyzed what the problem was with the motor, and stated that it was the reason why we were not able to finish. In my second post, I also talked about the bicycle that I would like to build and how I was running ideas through my head to get a better understanding of what it was I wanted to build, and how it should look. On my make cycle #2 post, I went as far as telling the game that I was playing that sparked the inspiration of my make. This, however is not who I am. I only write and speak in this way due to the posts and assignments having an impact on my grade. I enjoy personal tinkering and experimenting that I don't have to report or share. I feel as if I may be rushed or expected to show great progress or accomplishments from my experimentation when they must be reported. I also am not very proper in person. Coming from the mountains of North Carolina, I have quite an accent and a colorful vocabulary of sayings that no one in Charlotte seems to understand. An example would be "ain't no count" I say this when something isn't as good as I think that it should be. You can even Google "ain't no count" and Urban Dictionary mentions southern rural people. I have just developed a sophisticated personality for special occasions that require professional attitudes, such as preforming in school. Although, sometimes, not being yourself just ain't no count.

Edit:  Here are some pictures involving my home town.  The whole city of Hudson is approximately 3.7 sqare miles in size, while UNCC's campus is only just under 1.56 square miles in size.  This means that my home town's size is approximately equal to 2 1/3 of UNCC.

Make Cycle #2 Reflection

I really enjoyed this make cycle. As I was playing Minecraft, and was playing with infinite water blocks, my memory was jolted of a concept that my automotive teacher liked to joke about.  It was perpetual motion. I knew that I had seen a perpetual motion fountain concept that was extremely close to perpetual motion. The only problem was the limit of space for air and water to be displaced. My first attempt was to use small 16 ounce water bottles and hot glue them together and seal them with hot glue. This did not work.  There was not a good enough seal to force the pressures in certain areas to get the water to flow. This made me think about the converters that I played with as a kid that allowed you to make a cyclone in drink bottles and then it hit me! I remember going to the science center in my town when I was very small, and seeing a small science experiment with 2 liter bottles, and asking my mom to buy it for me. The science experiment worked off of the same exact principles as Heron's fountains. The pressure of the water flowing down through the opening in the bottle create suction in the upper portion of the bottle, so when the pressure builds up enough, and is stronger than the force of gravity, water is shot back up through the tube, which makes a fountain effect.  As I did this project, I also learned how important it is to have scientific experiences that will spark your imagination as a child, and develop a passion for science and learning that will last a lifetime.

Edit:  These are some of the things that were relevant to my Make Cycle #2.  Something that needs to be brought to everyone's attention is that the fountain that I made is not exactly the same as "Heron's Fountain".  My fountain is simplified so that back pressure is forced in sudden releases through the straw.  This simplifies resetting the fountain because you must only flip it over.  Heron's Fountain must be drained of water and then refilled with water before working again.
Also, here is a link to my comic on this topic:  http://www.pixton.com/comic/d0op0t6b

Edit #2:  Unfortunately, Blogger will not accept my .mov file of my Make Cycle #2.  It can be seen on my google plus page.