The electricity unit was split into two projects for us. We had the Power Novato project in which we had to design a microgrid that could provide power for our whole town of Novato. This had us dealing with power generation and energy usage. I tackled this project with a group consisting of Christa Tsao, Chris Kenney, James Wreden, and myself. The other part of the unit was the Robot Art Show. In this project, we needed to program and build an art show using an Arduino board. In this programming puzzle, I partnered with Kian Namiranian.
Power Novato
Wind Turbine Design |
We started off the Power Novato project by designing wind turbines. The goal of this activity was to make a true claim that affected the efficiency of a wind turbine. After many tests on our own mini wind turbine, we came to the conclusion that blades at a more acute angle, that is not 0°, will cause the turbine to spin faster, thus creating more energy.
|
Electrical Fields (static electricity, sticky tape lab, electric field hockey)
As well as wind turbines, we also studied electrical fields. We did an experiment with pieces of tape that helped us understand more about electrical fields. We found that when you stick both pieces of tape on a table, one over the other, it changes the electrical field of one of the pieces of tape. This lab really showed us that opposites attract and likeness repels. We also played a game called "Electric Field Hockey" in which we used different electric fields to guide a positive charge into a goal. In experimenting with electric fields, we also saw a demonstration with a Van de Graaff generator.
Electromagnet Lab
We were also asked to make a claim on a true statement about electromagnets. Each group designed the same electromagnet, but altered one component to create a claim. The electromagnet was a 1.5 volt battery that was attached to 32 gauge copper wire at both ends. The copper wire was wrapped around a 3 inch galvanized nail. My group changed the number of coils of copper wire wrapped around the shaft and measured electromagnetic strength in the number of standard size paper clips the electromagnet could pick up. We had hypothesized that a greater number of coils would lead to greater electromagnetic strength. We finally came to the conclusion that more coils produces a stronger electromagnet.
Dissect a Motor |
The last part before the micro-grid projects was taking apart a motor. When we took apart this motor we got to learn a lot about how a magnetic field could lead into electric current.
|
Microgrid Project We chose to create a microgrid that would power the entire city of Novato, CA. We used several different methods of power generation and lots of research on location and energy transportation.
|
|
Robot Art Show
In the Robot Art Show project, we needed to create some form of art with the Arduino programming kit. During brainstorming, we both liked the idea of using the AC/DC song "Back in Black" as our music. Our final project was a buzzer, which played "Back in Black," and lights which corresponded which each of the notes.
Code
Here is our Arduino in action.
Concepts
Circuits - a complete loop of conductive material from one side of a power source to the other. Includes the concepts of voltage(V), current(i), and resistance(r).
Electronics - circuits or devices using electrical components.
Breadboards - a board that is used to create electronic experiments and circuits.
Programming - Writing instructions to give to a machine in one of many code languages.
Arduino - an open-source electronics board that uses Arduino software, that uses C/C++ terms, to program it.
Electronics - circuits or devices using electrical components.
Breadboards - a board that is used to create electronic experiments and circuits.
Programming - Writing instructions to give to a machine in one of many code languages.
Arduino - an open-source electronics board that uses Arduino software, that uses C/C++ terms, to program it.
Reflection
I really enjoyed the electricity unit and I'm glad I was able to have that experience. Both projects turned out pretty well. When we were on the Power Novato project, one positive was finding several websites that provided us with the exact information we needed. This great find taught me about the importance of thorough research. Although it wasn't a problem-free path to the end goal. One big negative was revealed to us after we presented. We were told that we were way off with our calculations of the amount of energy the Novato used. It turned out that the numbers we used were the numbers of one sole establishment. One resident, one industry, and one commercial business. It wasn't that bad though. We were only a dew thousand off. This part of the project taught me about taking a closer look and double checking data. The calculations we used, however did end up being just about the amount of energy that San Marin High uses, so it would have made a great Power San Marin project, which was the other option. With the Robot Art Show we experienced many ups and downs. One up was when we were programming the robot. We each had our own lines of code. I designed the code for the sound, and my partner designed the code for the lights. We each tested individually and it worked out great. This part of the project taught me about programming and wiring. Unfortunately, when we put them together, it became a serious down. Neither of the codes worked when we put them together, so we had do do a lot of rearranging and adding or taking out lines of code until we finally got it to work. This part taught me about organization and perseverance. Overall, I really enjoyed this project and it as something I am really interested in.
I really enjoyed the electricity unit and I'm glad I was able to have that experience. Both projects turned out pretty well. When we were on the Power Novato project, one positive was finding several websites that provided us with the exact information we needed. This great find taught me about the importance of thorough research. Although it wasn't a problem-free path to the end goal. One big negative was revealed to us after we presented. We were told that we were way off with our calculations of the amount of energy the Novato used. It turned out that the numbers we used were the numbers of one sole establishment. One resident, one industry, and one commercial business. It wasn't that bad though. We were only a dew thousand off. This part of the project taught me about taking a closer look and double checking data. The calculations we used, however did end up being just about the amount of energy that San Marin High uses, so it would have made a great Power San Marin project, which was the other option. With the Robot Art Show we experienced many ups and downs. One up was when we were programming the robot. We each had our own lines of code. I designed the code for the sound, and my partner designed the code for the lights. We each tested individually and it worked out great. This part of the project taught me about programming and wiring. Unfortunately, when we put them together, it became a serious down. Neither of the codes worked when we put them together, so we had do do a lot of rearranging and adding or taking out lines of code until we finally got it to work. This part taught me about organization and perseverance. Overall, I really enjoyed this project and it as something I am really interested in.