Motors...

The goal for third term was to build a Non-Permanent Motor.  Through this project I was able to learn more about the magnetic field and how magnets repel and attract each other.  Through repelling and attracting there is motion created and this is what creates an electric/magnetic motor.  Our project was to construct a non-permanent motor. 

The Non-Permanent Motor:

 This is a temporary magnet which is also called an electromagnet.  The current creating the motor is passed through a wire.  This makes the motor temporary, you are able to stop the motor.  The green wire helps with the flow of the current through the motor

Permanent Motor:

 The permanent motor consists of a magnetic field, dealing with a north pole and a south pole, for the whole time.  The current also flows through the wire for this one.

Needed materials: Wire, Battery and Paper Clips

As I tried to build my motor i took a block of wood and curved two paper clips into a stand.  I then placed the battery between the two stands and made sure they were touching the sides.  Then I took some wire and looped it into many loops, yet I left ends on both sides of the loops.  The multiple of loops creates an increase in the current making the wire spin faster.  I also scratched off the coating on one side of the wire on the tips to create the opposition or the repelling.  The wire was then placed on the structure and the wire began to spin, a current was being created and the motor was working.

"Sounds of Music"

            For my “Sounds of Music” project I was assigned to make a percussion instrument.  I chose the xylophone, and it turned out to be an easy instrument to build.  I used PVC pipes for the base and four elbows for the stand.  There are 10 tubes total, of which 8 make a scale.  The metal tubes are cut at different lengths giving the different pitches.  There are also 7 rubber bands holding the tubes in place and giving the xylophone structure.  The percussion instruments make sounds through hitting the tubes.

           

            There are certain details that attribute to the making of sound on the xylophone.  The first is that both ends are free, allowing the tubes to vibrate when hit.  The speed of sound (m s^-1) for the steel tubes is 5050.  To determine the pitch of the tube you have to determine the length of the tube.  The longer the tube the lower the pitch and the shorter the tube the higher the pitch, there is also the question of what is your scale.  Once you figure out the length of the first note then you can use the same equation to figure out the rest of the notes.  Upon figuring out the lengths you can cut and try.  Comparing to the piano scales is a good way to go.  Then for the right pitch you want after calculating the length and all you hit the tubes with something like a mallet.  Hitting the tube in different spots will give you different volumes of the pitch and different pitches.  The wavelengths occur beneath the tubes and some around and this is the vibration of the tube and the air pushing and pulling creating this effect, the air particles around the tubes do this..  These points are called antinode, there is the center of the tube and then the two ends.  These go from the fundamental frequency to the higher as you hit on different spots.

            The xylophone works through the vibration after the hit and the ends being free allowing the tubes to go back and forth and create this beautiful sound that can create music.  This project is quite easy and teaches you many different things about the physics world we live in.

Airplanes

There are many ways to build airplanes and many ways to make them fly.  My partner and I were given the assignment to build an airplane, build a launch pad and make it fly 10 feet.  We couldn't use kits and we couldn't use our "man power" to help with the launching.  This was a challenge for two girls to put together, the most of an airplane I had made was a paper airplane.

There were different styles, different materials, different wing sizes and shapes.  These all affected the outcome.  We began with making the plane and trying out different designs.  The first was pretty effective.  We could get it to fly, but the gluide wasn't quite what we wanted, there were a few other changes to the plane, wing size and wing material and then it was decided that we would try a new design.  We came up with the classic look, the Wright Brothers look.

Double wings for air to go through, adding to the gluide.  A tip in the back with some weight to even out with the front end.  This is the classical look and when we would give it a lift it would gluide in the air pretty well.

The next challenge was designing a launchpad that would give the plane the lift and push it needed.  We tried the mouse trap idea, but there wasn't enough power and the launchpad was too big for the trap to even give it a push.  It was then decided that we would use a flat board and use rubber bands.  There were many tries as to where to put nails on the board to hook the band to and whether or not there were two nail needed.  Using two nails and hooking the band to the plane and the two nails worked in letting it gluide, but it wasn't going the 10 feet needed, after trying many different angles it was decided to use one nail.  It was then to try different angles with just one and the final position was in the middle of the launchpad.


Below there is a diagram I put together of the launchpad and the take off of the plane.  When we showed up to school we tested our plane.  The first time it went over the 10 foot mark by a few inches, but the second time it full just before the mark.  After testing our plane our teacher asked why we left the launch pad straight and not at an angle.  The answer was the plane would decided to nose dive if we put the board at an angle.  There were problems, there were ideas that worked.  Overall I have learned how much work is put into designing these planes that we ride.  The physics that is in it with dealing with the air flow and the effect of the wings in the air.  The shape dealing with the gluide of the plane.  There are so many different things in the world of physics that must be used to design and build planes.  This project was hard, but it taught me more about the importance of physics and how to understand it.  Also how to build different types of planes and their form that must be considered.