Shaan

3/23/11 Electricity in space An analog signal is basically a signal that varies differently throughout time. In an analog signal, the signal can decrease and increase over time. A digital signal, however, does not vary smoothly throughout time, in fact the opposite. It jumps or steps usually in a number like a digital clock. A semiconductor is a poorer conductor of metals of electricity but is a very better conductor than nonmetals. They are useful in electronic devices because their electrical conductivity can be controlled by adding impurities. Diodes are useful for converting alternating current, a.k.a. ac, into a direct current, a.k.a. dc. A transistor is used to amplify signals in an electric circuit and is also used as an electronic switch. Instead of using transistors, computer companies and other electronic device companies use an integrated circuit because it is much smaller than a transistor

It is very important to have electronic devices on a space mission solely to rely on to live. These devices allow you to tell the time. Say if you were on the moon and you had to be at your spaceship at a certain time, you would have a watch to tell you what time it is so you can get to your spaceship. Say you have a heartbeat sensor so you can detect if there is any life close to where you are so you can detect it. You would need an digital signal to jump and show you where it is. And say you were bored on the trip, you could play a cd and that requires a digital signal. All humor aside it is very important to have electricity for everything.

//Ms. Mc: Good overview of electronics. Although you have some interesting ideas about how we might use electronic devices on a manned mission to Mars, our mission as does NASA's current mission involves a rover. Please be sure that your are answering the question posed in the prompt. Please include the entry # in your title. 7.5/10//

Entry 2 Rocket History

The first form of a rocket was called an aeolipile. The Chinese used a mix of gunpowder and many other things to create something that substituted modern fireworks. China started experimenting with the gunpowder to see if they could make something that could be also used as a weapon. The Chinese attached the bamboo explosive to an arrow and fired at with a bow. This was known as the first actual rocket. The date of the actual using of rockets was in 1232 when the Chinese and the Mongols were first at war with each other. After the Chinese used the rockets on the Mongols, the Mongols made some rockets of their own. Nearly all the use of rockets at the time was simply for warfare and fireworks

          Early in the 20th century, an American man named Robert H. Goddard tried to make the rockets for other use. In his view point, rockets were used for flight. The first test he had on his rocket that was made to go up incredible heights went 12.5 meters high in the sky and landed some 56 meters away in a cabbage patch. In our time we would have found this invention very unsuccessful, but the people in that time thought of it as a stepping stone for them to go one with the future. Germany was also getting in with the hype of the rockets. They used what was called the V-2 rockets which could have blasted 2 blocks in a city. They used these against London but were unsuccessful with winning the war because they used them too late. When the war was done, a few German rocket scientists went to America. They were impressed on what Goddard had modernized on the rocket and they together developed the intercontinental ballistic missiles. And the only thing that had followed that were the probes that were sent up in space such as satellites and rockets to achieve missions to fulfill the knowledge of what we did not know.  





//Ms. Mc: Good summary of ancient rocketry and the beginnings of modern rocketry, however, you left out the contributions of the Russians and NASA. Also, your drawings are not uploaded correctly and therefore, can't be seen. Why didn't you see me to get help for how to do this? Please be sure to put the entry # in your title. 9/15//

Entry 3

media type="custom" key="9133140"

1. Press the red button.. Turn on sound 3. Click the green button to watch the animation.

Entry 4



There are a lot of parts in a rocket. In the following passage, I will explain what those parts are and what they do. The nose cone takes away the air so there is no air resistance. The body tube is where all the parts inside of the rocket are. The recovery system is inside of the body tube. The recovery system is mainly a parachute and shock cord. The next sentences explain each part of the rocket that are used when the rocket is launched. First it blows off the nose cone and deploys the parachute and recovery system.The recovery wadding is what keeps the rocket motor from the recovery system so it does damage the recovery system. The launch lug is what keeps the rocket on the launch pad. The motor mount holds the rocket motor straight so that the rocket motor doesn't move. The fins are what make the rocket stay in the same position in the air so that it doesn't go away from its original position. The rocket motor is the main part of the rocket because it is what makes the rocket lift off.

//Ms. Mc: Good explanation of the functions of the various rocket parts and good labels. The recovery system and motor mount also are inside the rocket (-1). Please include a date and title for each entry (-1). Since this was over a month late, I deducted 20% (-4). I will not accept any more late assignments so please be sure to post on time or you will receive a zero. 14/20.//

Entry 5

The purpose of this experiment was to see if the the mass of the rocket affected the rocket's height of flight (otherwise called its apogee).. The forces acting on the rocket are gravity and the force of the launch pad, which balance each other out. If the force of the launch pad was not there, then gravity would just push the rocket towards the middle of the earth. If there was no gravity, then the rocket would float without the ignition. At liftoff, the rocket slowly starts accelerating upward, so the forces are not balanced. The thrust is overcoming the gravity and the air resistance. The rocket starts to accelerate even faster. When the rocket runs out of fuel, coasting begins. The thrust is then gone, but the inertia from the thrust is still overpowering the gravity. At apogee, the rocket completely stops at its apogee for a very short period of time (about a split second) then it falls. This is because the only force acting on the rocket at apogee is gravity. The gravity quickly starts to pull the rocket to the ground. After a short period of falling (but with enough time till hitting the ground), the rocket ejects the recovery system.. This slows the fall down to a very safe speed so that the rocket does not break when it falls to the ground. In conclusion, it was hypothesized that the less the mass of the rocket, the higher the apogee would be, and the opposite for heavier rockets. This is because for lighter rockets, the thrust will have to carry less weight therefore burning less fuel. If there is more fuel to waste, then the higher the rocket will go and the higher its apogee would be.



The results of the experiment was that there was no relationship between the mass of the rocket and its apogee.As seen in the results, there was no direct relationship between, the lightest rocket's (42.8 g) apogee was135 feet, the highest apogee of all the rockets. The heaviest rocket's (48.7 g) apogee was 84 feet. Therefore hypothesis stated was declared wrong because the hypothesis stated that the heaviest rocket would go the lowest having a relationship with the lightest rocket going the highest. There were many things that could have altered the experiment's results. The first possibility could have been weather. The wind could have pushed the rocket to the side when coasting therefore making the apogee lower than before. Also on recording day, it was very cloudy. This condition could have made it harder for the angle guns to catch the actual apogee.Many people were measuring and it was clarified that most of the angles measured varied.

Entry 6

What is a Quark and what type of quarks are there?

A quark is a subatomic particle which is one of the main constitutives of protons and neutrons.There are many different types of quarks. There are six in fact. There is up, down, top, bottom, strange, and charm. Every protons and neutrons have 3 quarks each. But not all of their quarks are the same. For example, a proton has two up quarks and one down quark.Also a neutron has two down quarks and one up quark. Quarks are not stable. The lightest and most stable of all quarks are the up and down quarks. They are the most common in every protons and neutrons.

An example of a proton and neutrons quarks.

How did our moon come to revolve Earth?

The Moon revolves around the Earth because of the collision between Earth and Mars. This collision caused the Earth to move and tilt. The debris from the planets' collision eventually came together from the gravity and started to orbit the Earth.This debris slowly started to collect together and form the moon. The moon used to be very close to Earth, but eventually it moved away. As we speak, the moon is still moving about an inch away from the Earth every year. But eventually, the Earth’s gravitational pull won't be strong enough to hold the moon anymore so the moon would escape.

Earth and Mars collision

Ms. Mc: Good answers and pictures. Please include a # for your figures/tables/graphs (-1/2). You also need a date and title for each entry (-1/2). You were to refer to each figure specifically in your text (i.e., "As seen in figure #1 . . .). -2. 7/10 - 10% late = 6/10.

Figure 1Figure 2

5/5/11 Entry #8 Driving course driving explanation

The Challenge that I am doing is Challenge Number 1. a.k.a. the driving course. This challenge was to show the line in which the robot has to follow. The path is to go forward, turn right, go forward again, turn left, go in reverse for a short distance and take two spins. After that course, the robot emits a sound that is supposed to represent applause and display a smiley face on its screen

1.The first block is the servomotor making the robot go forward 2. 2.The second block is the servomotor telling the robot to turn left 3. 3.The third block is the servomotor telling the robot to go forward 4. 4.The fourth block is the servomotor telling the robot to turn left 5. 5.The fifth block is the servomotor is telling the robot to go in reverse 6. 6.The sixth block is telling the servomotor to turn around 2 times 7. 7.The seventh block is telling the robot to make a sound representing applause 8. 8. The eighth block is telling the robot to display a smiley face 9. 9. The final block tells the robot’s servomotor to turn off Entry 8