Gabby

3/23/11 Electronics and Computers
====The difference between analog signals and digital signals are, analog signals that increase smoothly and decrease in time. Digital signals are signals that do not vary smoothly and can be changed in jumps or even steps like music. Semiconductors are very useful in electronic devices because they have a special feature that normal insulators and conductors lack, semiconductor's electrical conductivity can be controlled by adding impurities. Diodes are useful for converting alternating currents. Transistors are used for blocking the flow of currents. Integrated circuits are used for making computers and other devices. ====

=In the past century NASA has landed the rovers onto Mars. None of this would have happened if they never had semiconductors or diodes they would have never even gotten there. The Rovers would never be able to take pictures without the transistors. =


===Zoe S: Good Job Gabby! A few things though. Semiconductors are used to control the current and ethier resists the current, lets the current flow or makes the current bigger. Also, tell what diodes, transistors and integrated circuits are used for. Put more detail into your last paragraph. It's only one idea! You can make more! Overall good job!===

Jack L: I liked your paragraphs. Mabye just expand your paragraphs in a little more detail. However overall I liked your paragraphs, and they were well constructed.

Ms. Mc: Good start, Gabby. You needed more information as your reviewers stated. I'm not sure why you didn't go back and add information? 6/10

4/2/11 The History of Rockets
The rockets today are much more powerful than the older rockets. Today we have electricity and the people on earth can make the rocket lift off, turn and land. If people back then were alive today what would they think? Hero of Alexandria, a Greek inventor, made steam as a propulsive gas. He put a sphere on top of a water kettle. The fire below the kettle turned the water into a steam and the gas traveled through pipes to the sphere. L-shaped tubes that were placed on opposite sides of the sphere let the gas escape, so it gave a push to the sphere that made the sphere to move.

Maybe the first true rockets were un-intended. In the first century A.D., the Chinese made simple forms of gunpowder that were made of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal d ust. This 'recipe' was used for explosions during religious festivals that were put into bamboo tubes. the Chinese then tossed them into fires. Maybe some of these tubes didn't explode and instead flew out of the flames because they were moved by the gases and sparks produced by the burning powder.

Ms. Mc. Some good points, Gabby, but again you don't have enoughinformation. You were to summarize the history of rocketry and you just covered the very earliest of rockets. You also were to have two pictures that you had drawn in your entry. Please be more complete in your future entries. 9/15.

Rocket Stimulation media type="custom" key="8956154"

Entry #4: Rocket Drawing



Nose Cone: used to block air resistance Body Tube: main part of the rocket Launch Lug:lug that helps launch the rocket (the part that covers the thing that lifts it off) Fins: help the rocket keep balance while flying Rocket Motor: helps the rocket fly for the powered flight The parts inside of the rocket are the oxygen main valve, alcohol main valve, steam exhaust, propelled turbo pump and more. The oxygen main valve keeps and supplies the oxygen for the rocket.

//Ms. Mc.: 6/20 - Very incomplete, Gabby. You only labelled 5 of the 8 parts and didn't define any of their functions or indicate which parts are inside the rocket. Also, don't forget to includ a caption (Fig. # and title) for this. Please see me in class to discuss redoing this for partial credit.//

4/17/11 Rocket Experiment



Summary: In this experiment the rockets were measured on how far they flew into the air. As you see the heaviest rocket didn't fly as far into the sky. The lightest did though. In the scaterplot you can see that the line increases with the rockets. There was wind on Tuesday and a little bit of a breeze on Wednesday and Thursday. The wind affected how far the rocket flew. The forces acting on the rocket were thrust, gravity and air resistance.

Entry 6- How did our Moon come to revolve around the Earth? The moon is really just a meteorite that was attracted to the earths gravitational pull, so after being pulled into the atmosphere it was stuck and it became our moon. The moon circles around our earth, as seen in picture 1. __Which is older, the Universe or our solar system? Or are they the same age? Explain.__ The univer se is older, our solar system had to evolve some where and it had to form somewhere in the universe. Our solar system would never be able to evolve in nothing, therefore it would never be able to exist. As seen in picture 2.

//Ms. Mc: Please add more detail to your answers so that you fully answer the questions. (-2). Also, don't forget to include a caption (Figure # and title) (-1). 7/10//

Entry 7 4/29/11

In 350 BC, a Greek mathematician named Archytas built a mechanical bird named 'The Pigeon'.  'The Pigeon' was propelled by stream and it was one of the histories earliest studies of flight and it was probably the first model airplane e earliest studies of flight, not to mention probably the first model airplane. In 200 BC, a Greek inventor named Ctesibus designed water clocks which had movable figures on them. Water clocks were a HUGE recourse for timepieces  . but later in that time, the hour glass was invented  and it took over the popularity of the water clocks. In the later years, robotics started to be an everyday value. In 1998-2004, robotics went over the top. LEGO invented their first Robotics Invention System which they named Mindstorms. But they later updated it in 2000. Car companies released new cars too. Rockets were launched by NASA with rovers inside of them. In 2004 Spirit and later, another rover landed on Mars for research.

//Ms. Mc: Please be sure you do all parts of the prompt (you were to have 2 pictures as well and refer to them). Also, please read over your entries as there are several errors in this. 4 points extra credit.//

Entry 8 5/10/11 Mindstorms Programming

The purpose of this challenge was to make the rover follow the blue line. On mars, rovers do similar movements to avoid objects so they don’t get stuck and so they can move around.



Block 1: is a move block that tells the robot to activate ports B and C that are connected to the motors and so the robot goes forward at 75% power for 4 rotations and then it brakes. The robot moved forward for about 62 centimeters pretty quickly. Block 2: is a move block that tells the robot to activate ports B and C that are connected to the motors and so the robot turns right and goes forward at 75% power at 180 degrees and finally brakes. The robot turns right and goes forward for 33 centimeters pretty quickly. Block 3: is a move block that tells the robot to activate ports B and C that are connected to the motors and so the robot goes forward at 75% power for 2 rotations and it then brakes. The robot goes forward for about 8 centimeters rather quickly. Block 4: is a move block that tells the robot to activate ports B and C that are connected to the motors and so the robot turns left and goes forward at 75% power at 180 degrees and then the robot brakes. The robot turns left to start to make a turn. Block 5: is a move block that tells the robot to activate ports B and C that are connected to the motors and so the robot goes backwards at 75% power for 1 rotation and then the robot brakes. The robot goes backwards for about 8 centimeters. Block 6: is a move block that tells the robot to activate ports B and C that are connected to the motors and so the robot goes forward and then spins 1140 degrees and then the robot brakes. The robot spins twice. Block 7: is an image display that shows a smiley face on the robot’s screen. The robot shows a smiley face on its screen. Block 8: is a sound block that plays ‘applause’ at 100% volume and the robot waits for completion.