Ashley


 * 3/24/2011**

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 * Signals are used in electronic devices. There are two different types of signals, analog and digital signals. Analog signals are different from digital signals being how they slowly and steadily move in a continuous motion that is for an informative thing. Digital signals are represented with numbers that are rounded and are not quite as precise as analog signals. In electronics insulators, conductors, and semiconductors are also used. Semiconductors are useful in electronic devices because they are the building blocks of electronic circuits since they are made to sometimes allow for the current to flow through it and sometimes not to. With semiconductors you are able to control the amount of current that passes through, which helps so that a device does not get overheated. Transistors, diodes, and integrated circuits are used to make complex electronic devices like computers. Transistors and diodes are both used in integrated circuits for the fact that one device has polarity and one device can easily open or close a circuit. **=====

====Electronic devices are used for many things and are especially helpful on exploring the depths of the universe. To get into space you need an electronic device that is built like a rocket and has a set destination of where to fire to. Without one you would just be mindlessly floating in space, and not know where places like Mars are. To explore Mars you are not really sure what the temperature and surroundings are going to be like. You would need some sort of machine to safely travel around Mars and calculate the climate and other things that are necessary for human life. Because you can't just walk right onto Mars, you would like instantly die! Machines would also be used to see if there are other life forms of water on Mars. With machines honestly we would be stuck in a **DARK AGE **. But with them we keep excelling the depths of the universe and discovering many things we never would have known. ==== //Ms. Mc: Good overview of electronic components. Needed to define what ICs do. I like the ideas you present about using electronic devices on our mission to Mars but your discussion could have benefitted by including some specific examples of devices: navigation devices, computers, temperature control systems, rovers, etc. Please refrain from informal language. 8.5/10//

Entry #2- History of Rockets
Rockets overtime have developed and explored different depths of the universe. But how did the rocket first come to be? The first recorded version of a rocket was by Hero of Alexandria, an inventor, who called his invention an aeolipile. His invention consisted of a bowl of water placed over a fire and connected to a sphere that had two ¨L¨ shaped pipes coming out of it. The water would transform into steam which would go through the pipes out of the sphere and cause it to rotate. Since that it seems like the next steps were but accidents by the Chinese involving gunpowder. In an attempt to create fireworks they filled bamboo sticks with gunpowder and it seems that they didn´t set off when placed in the fire, but instead launched propelled by the burning gunpowder. Soon the idea came to them to connect a bamboo stick filled with gunpowder on an arrow, where they found that it didn´t even need to be launched by a bow.

After the Chinese used the fire arrows against their enemies it seemed that everyone started to use them. For a while rockets seemed that they would only be useful for fireworks and warfare until Konstantin Taiolkovaky proposed that they use them to explore space too. In this proposal and another that they use liquid propellants to make the rocket go a longer range. His ideas were taken into perspective when in the early 20th century, March 16,1926, the American Robert H. Goddard created the first successful flight with a liquid propelled jet. Even though it only stayed in the air for 2.5 seconds it was a success and many scientists decided that they could go further in this experiment. Then on October 4, 1937 a satellite was launched in space to orbit Earth by the Soviet Union. After that the U.S. also joined in on the exploration by launching Explorer 1 then creating NASA (National Aeronautics Space Administration). In the end many countries also took place in sending aircrafts to explore the universe. All of which lead to today´s generations of understanding the universe.

Ms. Mc: Very concise and helpful summary of the history of rocketry. I would have included a sentence or two about the V2 rockets. Please label your photos/diagrams as figure #. Good work! 14.5/15

Entry #3- A Rocket's Mission to Mars
media type="custom" key="8956568" **Instructions:** **2. Turn on the volume.** **3. Click the green flag in the top right corner to start.** **4. Watch and enjoy while learning about a rocket's mission to Mars.** **5. If at any point you want to stop, just press the red octagon in the right corner.**
 * 1. Press red octagon in to right corner, for the video has already started. **

** Entry #4- A Rocket's Parts **



 * Rockets are built up of many different materials that work together to make it fly successfully. One of these parts is the nose cone, which is able to part the air and guide the rocket through it without getting slowed down really quickly. Another part would be the recovery system. In this rocket the device that is used to safely bring the rocket down and able to use again would be a parachute. Recovery systems are placed inside the rocket and shortly after they reach the apogee they push away the nose cone, fly out of the top, and guide the rocket to the ground. The body tube is the tube that basically holds the whole rocket together. Inside of the body tube are the motor mount, recovery system, and recovery wadding. The rocket wadding inside of the tube is what keeps the recovery system from burning and being exposed to charge gases. Outside of the body tube there is the launch lug. The launch lug connects the rocket to the launch pad. What is special about the launch lug is how it guides the rocket straight and easily off the pad. The motor mount is what secures the rocket motor inside of the body tube. The fins that are outside of the rocket are what help keep the rocket flying straight. Lastly the rocket motor is what holds the gunpowder that is used to blast the rocket of the launch pad. However the rocket motor is non-reusable so after every flight a new rocket motor must be placed inside the rocket. **

//Ms. Mc: FANTASTIC explanation of the function of the various parts and diagram/photo. I love how you drew in the interior parts! 20/20//

Entry #5 - The Purposes Behind the Experiment
 The purpose of the experiment where the rockets were launched was to determine whether or not the mass of the rocket determined the apogee of the flight it took. The forces that acted on the rockets during the flight switched off between gravity, the push of the launch pad, thrust, and air resistance. When the rockets were sitting on the launch pad the forces consisted of only the push of the launch pad and gravity, and they were equal since the rockets weren't moving. Then during lift-off there were no longer any push of the launch pad but instead there were thrust, gravity, and the tiniest amount of air resistance. In this stage the rockets moved upward because the force of thrusts were more than the force of gravity and air resistance combined. Next was the powered flight where the forces are like they were during lift off but air resistance was stronger. After the powered flight the engines were turned off and the thrusts were no longer the forces that were causing the rockets to move upwards. In fact it wasn’t even a force that was then propelling the rockets forward, it was inertia. The last stage was the apogee which is where the only force on the object is gravity. This was the highest point during the flight, before the rockets started to curve downwards. It was hypothesized that the smaller the mass the higher the apogee.



The masses of the rockets used in the experiment were 42.2, 43.3, 43.5, 43.6, 44.1, 44.4, and 44.5 grams. Their apogees were 53, 55, 65, 70, 71, 75, and 81 meters. There is a direct relationship in the data because the independent and dependent variables increase and decrease together. The hypothesis that was made was proved wrong, as you can see in Graph #1. The rocket that was 44.5g was the rocket that flew the highest, 81m, and the rocket that had the smallest mass, 42.2g, only flew as high as 53m, the smallest apogee. However in this experiment there was plenty of room for error. Some of these errors were the different days that the experiments were done on, and also the small range of different masses. Also there were different people who measured the angles of the apogee. Plus all of the rockets were launched at times where the weather was not all the same. However since there seems to be a small trend showing the direct relationship in the data it was proven that the mass of the rockets do change their apogees.

Entry#6- Quarks and Galaxies
What is a quark? What types of quarks are there?  Quarks are the particles that make up the protons and neutrons in an atom’s nucleus, as seen in Figure #4. There are six different types of quarks, but only two of the types make up protons and neutrons. These quarks are referred to as up and down quarks, however there are three quarks total in both protons and neutrons.

What is a galaxy? How did they form?


Galaxies are made up of stars, gas, and dust. They formed from the Big Bang, where eventually the stuff from the Big Bang cooled into matter, antimatter, and radiant energy. After a while the matter, antimatter, and radiant energy cooled and protons and neutrons formed. Soon all of the matter start to clump together as the Universe continued to expand. After 2 billion years since the Big Bang started, gravity collapsed the matter and galaxies started to form. There are different types of galaxies too, based on their shape, for example a spiral galaxy, as seen in Figure #5.

//Ms. Mc: Good answers and pictures but #1 could use a little more detail. What are the other 4 types of quarks? (-1) 9/10 //

Entry #8- A Robotic Sequence
Block one- A movement block that tells the robot to activate servomotors B and C so it drives forward at 75% power until the wheels rotate 3.5 times and then brakes. The robot drives forward at 75% power rotating the wheels 3.5 times then stops. Block two- A movement block that tells the robot to activate servomotors B and C so it turns right 160 degrees at 50% power and then brakes. The robot turns 160 degrees to the right at 50% power and then breaks. Block three- A movement block that tells the robot to activate servomotors B and C so it drives forward at 75% power until the wheels rotate 2 times and then brakes. The robot drives forward at 75% power rotating the wheels 2 times then stops. Block four- A movement block that tells the robot to activate servomotors B and C so it turns left 160 degrees at 50% power and then brakes. The robot turns 160 degrees at 50% power then stops. Block five- A movement block that tells the robot to activate servomotors B and C so it drives backwards at 75% power until the wheels rotate 1.5 times and then brakes. The robot drives backwards at 75% power rotating the wheels 1.5 times and then stops. Block six- A movement block that tells the robot to activate servomotors B and C so it turns 1440 degrees at 75% power and then breaks. The robot turns 1440 degrees at 75% power then completely stops. Block seven- A sound block that tells the robot to produce a specific sound at 75% volume. The robot produces a sound at 75% volume. Block eight- A display block that displays a smiley face at coordinates (12, 8). The robot displays a smiley face at coordinates (12, 8). Block nine- A time block that waits 3 seconds before anything different happens. The robot waits three seconds. Block ten- A display block that clears the screen. The robot's screen clears.

The purpose of the challenge was to have the robot follow a line. In the challenge the robot was directed where to go based on the directions seen in Figure 6. With the sequence above the robot did successfully complete the challenge. The purpose of the code is for people to get a sense of the programming you have to do for robots like the ones on Mars.