Raiden+M+SFLOM

Electricity and How it will Help Us get to Mars

Electricity can be classified into three different types: static, current, and electric discharge. Static electricity has to do with the charges of objects, whether they be positive or negative. Static electricity will take one charged object and make objects around it oppositely charged. For example, when a balloon is rubbed on a head, the balloon gains negative electrons from the hair. Then, when the balloon is placed on a wall, the positive protons in the wall are attracted to the balloon by just a bit, and the negative electrons repel away from the balloon, causing an attraction and the balloon sticks. Electric current is a controlled flow of electricity through a circuit. The electricity doesn't backtrack and is slow. This is the electricity flowing through wires and plugs. When the electricity is slow-moving, it can be controlled. When the electricity flows quickly and out of control, it becomes electric discharge. Electric discharge is things like lightning, which is uncontrollable and unpredictable. Electric discharge is not as safe as electric current, so current is used for more everyday items.

In our mission to Mars to search for life, electricity will be vital to continue our lives. Electricity is needed for the more basic components, such as lights in the cabin, and a way to power the microwave for hot food. We also might want to have refrigeration to keep food fresh. If it is hot or cold on the way to Mars, it will be nice to have heating and air conditioning, which is powered by electricity. to communicate with earth through a radio, we will need electricity, as well as for radar so we know what ahead of us. We could use electricity to power a rover once we get to Mars, and since there won't be any gasoline, we should have an electric car. We might also need outlets to charge computers, or other ways of recording our discoveries. Needless to say, we need electricity for this mission.

Magnetism on Mars Magnetism is a force of the universe that can bring things closer together or push things apart. Magnets have two poles, a north and a south, which are how magnets attract and repel. All magnets have two poles. For magnets, like poles repel and opposite poles attract. Repelling is one of the most basic parts of magnetism. When two north poles get too close to each other, they push away, similarly to how protons will push away from each other. Attraction is another elementary part of magnetism. When a north and a south pole get near each other, they will attract and pull together. This force can act through objects as well. When the poles get too close though, the repel the slightest bit, so nothing is ever completely touching. It is not nearly as obvious as when two like poles are repelling. Electromagnetism is very useful in the industrial world. Electromagnets are not permanent magnets; they can turned on and off. When they are needed to lift something, a switch is thrown and electricity courses though the metal. The electricity runs through a coil which creates and magnetic field, and when the work has been done, the switch is flipped again and the electricity leaves the magnet. On the way to Mars, electromagnetism could be helpful. When we need to get rid off some of the boosters to make us go faster, we could turn off an electromagnet and throw those rockets behind us. We could put magnets on the bottom of our rover to pick up magnetic rocks to be analyzed for anything helpful. That would be great to have in searching for life. All Because of a Big Bang 15 million years ago, there was nothing except a single compact and extremely hot super atom. This was our universe. Eventually, it exploded from all of the intense heat and energy, and thus our universe was created. The universe expanded and cooled quickly, so energy and exotic particles were created. After one second, the universe was dominated by these particles, and had cooled quite a bit. The universe kept expanding and after 300,000 years, the universe had cooled enough to create atom nuclei, and eventually, full atoms. Billions of years after the explosion, galaxies formed because of clumping matter, and in those galaxies, stars and planets, all because one tiny particle exploded to create a giant, ever expanding universe. The Milky Way galaxy is a huge group of stars made from clumping matter billions of years ago. Our sun is part of this group of stars. The nucleus of this galaxy is a giant bulge containing an enormous black hole. This is what keeps our galaxy together. This outer part of the galaxy is a disc of stars about 100 lights years across. There are four arms spiraling off of the galaxy containing all of these stars created from small galaxies colliding and joining. Even today, dwarf galaxies are being form and colliding with ours and other galaxies to make them bigger, and in millions of years, the Andromeda galaxy, the closest one to ours, may collide with us.

Light and warmth are too of the most essential parts of our daily lives, and they are both created by stars, giant balls of burning gas scattered all other the universe. Stars are formed inside cool, dark clouds of gas. When a enough matter has been brought together, the gas surrounds the new star like a cocoon. When the new star grows bigger and hotter, the gas around flattens into rings, until the new star's energy becomes powerful enough to blow it away. The smallest stars created are red or orange, and the largest stars are blue and white. At the end of a star's lifetime, the star grows to be a dark orange, and swells to a hundred times its normal size and a hundred times brighter. The star begins to pulsate to giant and then smaller than it ever was and it blows off huge amounts of dust. In the end, the star releases all its energy and explodes, leaving a much smaller shell, the inner core, to slowly cool and disintegrate. When giant stars do this, it is called a supernova. The Sun is the one of the main reasons we can survive on earth. Without the sun, it would be too cold to survive and there would be no light for vegetation to grow. The sun is about 4.5 billion years old, and is steadily increasing in size and brightness, but in a barely noticeable way. The sun has about 5 billion years left in its lifetime, fortunately for us. The sun's power is kept at the core, where it is about 15 million degrees. Intense bursts of energy create solar flares. These solar flares are mostly deflected by the earth's magnetic field, but some flares do get in at the poles. When these solar flares enter earth's atmosphere, the create light displays in the sky called auroras. The sun needs to be at a certain temperature to continue to stay the regular white color. When the surface temperature drops too low, certain areas become blackened. These are most commonly found near the sun's equator and are called sun spots. Some of these are visible from earth without the end of a telescope, meaning that they are colossal in size.

When the sun was formed a few billion years ago, there was nothing around it except for dust particles in the sun's disc of gas. Out of these particles, the planets were formed. The sun's heat and energy charged these atoms, making them move around quickly. These atoms collided often on the inner parts of the disc. Sometimes these collisions destroyed each other, but if the collision was gentle enough, it would create clumps of dust, but because these particles were moving so fast, it was hard to create these clumps. That is why the inner planets are smaller. On the outer disc of the sun, the particles moved more slowly, making it easier to make large bodies, causing the planets of the outer solar system to be much bigger. The particle that didn’t build up much created asteroids, and settled in the asteroid belt, or if they were close enough to the sun's heat, comets. Collisions are responsible for a lot in our solar system. Even the moon was probably created when some mass hit earth and broke up. This type of collision is for less likely today than it was early on in the solar system. The Advances of Rocketry Rockets of Ancient Times

The original rocket may have been created on accident. Chinese people hundreds of years ago would throw bamboo tubes full of gunpowder in fires to creates fireworks, but it is possible that some of these creations didn’t work as they were supposed to, and shot out of the fire. One of the first known creations to have the fundamental keys of rocketry was the Hero Engine, invented by Hero of Alexandria in Greece. He heated water over a fire and captured the steam in a metal sphere. The steamed pushed its way out of two tubes, making the sphere rotate. This was the first step of many years of rocketry. Eventually the Chinese figured out that lighting gunpowder on fire could make it travel faster and farther through shooting gas. In the year 1232, the first true rockets were used to defend China. The Mongols attacked the Chinese but the Chinese had more advanced technology. They had long bamboo guiding sticks attached to bamboo tubes full of gunpowder, which they shot at the Mongols as arrows. The weapons weren't very effective, but they were quite intimidating. After this, the Mongols spread the idea to Europe, where rockets became a study.



The Fathers of Space Exploration

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was a Russian schoolteacher that became known as the father of modern astronautics. He was the first to think of traveling to space and exploring using rockets, with their high speeds. Tsiolkovsky thought it would be easier to travel faster in rockets if they had a liquid fuel supply that allowed gases to escape and he published his ideas in 1903.

Similarly, a man by the name of Robert H. Goddard is now known as the father of modern rocketry, for his contributions to getting us closer to space travel through rockets. Before Goddard, rockets weren't very efficient and burned on solid fuel. In 1915, Goddard began to test different fuel sources based on how quickly gas escaped. He determined that a liquid fuel would be better than solid, confirming Tsiolkovsky's ideas. The problem was no one had ever built a rocket with liquid fuel. Finally, on March 16, 1926, Goddard completed his design, which burned on a mixture of liquid oxygen and alcohol. By today's standards, the flight was unimpressive, flying for 2.5 seconds, going 12.5 meters in the air, and landing 56 meters away from where it took off, but it was a huge accomplishment. Over the next few years, his rockets became bigger and flew farther. Goddard also created a way of controlling the rocket, and had the idea to include a parachute inside the machine, so that the equipment wouldn't be destroyed when it hit the ground. These creations are some of the fundamental ideas of modern rocketry, so he is rightly named the father of it.



Where We are Today

Rocket companies started to pop up everywhere in the early 1900's. During World War Two, the German's made a V-2 rocket, which was used for modern warfare. This rocket could destroy entire city blocks but was fairly small. The V-2 achieved enormous thrust though, because it burned about a ton of fuel every seven seconds to keep it going. This came too late in war to do much damage and turn the tides of the war, but it was a great leap forward for modern warfare.

<span style="color: #ef6416; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">People were beginning to become fascinated by space exploration, especially two superpower countries, the United States and the Soviet Union. Both were racing to be the first successful mission into space. On October 4th, 1957, the Russians sent a satellite into space, called the Sputnik I. this was the first successful rocket mission into space. Less than a month later, the Russians sent a dog named Laika into space. He survived for seven days until being put to sleep. This showed us that living beings could survive in space as long as there was an oxygen supply. The first satellite launched into space by the United States was launched on January 31st, 1958. About ten months later, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, was formed. Its goals are to peacefully explore space for the good of all humankind. Since then, many rockets have been sent to space, carrying humans, satellites, and robots. We have explored the moon, and are beginning to explore Mars. As money and the demand for rockets increases, rocketry becomes more powerful in warfare, and also more deadly. Rockets have come a long way since the Hero Engine, or even Goddard's first liquid fuel rocket.

<span style="color: #ff002d; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 210%;">Our Own Rocketry Mission

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">The purpose of this experiment was to find out how the mass of the rocket affected how high it flew. Our rocket was 48.4 grams, which was the biggest mass in the class. We thought since more mass equals more momentum, our rocket would fly the highest in our class. This was our hypothesis. To find out how high our rocket was capable of flying, we went outside to launch. We used a Trundle Wheel, which is wheel attached to a pole that clicks every meter it travels, to get a hundred meters away from the rocket at the launch. When the rocket was hooked up to the ignition, and the ignition buttons were pressed to set the rocket in flight, angle guns were used to find the angle from the ground to the highest point in the rockets flight. Our rocket went forty degrees in the air. When all of the measurements were taken and all of the rockets were launched, our data was compiled and we used trigonometry to figure out how high each of the rockets flew. To do this, we used 100 meters multiplied by the tangent of whatever angle the rocket was at its highest point. For our equation, we used Altitude=100*tan(40). this gave us a height of 83.9 meters in the air. We then looked at the results of all the flights, and it seemed that the less mass a rocket had, the higher it flew, but there wasn't much of a difference. The difference was that a rocket that was 44.2 grams went 101.8 meters, while our rocket was 48.4 grams and only 83.9 meters in the air. Our hypothesis was incorrect, but by looking at the end results, it may not be the mass that has as much to do with the flight as the shape of the rocket. Some people’s rockets were crooked, which may have caused them to fly through the air differently, perhaps veering off to one side, making the rocket not fly to its maximum height before the parachute is deployed.



<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">I would say that our rocket was a great success. It took a minute too get started, and it didn’t lift off right away. When it finally did start it shot off the launch pad and flew 83.9 feet in the air. When nose cap was flipped off and the parachute was out, the rocket drifted towards the center field fence. Upon observation, part of the parachute had burned. To make our flight better, I would say we should have been more careful about the neatness of our rocket. The fins weren't perfectly straight, so that may have affected our flight. We also shouldn’t have painted our rocket so much, as it was very heavy and tough to get off the ground.

<span style="color: #ff002d; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 210%;">Welcome to Mars <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">The drop vehicle that my partner and I built was successful in bringing the rover container. We took the formula for impulse, which is impulse equals force times time. We thought that to decrease the impulse and force, we had to slow down the time of impact. We decided to blow up two balloons and put one on each side. The air in the balloons will compress, slowing down the landing and maybe bouncing the drop vehicle in the air to help the impact. We also put all the materials we could inside the bag, to create as much padding as possible for landing. It was very successful, though the rover could've made it to Mars with no protection as it was made very well. The balloons and the bubble wrap worked well, as well as the paper padding around the bubble wrap in the bag. I think not having anything connected by a long string help us aim better. It was harder to get it over the fence when something was trailing the vehicle. For our next drop vehicle, I would say we should not have popsicle sticks the bottom because it just makes the fall harder. I would say that we should put them across the top to help hold the balloons together.

<span style="color: #ff1000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 210%;">The First History of Robotics

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Concepts of robots date back to Ancient Greece, with the god Hephaestus's automatons, including a giant man named Talos that was used to defend Crete, and Cadmus' soldiers. From then on Greek's began to build machines that could work on their own. In the fourth century BC, a Greek named Archytas created a bird that flew by the power of steam. The Chinese also developed some automatons of their own. In the eleventh century, a Muslim inventor by the name of Al-Jazari created many automated objects including kitchen appliances. He also made the first programmable robot; a drummer powered by water that could be made to change beats based on where pegs were placed. In 1553, Johannes Müller von Königsbergcreated a robotic eagle and a fly made of iron. Both of these could fly.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Today robots can be used for almost anything, from drones used in warfare, to the Roomba that vacuums floors. Now, instead of using water or steam, robots are generally fueled by batteries and use circuit boards to function. The most commonly encountered mobile robots are used for maintenance and cleaning, such as the Roomba, which vacuums floors, but many robots are used for industrial purposes on assembly lines. Industrial robots generally have a hinged arm that allow the robot to pick up pieces, assemble an item, and place it back on line. Robots can also be used for education. The LEGO Mindstorm, BIOLOID, and OLLO kits are used in school settings to teach children about math, programming and electronics. Companies are now working on a new breed of robots, capable of safely interacting with humans, while performing the same sets of tasks. As of now, Japan has the highest number of robots in society, though companies all over the world are <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">developing robots to make our lives easier.

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<span style="color: #ff0f00; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 210%;">Programming our own Robots <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Robots can be programmed to do almost anything. In our experiences in class, we have explored some of the simpler things they can do. One of the first things we learned with the Lego MindStorms robot is how to make it move forwards. The robot can be set to how far to move, or how fast to move, which is convenient in the challenges. As well as drive forwards, robots can move backwards. The distance for both movements can be controlled by a specific distance, or by how many rotations the wheel makes, meaning that there is a tachometer in the wheel. Robots can also turn right or left because of a handy wheel in the back that directs the robot. You can change the angle of the turn to match what is needed. The measurement of the angle is about two to one, from what the robot needs to a normal angle. Robots are also able to loop the commands to better serve a task if it is a challenge where a robot has to do one thing multiple times.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Sensors basically gives the robot some of the same characteristics humans have. They also make programming a lot easier. Ultrasonic sensors give the robot its eyes. The ultrasonic sensor sends out radar that bounces off objects in its way and makes the robot stop or turn. The light sensor also acts as eyes. The light sensor measures the amount of light bouncing off of objects and relays that information to the computer part of the robot, telling it whether to stop, keep going, or follow the line between two colors. When doing this, the program has to be set to average light sensitivity of both colors. The sound sensor acts as ears for the robot. When the sensor hears a loud sound, it can be made to back up, or with a soft sound, come forward. It can also be made to turn. The touch sensor is like the hands of the robot. When the button on the sensor is pushed, the robot will either stop or turn, whatever it is programmed to do. Sensors are very useful because instead of counting out the rotations of the wheel to see how far the robot needs to travel, it can be set to unlimited rotations and have the sensor put on the breaks, or tell the robot to speed up, or turn around.

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<span style="color: #ff2800; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 210%;">Rocks and Minerals <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Scientists on earth have many ways of identifying minerals. One of the first things they do is identify if an object is a rock or mineral. They can do this by using a magnifying glass. This may tell them if an object is homogenous, or at least looks that way, or if it all has the same texture. This would tell the geologist if he has a mineral if it is all the same color of texture. To identify one mineral out of many though, it takes many tests, not just one, because one usually will just narrow it down. One test they could do would be a hardness test. They would scratch the mineral against an object of a hardness they knew, and from that they narrow it down. Streak is another way to identify minerals. Sometimes, minerals will leave a different color streak on an unglazed porcelain tile than their actual color which could be helpful. If the mineral is magnetic, the geologist is in luck, because not many minerals are, but if it is not magnetic, it is not as helpful. Some minerals are able to fluoresce, which means to refract light in a certain way. A UV light is good for this, but not all minerals do this, so it is not always a good method, but at least they would know that it doesn’t fluoresce, which could be helpful. One last test the could do would be an acid test. This is when a few drops of hydrochloric acid is placed on a rock, and then it either bubbles or it doesn’t. None of these tests would confirm a mineral's identity, but all together, they could easily do so. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">The rover Curiosity won't use all of these methods, but it will use some. Curiosity will drill into rocks, collect powder, and place it one of two fairly large onboard laboratories. It will be able to tell what minerals and chemical elements are present. Curiosity has landed in Gale Crater, a crater with possibly the most sediment on Mars, representing the greatest geological timeline. The plutonium battery in Curiosity will keep th <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; line-height: 1.5;">e rover going and gaining knowledge.