Luke+J+SFLOM

Introduction to Electricity

What is electricity? It is an entity of nature composed of positive and negative charges, found in the attractions and repulsions of bodies and in the natural phenomena, and is used in the form of electric currents. As said in the definition above, electricity always contains positive or negative charges that determine repulsion or attraction. If an object has the same number of protons (+) and electrons (-), then it is neutral. It is categorized in 3 groups: static electricity, discharge and current. A static charge occurs when there is a difference between electric charges, caused by two objects rubbing against one another, removing electrons. An example of this form of electricity is when you rub a balloon on your head and then stick it to the wall. The rub on the head removes electrons, and so the electrons of the balloon attract the positive charges in the wall, while repelling the negative charges in the wall. Electric discharge is when a charge moves from one place to another extremely quickly. An example of this is when you put on a fleece jacket, causing static electricity, and then touching another person. The electricity jumps quickly from your hand to the other person, and can be seen. Electricity always wants to find a way to the ground and into the earth, which acts as a huge conductor. The third and final type of electricity is an electric current. It is the flow of electricity (made up of electrons) in an orderly manner, such as the wires that plug in your tablet that control the electric current so it reaches your computer. Another example is a circuit- a loop of wire in which the electrons move around over and over.

How could electricity be used for a search for life on Mars?

Electricity could definitely help us search for life on Mars in numerous ways. First off, you would need electricity to power a control room in the rocket ship in order to even reach Mars. Then electricity would be used to power the wheels and arms of the robot that will stroll around the surface of Mars, as well as powering the video camera and audio to give the people back on earth a full picture of Mars. But to reach the people, you need to have a transmitter that will connect with the computer (also using electricity) back on earth in order for the people to actually see what’s going on. You will also need to equip the robot with another sensor that will be able to pick up the commands sent by a remote control so that the robot knows to go forward, backward, move right arm, etc. It will also need electricity to power and headlights the robot might need when exploring caves or other dark areas on Mars. I also think it would be a good idea to include some sort of electric drill, so that the robot could dig up specimens to later be examined in labs.

Introduction to Magnetism

What is Magnetism? Magnetism is the repulsion or attraction caused by a mineral called magnetite. Inside magnetite, there are atoms whose electrons are spinning in a certain direction. If you have enough of these electrons spinning the same way, you have a magnet. All substances are magnetic, but only a handful (iron, cobalt and nickel) are noticeable. A long time ago, people discovered magnetite and noticed its magnetic properties. They also noticed that if iron was rubbed against its surface, the iron would also act like a magnet. Allow these magnetic metals to move freely, they will point to the north. Each magnet has a North and a South Pole. Like poles repel, and opposite poles attract. This seen with two bar magnets, each with the North and South Pole labeled. If you place both North Poles or both South Poles close together, the magnets repel. If you spin one magnet around so that there is a North and a South Pole close together, the magnets will attract. This force caused by these magnets that cause the attraction and repulsion is called a magnetic force, allowing these magnets to cause movement without actually touching the object. The magnets are strongest closer to the North and South Poles, and weaker when you get farther away from them. There is also another type of magnet, called an electromagnet. It is when an electric charge causes a magnetic field. This is seen when a coil of wire is wrapped around an iron nail (see Figure 1), magnetizing it. Each and every loop in the coil creates a magnet, and so when you have enough coils, a strong magnet is formed. When there is a current passing through this wire, the magnet becomes even stronger. This is particularly useful when transporting cars in a junkyard. A massive electromagnetic, not yet switched on, is placed above the car. Someone flips a switch, and the current magnetizes the giant electromagnet and the car leaps up and sticks to the bottom of the electromagnet. The machine then transports the car to the desired area. Someone flips the same witch off, and the current stops and the electromagnetic is no longer a magnet and the car falls to the ground. If you had used a regular magnet, the car would have stuck to the magnet, but would not be able to come down. These are just a few of the many ways magnetism help make our lives easier.

Figure 1- An electromagnet, with a coil of current-carrying wire wrapped around an iron nail.

How could magnetism be used for a search for life on Mars?

In a search for life on Mars, magnetism could be very useful. You could attach some sort of electromagnet, so that you can switch it on and off, to the land rover, so that iron ore inside Mars would be attracted and come up out of the ground, and so the Mars rover could take samples from the ground instead of having a probe that would have to dig up samples (see Figure 2). If there are electric currents produced by living cells, then we could design a certain magnet that would pick up these electrical currents and tell us if there is life nearby. We are partially magnetic, so maybe other life on Mars is, too. We could also use compasses or magnets in our search to find the North and South Pole (if there is one) and use that data to determine Mars’ magnetosphere. We could use our knowledge about Mars’ magnetosphere to learn if it was strong enough to protect life on Mars, or maybe it was too weak that dangers, such as the charged particles released by the sun that hits our atmosphere and creates an aurora, actually hit Mars and destroy life living on it.

Figure 2- A Mars rover using magnetism to collect samples of iron ore on Mars.

Crash Course in Astronomy

__** Big Bang To Galaxies **__ Our entire universe was created with one event- the Big Bang. It is a theory where there was an explosion from a tiny atom-sized particle 15 billion years ago that created the universe. Matter and antimatter trapped in something called a quark and antiquark form energy when they collide that in turn creates matter. Protons and neutrons formed when the universe wasn't even a tenth of a millisecond old. When the falling temperature reached 3000 degrees Kelvin, Electrons start orbiting protons and hydrogen nuclei. Galaxies began after 2 billion years of the Big Bang, gravity causes clumps to grow. Our galaxy formed when the universe was 3 billion years old and began as a sphere of gas. There are three forms of galaxies, elliptical, spiral and irregular. Galaxies were closer together than they are now, and so collisions between them happen much less frequently then they did billions of years ago.

__** The Milky Way Galaxy **__ Our galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, is a disk of stars form it 100 light years across, and 1-2 light years thick and a thin layer of gas and dust around it, and a flattened central bulge 20,000 light years across. It began when the universe was 3 million years old. The sun is in the disk of stars, around halfway out from the center. The galaxy has a spherical halo made up of globular star clusters. Four spiral arms come out from a central bulge, containing red and orange stars. At the heart lies the nucleus that is a massive black whole and a disk of dusk. The sun takes 250,000,000 years to go around once, going 250 Kilometers a second. The way it rotates says it is surrounded by an invisible corona, and it may be 10 times the amount of material than we see.

First, the stars form in cold dark clouds of gas and dust, and is set off by a blast wave (from another star) that causes the clouds to clump. Proto stars form when falling gas heats up the center of the core and is surrounded by a place without gas. Nuclear reactions start as the star spins and shrinks and it flattens into a disk and gas leaks out. Stars turn hydrogen into helium, supplying itself with nuclear energy. Massive stars are bluish white (20x the size of the sun), the deep red stars are smaller and dimmer and cooler. The sun started 5 billion years ago and its outer layers expand to double in size and the yellow star turns to orange, and it becomes hotter and brighter. At the end of a stars life, its core collapses due to an iron core that forms inside the star, and the imploding core rebounds and creates a shock wave that blows the star apart and creates a supernova.
 * __ Lives of the Stars __**

__** The Sun **__ The sun is a star, a ball of hot gas, that was formed 5 billion years ago that is very close to earth. It is made up of hydrogen and helium. The sun's outside layer corona is millions of degrees and the chromosphere (between corona and photosphere) is seen as hot glowing flames. The core in the center of the sun is 15 million degrees and the gas inside is 20x denser than iron. 4 million tons of hydrogen are lost per second to create energy that is radiated from the sun through the photosphere. On the surface of the sun, spots appear in groups, and are a much darker color because they are much cooler. Particles from the sun fly into space and when it reaches Earth, its magnetic field funnels the particles to the north and south pole and creates aurora as it hits the atmosphere. The magnetic field on the sun is 5x stronger than the earth's, and it spins about once a month, although its rate varies.

__** History of the Solar System **__ The Solar System was created when gravity pulled together gas and dust, where it turned into a disk with a glob in the middle about 4.5 billion years ago. Solid material collected into larger particles about a few kilometers across, called planetesimals. Planetesimals collided softly to make larger particles, as for others exploded on impact because they were moving to quickly to merge. 4 terrestrial planets formed (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) and were constantly pummeled by incoming particles. This heated the planets' surfaces up, but they eventually cooled and hardened. By then, most planetesimals had been destroyed, ejected to other solar systems or they had settled into the asteroid belt, and few were captured as moons to other planets. Rings of planets, like Saturn's were formed by broken up planetesimals from gravity pulling them apart if they got too close. Atmospheres of Venus, Earth and Mars were created later on by gases from volcanoes and plants created oxygen from carbon dioxide. 65 million years ago an object, most likely a meteor, crashed into the Earth led to the extinction of many species, such as the dinosaurs.

The Invention of the Rocket- A World-Changing Innovation

Rocketry has been around for thousands of years, and has helped us in numerous ways from forecasting the weather to using them for weapons in WWI. The first recorded rocket-like structure was created by a Greek inventor named Hero, who used steam to propel a spherical object around in circles. After that, studies about rockets happened intermittently until around first century AD, where the Chinese used gunpowder filled tubes for traditional purposes. Later on, the Chinese used escaping gas caused in the explosion to thrust forward and arrow. This rocket-propelled arrow was used in the war against the Mongols, where the Chinese used these “arrows of fire” to destroy the opposing army. Although we are not quite sure if these inventions were accurate, they sure frightened the Mongol forces. As the years passed, the rocket was tweaked and perfected. In 1898 another figure that helped the invention of the rocket greatly was a Russian schoolteacher named Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who pronounced after years of careful calculations and research, that rockets could be used for space exploration, using liquid propellants.

Figure 3- The Hero Engine, the basis of all rocketry

Later in the early 20th century, an American man named Robert Goddard conducted experiments encompassing solid and liquid fuel in order to go higher than the lighter-than-air balloons that were previously used to gain a higher altitude. His first successful flight using liquid fuel occurred on May 16, 1926, a huge point in time for the growth of the rocket. It flew two and a half seconds, had an altitude of 12.5 meters and landed 56 meters away. Although unimpressive in today’s world, it was monumental for those interested in the science of rockets.

Rocket building companies began to emerge all over the world. As the World Wars came, rocketry was used for different reasons- military purposes. Germany developed the V-2 rocket late in WWII, which was used to annihilate British forces, although it was too late in the war to turn back the tide. Both sides of the war discovered how important this new weapon could be, and rushed to their laboratories to improve this design for future wars. As the research for rocket space exploration continued, a competition between the Soviet Union and the United States took place to see who could send out a successful space craft into space fastest. This was called the Space Race. On October 4, 1957, Sputnik I, the world’s first space craft to fly into space, by the Soviet Union, proving their dominance in the Space Race. Following this, in January 31, the US launched their first satellite into space called Explorer I and founded the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Even today these space crafts have allowed us to call someone on the other side of the globe, to explore new planets, to give us a weather forecast so we can be aware of what may happen, and many other things that we had previously not been able to do before this new industry of rockets began.



Figure 4- An image of the V-2 rocket, a weapon used in World War II

Experimenting with Rockets

Figure 5- A picture of our rocket with its labeled parts

Nose Cone- To streamline the oncoming air to provide a smoother flight. Body Tube- The main hull of the rocket, contains the Recovery System and Wadding, the Motor Mount and the Rocket Motor. Recovery System- Consists of the parachute and the shock cord and is designed to slowly bring the rocket back down to earth. Recovery Wadding- To protect the parachute and shock cord from the gases produced in the launch Launch Log- To keep the rocket from flying off of the Munch pad. Motor Mount- To keep the Rocket motor in the same place. Rocket Motor- A device that launches the rocket up into the air and cannot be used twice.

We began with a cardboard tube, a nose cone, some pieces of wood, a piece of straw, the engine, parachute, paper towel, glue, ruler and a few bottles of paint. We then proceeded to put the rocket together piece by piece, and then finished it off with a nice paint job to give the rocket the appearance of a pencil. First the engine and igniter was put together, then the stabilizing fins and launch log. Then we gave all the rockets a fresh coat of paint, which also affected the weight of our rockets if you placed layers upon layers of thick paint on your rocket. Finally we had a fully stable rocket ready for liftoff. Each of the 8 rockets were weighed in grams and recorded. Then we were ready for launch day.

The ignition consisted of a small box with a button, a keyhole, and a key. It was connected to a long red wire with two alligator clips to clip on the each of the wires that were connected to the igniter in the rocket. The key was placed in the keyhole and both buttons were pressed at the same time. The rocket waited about a second, and then we had liftoff as the igniter lit up and shot the rocket upward. We repeated these steps until every rocket had been shot off and collected. Meanwhile, 100m away(as recorded by the trundle wheel), there were two people with angle guns to measure the angle where the rocket reached its apogee. These angles were recorded, and then trigonometry was used to find the maximum altitude of the rockets by multiplying the tangent of the angle recorded by the angle guns by 100 (the amount of meters away) to find the max altitude. A scatter graph was then created showing the correlation between the mass and the maximum altitude of the rockets. The rocket with the greatest maximum altitude reached 101.8 m and had a mass of 45.5 g, and the rocket with the lowest altitude rose 60.1 m and had a mass of 44.5 g. The heaviest rocket had a mass of 48.4 g and flew up to 83.9 m and the lightest rockets, weighing in at 44.0 g, flew 78.1 m and 94.9 m.

The purpose of this experiment was to test if there was a relation between the mass and maximum altitude of the rocket, and if it could help us when we need to shoot off our rocket to Mars. My previous hypothesis was that the lighter rockets would fly higher because the igniter would be able to push it with a stronger force than if it had to push a heavy rocket. My hypothesis was partially correct, for the highest altitude was performed by a lighter rocket, but there were also a few light rockets that didn't fly high at all, as well as some heavy rockets that had some high flights.

Figure 6- A graph displaying the results of our rocket experiment and the correlation between the mass of the rockets and their maximum altitude

It started out flying high and fast in a slight spiral with smoke tailing it, reached its apogee, then it turned slightly and the nose cone flew off and the parachute popped out and unfolded and carried the rocket back down into the baseball field. Our rocket was painted with a thin coat of paint, and so our rocket was relatively light. This had a downfall, for I believe the rocket had a hard time continuing up through the air after the ignition ran out and its momentum was the only thing keeping it going forward, for our rocket only flew 60.1m up in the air. We had constructed our rocket well enough, with the fins and the launch log straight up and down to make sure it would be flying straight. We could have made the paint coat a little thicker so that the rocket was heavier and could have more momentum even after the ignition.

Mars Rover Egg Drop

Okay, so we have successfully reached Mars with our rockets but now we need to land on the surface. Our challenge was to create a craft that would allow the rover to safely land on Mars. Instead of creating a multi-million dollar rover and then creating something to protect it when it lands, we used apple sauce jars and a variety of school supplies for our experiment. This is much like an egg drop experiment, except there is a limited amount of supplies and after the craft is dropped, you only have 45 seconds to recover the apple sauce from it without any equipment. My team designed ours so that there would be a lot of protection on almost all sides of the applesauce as well as a parachute and balloons to guide the craft landed the way we planned it. Our goal was to create a craft that would lengthen the time of the impact, for Impulse= Force*Time and we want to increase that time as much as possible. We settled on two padded cups that would be placed on either end of the apple sauce jar (protection on all sides) and placed that on top of a pad of bubble wrap (extra protection) with popsicle sticks taped to the bottom(as seen in Figure 7). We also attached a parachute with two balloons taped on the end of it mostly to make sure the craft landed a certain way (where there was the most padding), but also to slow down the flight. The idea for recovering the jar was that you could grip the cups in either hand (as if you were holding handle bars on a bike) and break the tap between the two cups by turning each hand 90 degrees so that it makes a "pop" sound.

As always in any experiment, there were the good and the bad. For starters, our bubble wrap worked well, for the tiny pockets of air really cushioned the fall. The balloons worked as planned, making sure the craft landed on the exact spot where there was the most padding although they did not do much in terms of slowing the craft down. One of the problems we encountered was that one of the strings that attached the craft to the parachute was ripped off when it was thrown. Thankfully, it did not alter our results. It was also found that the padding on either side of the cups went to waste, for the jar landed on its side and so we could have used that auxiliary padding for a more important use. If I could redo this experiment, I would definitely focus more on the padding, rather than using the supplies for a parachute that didn't really work.



Figure 7- A photo of our basic design of the two cups, the plastic bag, and the parachute.

Robot History- An Inside Look

<span style="color: #2118c4; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Ancient Robots

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Robots date back until 270 BC, where they were simply theories created by a Greek engineer named Ctesibus. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, the first sign of an artificial human being. In 1921 the word "robot" was first used in a play called Rossum's Universal Robots, written by a Czech writer around the plot that man makes robot, then robot kills man. Norbert Wiener created the idea of "Cybernetics" or artificial intelligence in 1948. The very first robot company was founded in 1956 by George Devol and Joseph Engelberger. The first industrial robot, named UNIMATE, was used in General Motors in New Jersey. A computer controlled robotic arm was first manufactured in 1963 to help the handicapped. A mobile robot controlled by artificial intelligence was created by SRI international in 1970. On June 10th, 2003, the very first Mars rover was launched, marking an accomplishment that would never be forgotten. The rover was expected to explore around 90 days, but instead ran for more than 5 years. On July 7th, 2003, another rover named Opportunity was launched.

<span style="color: #2118c4; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Modern Day Robots

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Today robots are used for a variety of reasons. From placing a part for a car on a conveyor belt to entertaining small kids, robots have always been useful.They have taken new life, becomingmore realistic and being able to perform more commands. They have allowed us to obtain useful information about the universe around us. For instance, the rovers on Mars are still collecting data for the NASA scientists, who are eager to learn more about the distant planet. Robots also are used to help the handicapped, such as a robotic arm or leg that will feel jus the same as a normal limb. Toys such as the LEGO MINDSTORMS help kids learn about commands, as well as having fun with programming to make the LEGO robot perform a bountiful of tasks. Industrial robots also help the economy, so that workers will never get tired of putting on the same part on a car conveyor belt, and employers don't have to pay them. All in all, robots really do make our lives easier, and are an important part in our lives.

Figure 8- An animated image of a Mars rover, one of the many uses of robotics.

Figure 9- A photo of an industrial robotic arm, used for placing parts on a car.

<span style="color: #2618c4; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Robot Programming

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Robots are interesting pieces of equipment. Give them a command, and they'll perform it, providing the commands were specific enough. To move the robot, you need a motor that is controlled by a certain set of commands in order for the robot to complete it's goal. We used LEGO MINDSTORM robots and the MINDSTORM program to direct our robot through a series of challenges. First, we began with a simple command- move forward 1 rotation. Though it may sound simple, you have to drag the specific block onto a building grid where the commands are placed on. Then you have to tweak that block's setting to make sure it goes the right direction, the correct number of rotations, and how fast the wheels should spin. Later we used different sensors such as touch, light and sound sensors that could allow the robot to do a variety of commands. Once a series of commands was finished, the robot was plugged into our computer using a special wire and the commands were programmed into our robot. With a touch of an orange button the face of the computer-brick (the brains of the robot), it would complete the set of commands. We then worked our way through moving and stopping, point turns, curve turns and driving in a square. We then came across a challenge to navigate our robot around an obstacle course using a variety of movements and turns.

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">Figure 10- An image of the LEGO MINDSTORMS robot with the the sound sensor (on left) and the light sensor (bottom).

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">So far, we have used a total of four sensors to aid our robot when navigating obstacle courses. These sensors are sound, ultrasonic, light and touch. The sound sensor could pick up loud noises, and the robot would a perform a command, such as stop, when the loud noise was heard. The ultrasonic sensor sent out a wave of energy, which bounced off an object and then back to the sensor. The ultrasonic sensor could tell how far away an object was because of how long it took for the signal to reach the sensor again. The next sensor was a light sensor, which rated every shaded of color from 0-100%. Black being 0% and pure white being 100%. This could be used if you wanted the robot to follow a black line, or if you wanted the robot to stop when it reached a certain shade of color. Finally there was the touch sensor. When the robot runs into a wall or another object and the button on the touch sensor is pushed or released, the robot knows to perform an action of whatever the programmer wishes. This could help if you need to stop when you touch an object, or if you needed to bounce off certain walls.

<span style="color: #2618c4; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 26px;"> Figure 11- An image of the ultrasonic sensor, which uses waves of energy detect distance.

<span style="color: #2418c4; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">Identifying Minerals

====There are many ways geologists identify minerals. The easiest, and not always the most efficient way to classify minerals is to judge them by their physical appearance. Their color and the way they form can give clues to the identity of the mineral. However, this is not always the best, as for the rock could be coated and could fool the geologists how solely relies on appearance. Another method is the hardness test, as for certain minerals have certain hardness levels. You can use different objects, such as nails or glass to determine the hardness of a mineral. When two solids are scraped against each other, the one with the lesser hardness will be scratched. You can also judge a mineral by its luster, especially when shined on with a UV light. Certain minerals will shine different colors when under the light. There is also a streak test that can be performed, and the color of the scratch on an unglazed porcelain tile. Also, the way the mineral breaks can also give clues about its identity. If a mineral breaks in clean plates, the rocks have cleavage. If it breaks in jagged and uneven chunks, it means the rock fractures. Minerals can also be distinguished by their heft, an aspect known as specific gravity. It is the ratio of the minerals weight with the weight of an equal volume of water.====

Figure 12- A geologist performing the streak test on a rock.

====Curiosity is a rover that has given us the inside scoop of Mars, from images of the surface to breakdowns of the soil to search for water. One of its main functions is to identify the rocks and soil on Mars. It uses two instruments, known together as the ChemCam. The first instrument is a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), which provides us with the chemical compositions of the rocks simply by pointing a laser at it. The second instrument on the ChemCam is the Remote Micro Imager (RMI) telescope, which provides us with high-resolution images of the rocks and soil, allowing scientists back on earth to identify the rocks using sight. The LIBS instrument can identify a soil sample from up to 7m (23ft), vaporizing it using pulses from the 1067 nm laser and then observing the light released. It also can scoop up some of the soil and place it in an internal laboratory. It then heats up the soil or rock until it becomes a gas. Then, the laboratory can identify the composition of the substance based on the gases released.====

Figure 13- Curiosity using the ChemCam to identify an unknown rock.