Cameron+F+SFLOM

**//__ Electricity: __//**
===Electricity is an entity of nature having to do with positive and negative charges and the attractions and repulsions of the atoms which is used in the form of electric current. Electricity can be broken down into three forms: static, discharge, and current. Static electricity is electricity that does not flow or move but stays in its position. Electric discharge is the rapid uncontrolled movement of electrons from one place to another. Electric current is the controlled flow of electrons through a set path. An example of static electricity is rubbing a balloon on your head because the balloon picks up some electrons from your hair but they can’t move because the balloon is an insulator. Another example of static electricity is rubbing your feet on the carpet because you rub off electrons onto your feet but your skin is an insulator so it can’t move. An example of electric current is the lights in your house. The electricity comes in on a line from a power source and goes through the light bulb and makes the filament glow and goes out the light bulb. Another example of electric current is a flashlight where the current flows through one battery and into another and then up to a light bulb and then back down through a wire but passes through a switch before it returns to the positive end of the flashlight. An example of electric discharge is lightning. Negative electric charge gathers on the bottom of the storm cloud and pushes the electrons further away and draws the protons closer. The electrons in the storm cloud then leap uncontrollably to the ground.===

We could use electricity to help us to get to Mars because electric current must power many devices for us to stay alive, get to Mars, find life on Mars, and return home. On board the space ship electric power is required for two types of devices: electronic and mechanical. In the category for electronic there would be devices for communications like computers, radios, and navigational systems. That category would also include things for the lab like microscopes, incubators, tank systems, and other things for scientific research and studying of animals. In the category of electronics, we would also have lights for the cabin so we could see. I would call these lights electronic because they would be LEDs and since they are polarized like many other electronics. The mechanical category would include: ovens, microwaves, and refrigerators for cooking. In the category mechanical it would include things such as dish washers, elevators, fans, heating and cooling, and vacuums. These devices power by electricity can help us get to Mars, exploration on Mars and come back home.



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[|http://helenkellerramirez.weebly.com/static-e][|lectricity.html] [] []

__What Is Magnetism and How We Can Use__
Magnetism is a force that can attract and repel other objects. An example of how magnetism can affect an object is demonstrated when two magnets with opposite poles are near each other, they attract each other. If these magnets are place close together with like poles near each other, they repel. Another example of how magnetism can affect an object is turning iron, cobalt, and nickel into temporary magnets. When you put either side of a magnet close to one of iron triad, the metal will become the opposite pole and be attracted to the magnet. Another example of how magnetism can affect an object when a magnet is placed near a computer hard drive, the magnet can affect the computer’s hard drive by interacting with it and erasing what was on it.

Magnetism can be useful for us on our trip on Mars because we can use it for navigation and electronics. Magnetism can be used for navigation by using compasses to find our way back to the space ship after we have gone out exploring. Magnetism can be used for mechanical devices and electronics because we will need motors, generators, electromagnets, and hard drives. We would use motors for things like open and closing doors, and moving objects. We will need generators for heat, lights, and electricity. I think that we could use electromagnets for lifting cargo out of the space ship and putting it out in space or onto Mars. We will also need hard drives for our computers, electronic devices, and flash drives to store our data that we collect while we are on Mars. Magnetism will make our lives easier when we are on Mars.

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=Basics of Astronomy!=

The universe started around 15 billion years ago and burst out of nothing. This event is now called the big bang. The universe was very hot and began to cool very quickly, while energy and particles collided. As the universe expanded the universe had more mass in certain areas than in other areas. These collections of masses created galaxies. This process of forming galaxies takes a couple of billion years.

The Milky Way is the how we see our galaxy. Our galaxy looks like a disc with a bulge in the center. Throughout the disc there is a small line of gas cutting through the middle of the disc. There are stars scattered around the Milky Way. Our galaxy has four arms spiraling around the bulge which classifies us as a spiral galaxy. On the other side of the galaxy, we are combining with a dwarf galaxy. Our galaxy is bigger than we can see because we have evidence that more material is spiraling around our galaxy.

When clouds of gas and dust are hit with a blast wave, they create cores. The cores spiral and collapse as the gas heats up the core, hot enough for nuclear reactions to take place. Then a protozoa star forms with an area with no gas close to it. The star spins and shrinks and during this process, the gasses flatten and stream out. The wind of the gasses streaming out clears the cocoon around the star. You can determine a star’s mass by looking at its color. The most massive stars are bluish white and the least massive stars are red.

The sun is a star but it is closer than other stars in our galaxy to us. During an eclipse the parts of the sun that we can see look red because we are seeing a different layer of the sun. At the center of the sun, the gasses are 20 times denser than iron and are 15 million degrees. At the Sun’s surface each cell is hundreds of kilometers across. Sometimes the sun has sun spots; the spots look different because they are much cooler than the rest of the sun. Sun spots usually form in groups or in pairs. Solar flares are blast of atomic particles. The sun can blast these atomic particles to the earth (which is how the get the northern lights) or farther. The Sun has a magnetic field 5 times stronger than the Earth’s and the magnetic field controls how the sun appears. When the sun spins, the magnetic field twists around the sun. Eventually the magnetic field is demolished and a new one begins. It is said the sun will run out of fuel and have a period of time were its size changes drastically and this will be the start of the end.

Our solar system was created when the sun was formed and material started to collect and orbit around the sun. The farther the plantesimals were from the sun s, the longer they survived. Over time planets started to form in the furthest part from the sun. Jupiter, Neptune, and Saturn were created on the outer edge of the solar system. The planets closer to the sun were bombarded with energy but they eventually succeeded and making Earth, Mars, Venus, and Mercury. These metals in the planets sunk to the inner layers as rocks went to the surface. The moon was thought to get its craters by bombardment of other matter for millions of years. Venus, Earth, and Mars got their atmospheres later.

== Rockets have been around for many years. One of the first devices that was successful was invented by a Greek inventor named Hero of Alexandria. This invention used steam power to push the sphere in a circular fashion. This was done by pushing out hot air through tubes in the sphere. Modern day rockets did not come about until 1898 when Konstantin Tsiolkovsky published a report about exploring other place through rockets. He proposed an idea that liquids could propel the rocket to get it further. In the 20th century, Robert H. Goddard experimented with rocketry. In 1915, after working with solid propelled rockets, he was convinced that liquids could propel a rocket better. In 1926, he achieved his first successful liquid propelled rocket flight. ==

== After World War II, both of the dominate powers started to compete in innovating rockets. Although the Russians got the first satellite into space on October 4, 1957, the USA did not give up. In October of 1958, NASA was created. NASA is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA was an agency with a goal of exploration of space peacefully for all of men to benefit from. In a short time afterwards, people and machines were launched into space. The demand for instruments that depended upon satellites was huge. The rockets were the key to opening up the big door to so much more. ==



=The Flight of Model Rockets=

The purpose of this experiment was to see how the mass of the rocket affected the altitude of the rocket. The experiment was performed by constructing 8 rockets. We then painted the rockets with different colors and different amounts of paint. This changed the mass of each rocket. This gave us the varying masses of the rockets. We used trigonometry to estimate the maximum altitude. During the apogee, the angle of the rocket mass altitude was determined using angle guns from a distance of 100 meters or 100 clicks of the trundle wheel. The angle was measured by two different people and the results were averaged and then the tangent of the angle was found using this formula 100*tan(degree of angle)=. A graph was plotted for the mass of the rocket verses the maximum altitude of the rocket.

I believe that my hypothesis was partly right even though the range of mass was smaller than I thought. I noted that the relationship between the mass of the rocket and maximum altitude was not always consistent in these experiments. I believe that the rockets flew the best with a mass of 44-44.2 grams.



Our rocket had some trouble getting off the launch pad but it had a very powerful lift off. The rocket coasted for around 20-30 seconds. The apogee of the rocket flight was estimated around 101.8. As the rocket left the launch pad it spun a little bit. Our rockets parachute came out and it drifted in the wind very far past the baseball field and over the fence. Overall it was a great flight and our rocket did not break or get damage although the rocket had some trouble getting off the launch pad because the igniter's wires were crossed. When we painted our rocket we did not put a lot of paint on it so it had a lighter mass. The quality of the construction was decent because our rocket did not have any damage from being launched. I think that we could improve the flight of our rocket if we sanded it smooth because it was not very aerodynamic with all of the bumps in the paint. Overall it was a very successful flight.
 * 1) The nose cone brings the air around the rocket so it is more aerodynamic.
 * 2) The body tube holds the recovery system, recovery wadding, motor mount, and the motor. The nose cone, launch lug, and fins attach to the body tube. This is the main structure of the rocket.
 * 3) The launch lug is device that guides the rocket off the launch pad.
 * 4) The motor mount holds the motor where it is.
 * 5) The fins keep the rocket going straight up.
 * 6) The motor is the devices that power the rocket, these motors are safe and a new one is need every time you launch.
 * 7) The recovery wadding helps the recovery system from burning from the heat produced by the motor.
 * 8) The recovery system brings us our rocket back mostly intact.

The Best Way to Drop Our Rover
As seen in the picture below, our design for our Mars rover drop was two balloons attached to the bottom of an inflated plastic bag. In the inside of the plastic bag was the baby far jar, or the Mars rover, wrapped in bubble wrap and tied with two rubber bands. Two pipe cleaners were attached to the top of the roll of bubble wrap and were taped to the top of the plastic bag, while on the other side of the roll of bubble wrap there was wadded up paper towels taped to the roll. A parachute was attached to the top of the plastic bag using string. We designed the device to make the fall as slow as possible using the parachute and the balloons. It was also designed to keep the baby food jar from touching the ground so that other objects took the impact. I think that our device was pretty accurate on where it fell because it was pretty symmetrical. The parachute worked well to slow the fall. I think that the balloons did not work as well as what we thought they were going to. We wanted the balloons to slow the fall and then slowly pop or bounce as it hit the ground to take some of the impact off of the rover. Next time, I think that we might make the balloons bigger so they are wider than the device and secure them horizontally. I also think that we might use duct tape because we could use less and it would have hold better. I believe that if we had taped the bag closed the air might have stayed inside better. I think that with these improvements the baby food jar/Mars rover will get safely to the surface of Mars.



=A New History of Robotics!= Robots have changed drastically throughout the years. Here is a brief history about ancient robotics. You may have heard of Archimedes. He invented many mechanical systems and advanced the mathematics world by 212 BCE. We still use his mechanical systems. An esteemed Leonardo da Vinci designed a humanoid robot that could do many things by 1495. Although we do not know that it was ever produced, this drawing helped the world see the hope for robots to live together amongst us. The very rich kids played with small automations in the 18th century. A duck was created by Jacques de Vaucanson could eat and digest grain and move its wings. The duck had 400 plus parts that could move.

Moving forward in history, there were great improvements in robots in the 20th century. In 1938, ELEKTRO was invented and was shown to the world in the 1939 World Fair. In 1948, Elmer and Elsie were turtle robots and could find their way to their chargers when they were about to lose power. In 1957, Sputnik I was put into orbit as the first satellite. The first robot that was widely used in factories was invented in 1975. NASA’s first rover landed on Mars in 1997. LEGO invented the MINDSTORMS programing system in 1998. In 2001 a tragic accident happened at World Trade Center and the iRobot Packbots was used to look through the fallen trade center. In 2002, Irobot showed the world the future of vacuums by introducing the Roomba vacuum cleaner. Finally in 2003, NASA launched Spirit and Sojourner twin robots to explore Mars and both of the robots lasted longer than they were expected to. So overall, this is only the beginning of the history of robotics and I believe that we will go much further.



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Programing with MINDSTORM Programming System

===With the MINDSTROM programing system, we can do many things. With the motor on our robots we can move in almost all directions. Using MINDSTORM programing, we can program the robot to move forward, backward, stop, make a curve turn, make a point turn, and coast. Some challenges using the motors are that it is hard to estimate the rotations by looking at the distance needed and you must stop before making a point turn. A point turn is a challenge because it is easy to forget the stop beforehand so your robot will not make the turn to the spot that you want it to.===

===A sensor is a device that can detect something and send a signal to help the robot make its own decisions. We are using four different types of sensors on our robot: light, sound, touch, and ultrasonic. These sensors are useful to help our robot perform a task because without these sensors the robot can’t do anything but what we program it to do. With these sensors, it can perform tasks based on the conditions in the environment. These tools are useful when we program because when you are programming you can’t always control the environment so the sensors are helpful to make sure that the robot does what you want it to do and to consider the environment.===





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Geology On Mars

Here on Earth, a geologist studies lots of different things. Some of the most basic things they study are minerals and rocks. Minerals are homogenous while rocks are heterogeneous. Rocks and minerals can be identified by their luster, color, hardness, and other properties. Some tests that can be used to identify these rocks and minerals are streak test, hardness test using the Mohs table of hardness, and UV light to look at fluorescing. If a geologist receives a rock or mineral, they would first observe the luster and color. If they still could not identify the rock, they may try a streak, hardness, UV, or magnetism test to rule out some of the remaining rocks.

Curiosity is doing geology on Mars by drilling into rocks and taking that dust and bringing it into its lab. In this lab, it can heat up this dust to determine the contents. Curiosity has 10 different instruments to perform tests with. It can also rove around and take pictures. This lets us on Earth see if the answer that we received is reasonable. Overall this robot is a really good geologist.





http://news.discovery.com/space/curiosity-mars-nasa-mini-drill-test-pictures-130208.htm http://jimmiescollage.com/2010/03/rocks-the-charlotte-mason-way/