Water Bottle Rocket

As we begin researching different water bottle designs, I came upon this website. (http://lanceorloff.s5.com/rocket.html) The design of this water bottle rocket is very simple. However, there is useful information that we can all benefit from. This design tells us that fins are required for stable take off. Fins help the bottle rocket to spin in a straight line. Also, the website shares with us that there should be a counterweight in the front part of the rocket. This will also help keep the rocket balanced as it takes off. What the website doesn't have any information about, is the parachute. So we will have to come up with our own design about it.

Blogpost #23

This past week in Science, we continued to learn about the concepts of electrical energy. In particular, we studied the flow of energy through a parallel circuit and a series circuit. Many household appliances are built with a series circuit. A series circuit is more conducive for household appliances because it is space efficient. A parallel circuit is more conducive for other electric items such as Christmas lights. Before, Christmas lights were wired with a series circuit. This type of circuit made it difficult to change lights because when one light went out, the entire string of lights would go out as well. Nowadays, Christmas lights are wired with a parallel circuit, so if one light goes out, the others continue to shine.

Blogpost #22

This past week in Science, we continued to learn about electrical currents. On Friday, we were able to set up a circuit involving a battery, a multi-meter, alligator clamps, and couple resistors. We measured the amount of resistance, volts, and milliamps of the circuit. Many of our results varied because all of the batteries had a certain amount of power within them. The circuit offered us a way to understand how many electronic utilities are manufactured and how many homes are wired. The average cost of electricity in Hawai’i is roughly $.25 per kilowatthour. Some households use more electricity than others, depending on how many people live in the house and how many appliances need a constant source of electricity.

Blogpost

This is a picture of my iPhone Charger. This charger is able to convert AC power into DC power. The difference between AC (Alternating Current) and DC (Direct Current) power is that AC is power that can move in either direction, and DC is power that can only move in one direction. This charger, like many other household appliances, has a voltage of 120 volts. Voltage, otherwise known as electric potential difference, is the potential difference between two points. Amperes is the SI unit of electric current that is equal to the amount joules per one coulomb. Voltage and Amperes are found on many utilities around the world. Many countries have different amount of voltage per household.

#20

As we continue to learn about charge and voltage, I am able understand the principles and concepts in this unit. A neat experiment that caught my attention was the Millikan’s Apparatus Experiment. Robert Millikan and Harvey Fletcher found the single charge of an electron. This charge is 1.5924(17)×10⁻¹⁹ C. They proved this theory by being able to suspend oil droplets in mid air due to the pull of electrons and a positive plate. They sprayed oil droplets between two plates of very high voltage. As they looked through their microscope, they saw droplets fall to the bottom plate, and many droplets were pulled to the top plate, but few were completely suspended in mid air.

Voltage

This past week we learned about voltage and charge. Voltage is the amount of joules per coulombs. Voltage and charge are related because the more “charged” something is, the voltage becomes stronger. For example, when a balloon is rubbed on someone’s head it becomes negatively charged. The amount of electrical potential energy is high, however the charge is relatively low. That's why you do not get shocked when you touch someone else with a charged balloon. Compared to the balloon, an outlet has a high amount of electrical potential energy, but also has a high amount of charge. This means that you will get shocked if you touch the inside of the outlet.

Blogpost: Charge

The world is made up of different and complex matter. This “matter” is made up of trillions of atoms, and each atom has protons, neutrons, and electrons orbiting around the atom. By knowing how many electrons an atom has, scientist can find out what the specific charge is of the atom. This charge is known as an electrical charge or force. These electrical forces vary in charges; positive, negative, and neutral. These charges have similar principles to the charges of a magnet. Like charges repel each other, unlike charges attract each other, and neutral charges attract both positive and negative charges.