Seaons Clock

For my final AP in my STEAM class, Light, Sound, and Time we looked into many concepts such as sundials, sextants, longitude, and latitude and ancestors of time devices. We also were challenged to read a book called Einstein’s Dreams and presented to our class some basic and complex ideas about time discussed in the chapter. We dove into learning about different time zones and time paradoxes in space-time too. But for this final assignment, we were tasked to do research on a couple of time-telling devices, then after finding some to try and take inspiration from it and make your own. During this last unit of the course, my peers visited the Adler Planetarium and we also planned to host guests form a University to help us gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Personally, I found this course fun and challenging at the same time I have taken in a lot of information and it will definitely help me in impacting my future. Below is my presentation, enjoy.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17KPAbfh6Np9SqwWKJuCHmHYfJmhUxzBx/view

J.L- (2020)

In conclusion, I really liked the project. It was great to get in this creative mindset and make something that hasn't been made. The drawback that I take from this is the amount of time I had to complete it. If I had more time it would be more clear and thorough. Also, I would have loved to create a prototype.

JJ's Diddley Bow

During our STEAM course Light, Sound and TIme, we went over sound as our seconded unit of the course and focused on how humans perceived sound and how other animals do also. We researched ear structures and learn about the anatomy of the ear. Learning about the ear helped me understand more as to why I can’t hear certain sounds that my dog maybe can. Over time in our investigation, we lent toward music and different frequencies of the pitch.

Recently for a Field Experience, our teacher’s close friend performed a sound bath for us. A sound bath is a meditative experience where sound waves are produced by various instruments and human voices. This was really unique and when she moved around the room with the gong I could hear the Doppler effect taken place. As we dug heavily into our calculations and equations we were given the task to create a diddley bow. A diddley bow is a single-stringed guitar-like instrument. Yet its played with a piece of steel or a glass bottle to give a bluesy type sound. Heres my diddley bow below hope you enjoy.

Sketch(2020)

J.L Diddley Bow (2020)

J.L Diddley Bow (2020)

Harmonics on the fretboard

J.L Diddley Bow (2020)

Heres a video I recorded of yourself playing my DiddleyBow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-naqOFH7omM

My diddley bow makes sound by the string that I have screwed into the wood. The string I have on my bow is the g string, its vibration rings throughout the air creating a frequency that goes through my soundhole and is amplified so I can hear. The bridge and nut create tension and support on my device. I also added a thick rubber band to help create more tension.

Important Terms

Key scientific principles such as sound waves, wavelength, frequency, and amplitude.
Sound Waves- A wave of compression that goes through the air.
Wavelength - The distance between successive crests of a wave
Frequency- The rate at which something is repeated over a particular period of time
Amplitude- The maximum peak of raise the volume

My first 4 harmonics and their approximate wavelength and frequency/pitch

Waves and Frequency Calculations (2020)

1st harmonic frequency- 84.2

1st harmonic wavelength- 4.073

2nd harmonic frequency - 168.4

2nd harmonic wavelength- 2.036

3rd harmonic frequency- 6.108

3rd harmonic wavelength- 0.017

4th harmonic frequency- 0.051

4 harmonic wavelength- 0.207

My data on the string gauge
String thickness- 0.18/1000th in
Sting Length- 24/1000th in

JL-2020

JL-2020

Calculations
Height of small piece of wood- 3in
Height of can hole- 2in
Distance from the battery to can- 26in
The hypotenuse of (the vibrating string)- 26.02in
Trapezoid Area- 65in
Upper Angle- 87.797in
Lower Angle- 92.202in
Cylinder Radius- 2in
Cylinder Height- 4.5in
Cylinder Volume- 56.22 inch

In conclusion, this project was very fun. I got to understand the basis of sound principles and create something that is unique. I learned a little more about guitars, and the process of creating it was extraordinary. I would love to do it again. Hopefully making it electric this time. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Using Light To Our Advantage

In my STEAM course Light, Sound, and Time we went over light and how it affects our everyday life. We learn about the human eye, time, light rays and the power of the sun. The course begins by reading a book of our choosing and after we read and we share a lesson plan with our class. This engaged classmates and challenged one another to think deeper. We learned about the properties of light and how it acts both as a wave and a particle. Later, we spent time discovering the electromagnetic spectrum and experimented with the visible light spectrum. We did this by using a prism and focusing light at the center of it. During our short course, we noticed how similar the human eye and cameras are. So after experimenting with the idea our teacher gave us, the assignment to design our Pinhole Camera, we actually went on an FE to a dark room at Truman College. There, we got our pictures processed in a dark room and learned the thorough process of making an original picture. We had to take our light-sensitive paper from the box and place it in 3 chemicals. First, we put in developer, fixer, and stopper. After we washed the picture, we dried it and took it home. Below are images of my Pinhole Camera that I made out of a tea box.

JNL.2020

JNL.2020

JNL.2020

JNL.2020

Step by step process of building it

• Collected materials for the camera, these included (Cardboard box, Tape, Black paint, Aluminum can
• Cut out a tiny hole in the middle( I used a pen for this)
• Paint the entire box black. Either tape or paint
• Cut out a square piece from the aluminum can; Keep it as flat as possible
• Make pinhole by using a thumbtack and putting it through the aluminum
• Tape your aluminum onto the very small precise hole
• To make a shutter you can cut out a square piece of cardboard and tape over the hole
• Use a closet as a darkroom to add your light-sensitive paper with the glossy side up with tape on the bottom
• Close your shutter and make sure no light gets in 
• Now find something to capture and open the shutter for approximately 5 minutes

JNL- Math Calculations 2020

The first photo that I took on my pinhole camera developed, but looked more like a ghost than my object. At first, my object was a water bottle, but after going to the darkroom I changed my object to a tree. I think my camera was open for too long and had more exposure than I needed. At Truman, our guest generously helped us to make sure we didn't leave empty-handed. So we took at least three runs to capture some images, either by adjusting the amount of time we exposed our camera to light or to check if any light was getting through. I enjoyed learning about the process I thought it was pretty neat. A term that was brought up in our class was refraction. Refraction is the phenomenon of light and radio waves being deflected in passing obliquely through the interface between one medium and another or through a medium of varying density. It can change at different speeds and focus on certain parts of the eyes.

JNL 2020- Picture I took of a tree outside of Truman College

My Pinhole camera captured enough light through the shutter. The light captured flashes and reflects what I'm aiming at onto the light-sensitive paper. We painted our inner box black because white reflects and black absorbs. If it was white, there wouldn’t be a clear image of the photo I took. The black inside won't let any light through, so when you open the shutter a certain amount of light will come in and then close back up. The light that shines through acts as a wave, while also behaving like a particle because the light is made up of photons that can act like particles. 

To wrap things up, I think that this action project was pretty beneficial to learning more about light. We applied simple but complex lessons in class. Directly, to our pinhole cameras, it related to what we learned, which was a plus. I think to go forward another FE would be great and more experiments to get us more engaged. Learning about light this course was pretty unique and interesting.