Tuesday, February 28, 2012

A Smorgasbord of Pictures

In this blog, many of my projects can be found. However, you are still not satisfied! You beg and plead for more, but I simply cannot keep up. It just so happens that in this blog, many of my projects are yet to be revealed, and luckily, you can browse through some of my favorite projects in this post. So let's begin!
These bismuth crystals have to be prettiest things I've ever seen and made. The shapes and colors seem too mystical and perfect to form naturally, but all that's required to make them is a pound of molten bismuth and a kitchen stovetop.


This was a fun weekend project! My friend had a Wii with a broken disc drive and asked me to fix it. Once I took apart the Wii, I realized how much empty space was really in it. I took out the disc drive and memory card port, and measured the dimensions of the remaining parts. I then made a case out of clear acrylic, and added in electroluminescent wire and color changing LEDs for the buttons.

This laser pointer is one of my favorites. It uses a pre-made buck-boost driver that operates on a 4.2V lithium battery. The housing is custom made from aluminum that is designed to heat sink the laser diode. The amazing thing about this laser is that it is single mode at 300mW and 400nm, allowing it to cause small particles to become trapped in the beam. This phenomena is called optical trapping.

In these pictures, you can see my music making studio. Key features are my synthesizer, mixer, and condenser microphone. You can also see the JP8000's logo on a picture frame I built as well as the subwoofer, which is an old guitar amplifier.

Here is a dichromatic lamp I made for a friend. It uses a red LED and a white LED with a blue filter to make the pink hues that shift throughout the circumference of the lamp. The most interesting thing about the lamp is how the top is not covered, so it projects a red and blue circle of light.

This Game Boy may look ordinary, but upon close inspection additional switches can be seen. That's because I modified it with three additional crystal oscillators to allow the user to adjust the speed of the device. The switch on the left side is a single pole four throw switch (SP4T) that has a .5X, 1X, 1.5X, and 2X speed setting. The switches on the right are for switching between Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games.

Long ago when I was first interested in lasers, I wanted to build a laser into a Wii controller. I never had the time to do it, so the project was scrapped. About a year ago, I found a candy dispenser that would do the trick. It fits two AAA batteries perfectly, has just enough room for the circuitry, and houses a safety switch that disables operation of the laser. A magnet is attached to the actuator, the "B" button, that activates a reed switch to turn on the red laser.

These two photographs were taken over the summer in Iceland. They display the wonderful and dynamic nature of the place, as well as its beauty. Well, I might not have made these landscapes, but I did take the picture, so that means I get some credit, right?

On the left is a pet mole I created for Mole Day. Dubbed the "Normole," it appears perfectly normal without external intervention. However, when a magnet (disguised as a radioactive food pellet for no particular reason) is placed near the mole's mouth, it slowly lights up in a brilliant display of violet and green, and continues to glow after the magnet is removed.

On the right is a teddy bear with a relatively strange implant. One of my friends wanted to have a laser-embedded teddy bear before going off to college. Nevertheless, it was I who brought life to the teddy bear, who emits a violet beam when one clenches his belly.

On the left we have a voltage regulator that's in the shape of a AAA battery. When my brother was tired of wasting batteries to power a small amplifier, I built this simple circuit to provide the 1.5V needed. It is designed to fit right in place of the battery.

On the right we have a stripped Gamecube controller. Although it looks messy, it has a 555 timer circuit to create a pulsed output that triggers a solid-state relay. The relay then modulates the push of the "A" button, making the game register 30 presses per second. This is activated by pushing on the triple-position pushbutton twice (down, then down again, like a camera's button).


These photos show a gorgeous indigo laser that I made. The case was bought online from a laser retailer, but the inside components were custom made. The laser is retrofitted with a small aperture to reduce the size of the beam. Its 445nm color allows it to cause certain objects to fluoresce, such as fluorescein and the dyes in glow sticks as seen in the second picture. Also seen is the DLP chip of an old projector, which works great as a reflective diffraction grating. It is placed on an old duck that I made in the seventh grade.

Here is a CD holder with flickering yellow LEDs and a blue LED in the spindle. It is powered by 4.5V and makes a nice decoration in my friend's room. The LEDs independently flicker in various locations around the CDs, making a lightning-esque display. It also works as a night-light.

The final creation that is seen here is the smallest laser pointer I've ever built. For being 60mm long and 20mm wide, it has quite a powerful beam. It uses a small focal length lens (about 2mm, the lens is about 4mm in diameter) to make the diameter of the beam smaller. In the picture on the right, the Altoids laser (seen in a previous blog post) has a standard 4-5mm beam while the micro red laser has a 1mm beam.

That, my friends, is all for today! Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Grant

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Chaparral - The Music Video

When it comes to biomes, there's one that everyone forgets  the chaparral. This biome is characterized by immense thickets of shrubs on dry hills and thus infrequent fires spreading throughout such shrubland. When it came to making a presentation for my AP Environmental Science class, I thought that the best way to make sure nobody forgets the chaparral would be to make a music video. And so I made my first music video!


Living on the chaparral fantasy, 
Grant

Sunday, February 19, 2012

The Pythagorean Triple Truth

Truth or dare? I dare you to find a Pythagorean triple that includes the number 314159265. Not so easy, is it? You want a truth? Here it is:
  • Take any odd number, a for example.
  • Square it.
  • Divide by 2.
  • Subtract and add ½.
  • These numbers are your b and c!
Simplified form:
b = a²/2 - ½
c = a²/2 + ½


So lets try it!
a = 314159265
b = (314159265)²/2 - ½ = 49,348,021,892,670,112
c(314159265)²/2 + ½ = 49,348,021,892,670,113


If it works for Wolfram Alpha, it works for me!
Now, if we plug in these values of a into the Pythagorean theorem, something expected happens:
(a²/2+½)²-(a²/2-½)²-a²
(a²+1)²/4-(a²-1)²/4-a²
(a^4+2a²+1)/4-(a^4-2a²+1)/4-a²
(4a²)/4-a² = 0

Wait a second, shouldn't this work for any number a? It does, but if an even number is used then the result technically isn't a Pythagorean triple, since b and c are fractions.


The formula will always find a Pythagorean triple where b and c have a difference of 1. I derived it when I noticed that if c-b=1, then c²-b²=b+c. Since b and c are consecutive numbers, b+c will always be odd. If b+c is also a perfect square, then the result will be a Pythagorean triple. The easiest way to make an odd perfect square is to take any odd number a and square it. Dividing by two and subtracting and adding ½ will find the two consecutive numbers b and c. And that is my Pythagorean triple truth!


Grant

Thursday, February 16, 2012

A Potential Story

There's nothing that makes a dull day agog than the sight of a box at the front doorstep. Rushes of endorphins trickle through vascular cavities, eventually taking the mind to a frenetic state. Flurries of legs hurry to find the only pair of scissors in the house, which is inconveniently misplaced. Regardless, the only viable option is to release the anticipation and shred open the familiar enclosure. A bead of sweat drips from the chin and onto the only thing in plain sight.
It's beautiful.
That's right. I managed to come across a sale for two Maxwell 2600 Farad, 2.5V ultracapacitors. And since I don't have a hybrid bus to power, the only other thing to use the capacitors for could only possibly be...
Scientific!
Unfortunately, the capacitors are useless unless charged. After pondering about what the most efficient and safe charging system would be, I decided to make a constant-current constant-voltage charging circuit.
Relay, power switch, ballast resistor, indicator LEDs and trimmer in sight.
One of the regulators.
The circuit uses a 2.5A current regulator and a 5V regulator as the main components. It starts with the constant current regulator, and once the two 2.5V capacitors reach 4.5V, the charger switches to a constant voltage of 5V. Once this happens, the current starts at 2.5A and declines as the capacitor reaches 5V. A transistor is used to turn on the relay that switches from constant current to constant voltage. The transistor is connected in parallel to the capacitor, allowing the capacitor to power it while it is switching the relay. And interestingly enough, this serves a second function. If the capacitor is not connected, the voltage rises to reach 2.5A, switches on the transistor, which switches on the relay, which turns off the transistor as the transistor cannot power the relay while it is switching. This effectively creates a buzzer, notifying me if the capacitor is not connected. 

The other charging indicators are the two LEDs, one hooked up to the relay and one hooked up to the capacitor. This makes it easy to see if the capacitor switches into constant voltage mode by checking to see if the green LED is on, showing that the capacitor is fully charged.
Ready!
Once the capacitors are charged, the safety goggles and thick gloves go on, and I bring the capacitors outside. Just to see how quickly the voltage decreases, I keep the multimeter connected. The result is a fantastic luminescent display.
Red hot screw!
To estimate the amount of current flowing through the screw, the average energy and average voltage is used. Since power dissipated is P=IV and power stored by a capacitor is P=.5C(Vf²-Vi²)/t, these can be substituted to find the current, I, in amperes. Our new formula is I=.5C(Vf²-Vi²)/tV, where C=1300F, Vf=2.9V, Vi=4.9V, t=20s, and the average voltage V is equal to 3.9V. Our answer is an astonishing average of 130A. Obviously, this is a crude average, as voltage of the capacitors decreases over time, causing current to decrease, and the resistance of the screw increases as it heats up. Regardless, this current is remarkable! 

Grant

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Journey of a Model Water Tower

Every model has its story. Some naturally make it to the top, others struggle through onerous obstacles to reach the summit. My three water towers have an entirely different story.
No, they look nothing like this.
The motive behind the model water towers is the annual AWWA Model Water Tower Competition. The idea is to build a creative model water tower, one that obviates the original intention of the tower and instead is judged and scored by means of four categories.
  • Design Ingenuity - The water tower must have a creative, original and well thought-out design.
  • Cost Efficiency - The water tower must use recycled materials.
  • Structural Efficiency - The water tower must be lightweight, sturdy, and have a high capacity.
  • Fill/Drain Rate - The water tower must be able to fill and drain quickly.
At the competition, there is a station where water is pumped into the tower and then drained, while being timed. Being engineers, me and the rest of the science club decided to focus on this aspect of the competition. Although this made the resulting water tower interesting, it proved to be a stymie since we overlooked the rest of the categories. Hindsight is always 20/20.

When the club finished last year's tower, we didn't think anything could go wrong on the day of the competition. In fact, we hemmed and hawed at the possibility that anything wrong was going to happen, since our drain rate was to be so stellar. Regardless, take a look at last years entry.
It's.. Beautiful?
Here's how it's supposed to work: The bag in the top compartment fills up with water. The tower then flips upside down from being lop-sided. The weights fall down, forcing the water out of the bag. Simple? Yes. Practical? No. The tower flipped too early on D-day, causing leaks from the added pressure of the pump and thwarting the drain rate. Despite the debacle, we still managed to win honorary mention and received $50 for our efforts. Gotta love pity points.

This year took on a whole new perspective. With General Grant in plenipotentiary power, our opponents were to cry in mercy. After weeks of discussion and planning, two creations emerged. Those would be the skyscraper and Slappy.
The skyscraper.
The skyscraper features a ramp at the bottom to funnel the water to the tube. It is made out of clear plastic, presumably lexan, which was salvaged from the front of a rear-projection TV. It is held together with plastic epoxy and waterproofed with silicone sealant. Overall, the engineering crew and the design crew did a fantastic job.
Slappy Slapple "Le Gator" Reptar.
Constructed of scrap plywood, Slappy is unflappable, standing strong in the face of danger. His jaw is held by two hard drive magnets, which are precisely adjusted to let go when the bag fills up with the right amount of water. When the jaw swings down, it clamps the bag using more magnets, one of which can be seen in the picture. The result leaves Slappy with a rather surprised look as his jaw hangs slack.

Now, I worry about Slappy. The bag is actually a nylon bucket with a plastic sheet attached to one end. The bag's umbilical cord sways loose, being affixed only by silicone sealant. Airtight it is, but on the day of the competition the bag turned out to be a sheer farce. Due to the bag's rigidity, Slappy was reluctant to fill up with water, and instead leaked like a fire hose. All hope was lost.

Unfortunately, the day ended with neither Slappy nor the skyscraper taking a spot on the winner's podium. The judges, being the benevolent people they are, decided to recompense the science club for all of the effort we gave. Slappy ended up winning best design ingenuity, and the skyscraper won judges top pick for a total of $100. After hearing this, my grin could be seen from a bird's-eye view. Satisfaction at last!

Grant