Hot Air Ballooon V.2

After the miserable fail of our first hot air balloon, the members of our new group decided to scrap the old design altogether, and come up with something completely different. We spent quite a bit of time thinking what device to model our hot balloon after until it hit us: Chinese Lanterns.

Though it was somewhat of a farfetched idea at first, we eventually began to see the light of it. Chinese Lanterns used extremely light materials, and with a simple candle, they were usually able to float. So, with that in mind, we began our design. We wanted a tall, cylindrical shape to match that of the Chinese Lantern's, leaving the candles at the bottom. Since we were mimicking the Chinese lantern, we chose materials that were also fairly similar. Tissue paper would cover our entire structure (except for the bottom) since it seemed to resemble rice paper quite well, and to hold up the entire structure, we would use thin, light, and flexible wires.

 During the construction, we were constantly thinking of methods to make our lantern as light as possible. Therefore instead of using glue or masking tape, we used double sided tape so we were able to stick the tissue paper without adding too much weight. As for the wires, we used it to build the skeleton of the structure. We realized that the bottom probably needed more support than the top, so we doubled up the wires. When we wrapped the tissue paper around the skeleton, it was a tedious process because the tissue paper was so delicate and served to be a factor of frustration when it ripped or teared.

Unfortunately, even with this creative design, the Chinese lantern was not successful. Right before we flew it, we poked a hole at the top, thinking it was going to help our lantern fly. It didn't. And it probably made everything worse. If we had to make any improvements, it would probably be making the bottom lighter, as it was too heavy for the lantern to float.

But, this project was extremely fun, and even if the hot air balloons were unsuccessful, we had a great time making it!

  Photo Credits: Wa Sang Tse.

Hot Air Balloon!

Whenever the topic of hot air balloons came up, I've always imagined how fun it would be to go and ride one. Actually constructing one though, would never have crossed my mind. Then again, anything is possible, especially when it comes to Mr Chung's SES class. Just like with the egg landers, the hot air balloons had to be made of straws. This time around though, we had birthday candles and a large plastic bag ( maybe the size was a bit of an overkill :P ) in order to make our structure lift off the ground.

As if the whole idea of making a working hot air balloon out of thin straws wasn't hard enough, we had to reuse the straws from our egg lander! Good thing we decided not to cut up our straws, or else we would really be in trouble. Since our limit was 10 straws, we tried to keep our design plain and simple. We were explained that the simpler the structure is, the lighter it would be, and the lighter it would be, the easier it would be for the candles to lift it. Unfortunately, we didn't have too much time to plan the design out, as we spent most of the time actually taking apart our egg lander rather than deciding on what to do for the hot air balloon. Therefore, when we actually started building the structure, we were pretty much panicking (or at least I was) for the entire time.
For the design, we originally wanted to make a simple X shape with the straws so we could put the candles on there, but then we wanted to go for a bigger surface area for the base of the hot air balloon once we realized how big the plastic bag was going to be. Then, we went with five straws in the middle as the base, make the structure look like a star.
We had a big problem though; because we kept on changing our ideas with the egg lander, we ended up bending and playing around with the straws alot. Now when we reuse the same straws, they become quite flimsy, and we were unsure whether it would hold the candles or not. Then, we had the idea of connecting the straws together in the star so that they wouldn't be as weak. Our idea did work in terms of making the structure stronger, but we always made the structure a lot heavier than it could have been.
Frustrated, and caving under the pressure, we just decided that it would have been better to stick to our original plan of the base and  just make it a five straw star, with extended ends to attach to the plastic bag.
Since we took into consideration of the weight of the candles, we decided that 5 candles might be a little bit better as 10 candles would make our hot air balloon way too heavy to lift.

The biggest challenge for us was probably the giant plastic bag. It was impossibly hard to work with, and we were afraid of cutting it into anything smaller in case something went wrong. Even though the bag was trimmed into a smaller size, it was still a lot bigger than the base, and continued to give us problems with the attachment of the base to the bag. In the end, we didn't have a chance to test it, as we were still struggling with the plastic bag when the tests for the hot air balloon was over.

Some improvements that could be made for next time are once again, being efficient with our time. The indecision with what we should be doing definitely took up alot of our time. This is a thing that should have been previously researched at home.
Really, we should have just cut up the irritating bag. It would have made our lives a lot simpler, and even if our structure didn't work, we could have at least tested it. Oh well, at least we'll know what to do for the future if we ever have to build a hot air balloon out of straws again...?

Egg Lander V.2

After our first egg lander failed so miserably, Mr. Chung gave us another chance to make the much needed improvements to our previous design and to rebuild the structure, but this time, with 25 straws, tape, and 3 new group members!

Design
Personally, I really believe our design this time around was much more well thought out, since we were more aware of what aspects of the structure will help the egg survive, and what obstacles to avoid during both the construction of the egg lander and during the actual drop.
The design of our egg lander was based on the shape of an hour glass. We decided on this shape because even though we knew the importance of having a strong base to support the fall of the egg, we also realized that a bigger top would also help balance the structure (as it distributed the weight better as the egg is in the centre of the structure), and help protect the egg (in case the structure did topple over, the egg would not be in danger). Even though we originally wanted to make the base a giant triangle, we figured out that the bigger surface the base has, the more stability will allow, and ended up with square bases.

We wanted a good distance between the egg and the bottom and top of the hour glass, so the egg wouldn't be too close to the ground when we dropped it, and the structure would absorb most of the impact by the time it got to the egg. However, we needed to figure out a length that was efficient on our straws as well.
As for the container of the egg, we made a cube (since it was quite easy to build) and tried to add as many supports around it as possible to prevent the egg from falling out during the drop.

Results
Unfortunately, our egg lander failed again. I was the one who dropped the egg lander, (one of the most nerve wrecking experiences), and so I didn't get to see what actually happened to our egg, but I was told by my group that the structure of the egg lander was too weak, since we attempted to use our leftover pieces for the supports, and taped two separate pieces of straw together (which really was a mistake, as it bent easily on those points), and the container did not protect the egg very well. Even though we had discussed on wanted to put flexibility into our structure at the beginning, this was certainly not a good way of incorporating that idea, and our egg lander completely lacked strength. So, in the end, we're not really sure if our hour glass was a good shape to work with (though by the small number of successes with the structure, we can probably bet that it wasn't).

Improvements
Once again, there are tons of improvements that could have been made to our structure. For one, we should have definitely supported the egg container better. Instead of using the last of our straws as supports on the side, we should have used them to hold the distance between the top/bottom of the hour glass and the egg container. Then, the structure would not have been as flimsy, and the egg would have been better protected. As for the container, it should have protected the egg better.

 When we designed the container, our only thought for it was for a place to stick the egg, and to ensure that the egg doesn't fall out. We never really gave it much thought to how well it would accommodate the egg. Then again, we rushed through the construction for other parts of the egg lander as well, which brings me to the next point: we should have been more efficient with our planning and construction. We wasted so much time discussing about what to do for the egg lander that we barely had enough time to build the actual thing. This could have been easily solved by going home, and doing some research before we get started so we knew exactly what we were getting into.

Overall, this project was fun and allowed for us to interact with new people. Personally, it added to the list of many reasons of why I can't/shouldn't/wouldn't ever be an engineer or anything of the like.

Stargazing

Last Thursday, our SES class went star gazing. It was one of the most memorable events I've been to, not only because of what we learned, but also because I forgot to bring layers, and ended up freezing. Regardless, it was a night I could never forget.

Even though we had a chance to learn about the stars and the constellations, and get glimpses of some of the planets, my favourite part was still the moon. I really liked it when all the astronomers angled their telescopes at the moon. It allowed everyone to see the moon from many different perspectives, and appreciate all the little details that they've never been able to notice before. When I went star gazing before, I never really took interest, because I had always taken the objects in the sky for granted.
This time, however, I was able to see the moon up close, with all its little craters, and its glowing luminosity, and I finally realized why people found the night sky so fascinating.

Credits: Eric Wang.

The Egglander

Over the course of last week, we were required to design and build a structure that successfully allowed an egg to survive after a drop from the second floor of the school. Even though the task itself seemed difficult, to make things more challenging, Mr. Chung limited the materials to a total of 20 straws, a certain length of tape, and half a page of newspaper.

The Design of the Egglander:

Since a portion of our group had taken on the challenge of building an egg glider the previous year, we were well aware that a structure allowing flexibility and absorption of the impact would help the survival of our fragile egg. Therefore, we came up with two original designs for our egg glider. The first one was a series of triangles that surrounded the egg from all sorts of angles, ensuring that the egg would not crack no matter what angle it fell at, and the triangular structure giving a strong support, as triangles were often thought to be the best shape suited for providing strength and stability. The other design was a cube with extended supports sticking out at the corners. The straws sticking out from the corners were to separate the egg from the impact of the drop as much as possible, so that the structure would help absorb the impact as opposed to it transferring to the egg.
In the end, we thought it would be the best to combine the two designs together, as the triangles allowed the egglander to provide maximum support to the egg. Then, the straws would extend beyond the structure to absorb the impact of the fall for the egg, providing a good distance between the egg and the hard surface of the ground.Since we had no way of telling which side the egg was going to land on, we knew that it would be best to make our design symmetrical, allowing it be protected on all sides.

The triangle was supposed to act as a container for the egg, and so, we added straws going across the frame to secure the egg in place, and protect it. Even though we want the structure to have flexibility, it is not good for the egg to have that space to move, as it is extremely delicate and can break easily. Finally, we realized we were left with our newspaper. We were finished with the structure of the egglander, and ended up using the newspaper as a bit of cushion for the corners of the structure, as another way of lessening the impact of the fall.

The Results:
Even though we originally had an extravagant plan for the egglander, the time limit, restricted materials, and tons of miscommunication resulted in a structure that was less than what we had hoped for. Since we were given only a certain amount of tape, we thought it would be better to use small pieces, but that was clearly the wrong logic, as the small pieces of tape failed to hold our structure together. The egg ended up slipping through the straws and cracked even before we had dropped it! Also, in our attempts to create more distance between the egg and the ground, we connected more straws to the outside of the egglander, but only to one side. This completely threw our "symmetrical" idea down the drain. When we dropped the egg, we never expected the fall to have such a huge impact, but then again, the weight of the egg, multiplied by the acceleration of gravity, gave the egg a huge force downward. Even though the egg may have landed on the side we gave more protection too, the structure was not constructed well, and toppled over, causing a less protected side to hit the ground. Unfortunately, that side did not absorb the impact as well, and the slightly injured egg we already had, ended up bleeding profusely.  

Improvements for the Future:

 Even though there is an endless list of improvements that could have been made to the structure, I'll just state the main ones. To begin with, we should have used longer pieces of tape. This actually turns out more efficient, as one long piece of tape is stronger than tons of tiny pieces stuck together. As for the design itself, we should have planned better. Instead of going into the construction with millions of ideas all over the place, we should have thought of one design, and stuck to it until the very end. The countless "modifications" we made to our egglander not only weakened the structure, but really wasted the tape we needed. When constructing the egglander, we should have been more patient. Even though we were given a time restraint, doing a quick job with the taping and placing of the straws really resulted in a weak, messy structure.

As for the shape of the egg lander, we really should have left it symmetrical, so the egg would have been protected on all of the sides. The container for the egg should have been much more secure, so the egg would not have been able to move or slip out...Extending the straws at the corners of the structure would have really helped to place a longer distance between the egg and the ground, allowing more of the impact to be absorbed in the straws. Even though we thought the triangle was a strong shape, a cube might have actually been a better design, as it has more areas for the extension of straws, thus providing more cushion for the egg. 

Overall, the egg lander was an exciting project to have, even though the intensity and stress of building it was no less than the egg glider from last year. Same as before, I am left with a bitter resentment at the thought of ever becoming an engineer (out of fear that the event with the egg might repeat itself, but instead, with real people), and an even bigger admiration for the engineers of my community.