My first mousetrap car went about 0 meters because it had uneven wheels and its base was to long and not wide enough to not tip over when I would let it go.
Car number 2
My second car was much more thought out. I used 2 wooden rulers as the base and I cut one more in half and nailed them into the other two so they would stay together and that was where I put the mousetrap. I then used the outside of 2 highlighters and glued it to the rulers. then i put two pens inside of them and used fix-it-stick (like super glue) to hold the wheels. Then I would wrap string around the pen and it would spin the wheels moving the back wheels (covered in duck tape for traction), forward moving the car.
A simple machine is "any of the basic mechanical devices for applying force" Simple machines were made to make work easier. There are 6 main machines also known as the "six simple machines", which are the wheel and axle, the lever, the inclined plane, the pulley, the screw and the wedge.
Wheel and Axle
According to livescience the wheel is one of the most significant inventions in the history of the world. the wheel was invented in 3500 B.C., it was created to make transportation easier by reducing friction when it being rolled over an object. Also when mounting the wheel on the axle led to the development of wagons, chariots and carts.
Lever
The Lever was created by Archimedes, he realized "thatin order to accomplish the same amount or
work, one could make a trade-off between force and distance using a lever" Most levers have a long beam and a pivot, the lever depends on the ratio of weight on each side of the beam, kinda like a seesaw.
Inclined Plane
An inclined plane is like a ramp, just a surface raised at an angle to help lift an object. The inclined plane allows someone to lift a load that would be to heavy to lift straight up, which make the time a lot longer but the effort needed to raise the object is decreased. Like the Egyptians used to make there pyramids, instead of lifting blocks straight up they would make ramps.
Pulley
A pulley system like the inclined plane is a trade for increased distance for decreased force. If
someone was to lift and wight with a rope, the pulley would be attached to a beam. The pulley would
allow you to pull down other than up. now lets say if there was 2 pulleys then
the rope would go though the pulley on the weight and the one on the beam
and they would only have to pull half of the weight but double the distance.
Screw
"A screw is essentially a long incline plane wrapped around a shaft, so its mechanical advantage can be approached in the same way as the incline," according to HyperPhysics,
Wedge
Wedges are driven under something to lift and into something to split. Longer, skinnier wedges are
better to use than fatter wedges because in gives more of a Mechanical advantage ("the ratio of the force produced by a machine to the force applied to it, used in assessing the performance of a machine".)
" Robotics is the science and technology behind the design, manufacturing and application of robots." . A robot is a programmable machine that can accomplish goals without human force or without a human touching it.
The word robot was coined by Karel Capek in 1921. he wrote and play called "Rossum's Universal Robots" which was about a slave class of manufactured human- like servants and how they became free. However the word Robotics was used by a science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov, in 1941.
There are all types of different robots, and all kinds of uses for them. Some robots are used for personal reasons or for the military or even Robots in space.
Robots in Space
There all different types of robots in space like the Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs), Spirit and Opportunity, but are know to most people as the Mars rovers. Spirit and Opportunity are twin probes that move freely on mars.
They were both launched in July 2003 and landed early 2004, from the Delta 11 rocket which as launched many other Mars related missions like the 1996 Mars Global Surveyor, 1996 Mars Pathfinder and the Mars Phoenix in 2007. The purpose of the two rovers were to examine the plant's rocks, soil and chemical makeup.
Satellites
A satellite is an object that moves around a large object. There are thousands of man-made satellites, they take pictures of space and others send signals to TV and phones.
NASA has more that 15 satellites in orbit that help them study oceans, land and atmosphere.
Satellites can see large areas at one time, like earth and space because they are above earth. They carry cameras and sensors that gather information about land, air and water or space. Satellites come big and small, most have at least two parts in common, the antenna which is used to send and receive information. also the power source, which can be solar panels( "Solar panels make power by turning sunlight into electricity".)or batteries.
HOUSEHOLD ROBOTS
Robots are not only used in space but for everyday use like Honda's Asimo. Asimo is a Humanoid robot which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility
Asimo can walk, talk and climb stairs. Asimo was made to help people, it would help around the house. Standing at 4 feet 11 inches it allows Asimo to do jobs that are to hard or to much work so some people with out being a annoyance or too big."ASIMO could also do jobs that are too dangerous for humans to do, like going into hazardous areas, disarming bombs, or fighting fires."
There is also Sony's AIBO, an artificial intelligent robot dog. It can dance, play and perform tricks.
AIBO starts off as a newborn puppy but over time it will develop its own personality based on how its treated. it has 5 basic instincts:"Love, Search, Movement, Recharge & Sleep". it also comes with 4 different scenes: touch, hearing, sight, and balance.
Medical Robots
Robots has been in the medical field for over 15 years. “The
goal of using robots in medicine is to provide improved diagnostic abilities, a
less invasive and more comfortable experience for the patient, and the ability
to do smaller and more precise interventions.” Robots are used for hysterectomies surgery, the removal of fibroid, joint replacement, open heart
surgery and kidney surgeries. Also MRIs(). Robots allow physicians to operate
on a patient from far away, however wide-ranging training time is required to
learn to program and operate.
It started with the Puma 560, an arm used in 1985 by Kwoh et
al to perform neurological biopsies with more precision.
Computer programming and coding also called writing software is
recitation processes (a series of actions or steps taken to achieve an end),
procedures (a series of actions conducted in a certain order) and making
algorithm (an ordered set of steps to solve a problem). Computer programming is
designing a set of steps of a computer to do in order to complete a task. It is
said that computer programming is like explaining how to make a sandwich. A computer programmers job is to, “the programmer's job is
to convert problem solutions into instructions for the computer. That is, the
programmer prepares the instructions of a computer program and runs those
instructions on the computer, tests the program to see if it is working
properly, and makes corrections to the program. The programmer also writes a
report on the program.” A computer engineer mainly work on computer hardware.
Technological Singularity also called "The Singularity" is when the growth of the mind and power of computers grows at such a high speed the it changes the world and role of the humans in it. Technological singularly purposed by many people like Ray Kurzweil who is famous for many different theories including this one. He predicted that "we will be neurologically hooked up to computers in the not too distant future, that technology will do more good than harm." Also that the singularity will end the human civilization.
With the exponential growth of technology it can now do thinks that it could never do before. For example just about 13 years ago there were no keyboard on cell phones but now there are keyboards that can learn the you like to type and what you might say next. A.I. computers like Waston, which is a supercomputer that was seen on jeopardy and destroyed just about every human that faced him is a type of A.I. computer in which there are two. There are specialized and general purpose.There are also apps like cleaverbot that learn from past experiences to text like a human. Just looking at what technology can do now in the near future it will definitely surpass humans in my opinion. I personally think that it will happen but I don't know if it will end the human race. Because I think that humans will come up with a way not let that happen. http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high-tech-gadgets/technological-singularity.htm http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30290540 http://www.wired.com/2013/04/kurzweil-google-ai/
The Catapult I've made is from 5 major components which are:
A Mouse trap
Duck tape
A short plastic spoon (1/2' inch removed from the bottom)
Paperclips
A ping pong paddle holder
First, I connected the mouse trap to the bottom of the ping pong paddle holder with duck tape to raise my catapult up 3 inches. Second, I ducked taped a short plastic spoon (to keep it from moving while shooting my catapult) to the end of the clamp that swings forward on the mouse trap, to hold a ping pong ball. Third, I connected with duck tape, a paperclip shaped like a U and wrapped with duck tape to the end of the plastic spoon to give the ball more of a curve and a higher displacement in X when fired.
The catapult was first created in 399 BC in Europe during the middle ages, which was not the traditional catapult we see to today, which was not created until 400 BC. There are 3 types of catapults that were created long ago used for warfare.
Ballista
Mongonel
Trebuchet
Ballista - the ballista was created by the Greeks and later modified by the Romans, most people say was just a really big crossbow. It is the earliest catapult. It had two wooden arms that are attached by a rope like a bow and arrow would, it was the most accurate out of the 3 but it did not have as must power as the mongonel and trebuchet.
Mongonel- The mongonel is the common catapult which was created by the Romans. It was a long stick with a bowl attached to the end with the projectile that was launched into the air.
Trebuchet- The trebuchet was created by the Chines in 300 BC and was a made with a long wooded stick counter balanced by shorter stick that slung a projectile into the air. This type of catapult is the strongest because of it' slingshot effect as i like to call it where the balanced piece of wood is pulled down and shot up.
The Mangonel:
The Trebuchet:
All my information and pictures are from: https://sites.google.com/site/physicsofcatapults/home/history-of-catapults
