Hence, something like hydraulic jump continuously provides new, original research options. For example, one option is to have multiple streams of water forming multiple jumps, that can interfere with each other. Another option is to study jumps on inclined surfaces. But what about combining those studies into one? This is an option a student recently has done, as a preliminary project. Check out the video for some pointers about how ANYONE can do this at a school or at home, and how there are so many more questions that can come from this preliminary one: from the fits of these data, can someone take existing theoretical math models for single jumps and modify it, at least as an empirical formula, to make a math model for interfering jumps? For jumps on an angle, where a component of gravity enters the model? And then for the combination of the two? What about interference patterns one can see in the video for this project? All of those flow details are not yet studied and documented! Numerous more projects can be developed just from this one study. Be creative, explore, ask questions, and the build an experiment to look into your questions - this is science research at its finest!
Sunday, February 23, 2020
Two hydraulic jumps on an incline
One way professors run their research programs, and as they go from year to year and have new graduate students joining their team while older ones graduate and leave the team, is to have extension on earlier projects and studies. Good research projects are those that have interesting questions studied, but when answers are found there are even more new questions developed because of the study.
Hence, something like hydraulic jump continuously provides new, original research options. For example, one option is to have multiple streams of water forming multiple jumps, that can interfere with each other. Another option is to study jumps on inclined surfaces. But what about combining those studies into one? This is an option a student recently has done, as a preliminary project. Check out the video for some pointers about how ANYONE can do this at a school or at home, and how there are so many more questions that can come from this preliminary one: from the fits of these data, can someone take existing theoretical math models for single jumps and modify it, at least as an empirical formula, to make a math model for interfering jumps? For jumps on an angle, where a component of gravity enters the model? And then for the combination of the two? What about interference patterns one can see in the video for this project? All of those flow details are not yet studied and documented! Numerous more projects can be developed just from this one study. Be creative, explore, ask questions, and the build an experiment to look into your questions - this is science research at its finest!
Check out Ulo Freitas's video for how he did a preliminary study of interfering hydraulic jumps on an incline.
Hence, something like hydraulic jump continuously provides new, original research options. For example, one option is to have multiple streams of water forming multiple jumps, that can interfere with each other. Another option is to study jumps on inclined surfaces. But what about combining those studies into one? This is an option a student recently has done, as a preliminary project. Check out the video for some pointers about how ANYONE can do this at a school or at home, and how there are so many more questions that can come from this preliminary one: from the fits of these data, can someone take existing theoretical math models for single jumps and modify it, at least as an empirical formula, to make a math model for interfering jumps? For jumps on an angle, where a component of gravity enters the model? And then for the combination of the two? What about interference patterns one can see in the video for this project? All of those flow details are not yet studied and documented! Numerous more projects can be developed just from this one study. Be creative, explore, ask questions, and the build an experiment to look into your questions - this is science research at its finest!
Monday, February 17, 2020
Initial study of interfering dual hydraulic jumps on incline
A good example of an original basement science research project is setting up an apparatus to create and study the interference of two hydraulic jumps on an inclined surface. There was a study done by a student at his house for two interfering hydraulic jumps on a flat surface some years ago at Evanston, but now a student was interested in taking that type of study and tilt the surface through a range of angles. Preliminary results are in a paper the student wrote.
There is an extension that can be done on this experiment. One possibility is to try even larger angles, as well as vary the flow rates of one or both of the jets. For any of these studies, one could also take the best-fit functions of these data and modify existing theoretical equations for jump radii - an empirical formula at the very least could be developed to explain this phenomenon.
There is an extension that can be done on this experiment. One possibility is to try even larger angles, as well as vary the flow rates of one or both of the jets. For any of these studies, one could also take the best-fit functions of these data and modify existing theoretical equations for jump radii - an empirical formula at the very least could be developed to explain this phenomenon.
Sunday, January 26, 2020
On the engineering side, Rocketry a possible option
For those students and teacher who look for engineering challenges, don't forget about rocketry. This is a huge hobbyist field, and there are so many commercial kits and sets one can purchase (many smaller rockets can be purchased for under $100, for instance). And there are also so many videos available on YouTube and other rocketry sites to get ideas for building your own.
Learn about structures and the stresses they undergo on a launch, the chemistry of rocket fuels and motors, the areas of physics called aerodynamics and fluid mechanics, electronics if you want Arduino or Raspberry pi based sensors in the rocket, and so on. This could be a nice way to build interest among larger groups of students and just start with purchased kits; learn from the kits, and let students begin to make their own designs and test them. Just something to consider if there is an interest.
At the college level, many engineering colleges and universities will have rocketry clubs. Check out USC's rocket, the first to have an all-student group build, from scratch, a rocket that surpassed the Karman line, which is the established boundary something needs to cross to be considered in space.
Learn about structures and the stresses they undergo on a launch, the chemistry of rocket fuels and motors, the areas of physics called aerodynamics and fluid mechanics, electronics if you want Arduino or Raspberry pi based sensors in the rocket, and so on. This could be a nice way to build interest among larger groups of students and just start with purchased kits; learn from the kits, and let students begin to make their own designs and test them. Just something to consider if there is an interest.
At the college level, many engineering colleges and universities will have rocketry clubs. Check out USC's rocket, the first to have an all-student group build, from scratch, a rocket that surpassed the Karman line, which is the established boundary something needs to cross to be considered in space.
Check out this article and video of a rhenium molecule moving around two carbon nanotubes. You can see the two atoms move far apart, when the bond breaks, and then re-bonds back into the molecule. VERY COOL!! This is but another example of incredible electron microscopy techniques that your generation has available, and who knows what remains to be invented and discovered with such instruments. While this is outside the realm of 'basement science,' it never hurts to see what is out there as high school students, so you can have some sense of what awaits you should you pursue STEM in college and beyond!
Sunday, December 29, 2019
Top 10 Science Discoveries of the 2010s Decade
An interesting list of Live Science's Top 10 scientific discoveries for the 2010s, from the Higgs boson to gravitational waves, and synthetic life to exoplanets in habitable zones and new CRISPR techniques, have fun reading and seeing videos on these game-changing discoveries. We cannot even imagine what discoveries await today's teenage, future scientists!!
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Generating electricity from potential differences of natural systems: Rivers meeting Oceans
The notion of "blue energy" is intriguing. What this means is using the coastal regions where rivers of freshwater meet oceans or seas that are salt water. With special filters/membranes, one can use this mixing area of nonionized water with ionized salt water to separate electric charges - effectively making a battery, from which electricity is the result. Because so much of the world's population lives on or within miles of coastlines, there is great interest in this as of now untapped electrical energy. The trick will be to make these membranes on a massive, cost-effective manner; presently these are too expensive for companies to try and scale up to industrial sizes.
While we won't be able to build large power plants in a high school, great projects for those interested in electricity, electrical engineering or electrochemistry would be to try to identify and create 'batteries' with any combination of materials you can find that will allow for a potential (i.e. voltage) difference. Are there other natural systems we could tap into to generate even small amounts of electrical power? Interfaces between different types of soil, minerals, plants, or other? There could be some really interesting, but unknown, combinations out there that could surprise us!
Think about this, be curious, explore and investigate!! Take a multimeter/voltmeter outside and look for combinations to test!
While we won't be able to build large power plants in a high school, great projects for those interested in electricity, electrical engineering or electrochemistry would be to try to identify and create 'batteries' with any combination of materials you can find that will allow for a potential (i.e. voltage) difference. Are there other natural systems we could tap into to generate even small amounts of electrical power? Interfaces between different types of soil, minerals, plants, or other? There could be some really interesting, but unknown, combinations out there that could surprise us!
Think about this, be curious, explore and investigate!! Take a multimeter/voltmeter outside and look for combinations to test!
Friday, November 29, 2019
Good example of the science process in action: Large black hole
Astronomers have recently discovered a really large stellar black hole (meaning a star died and turned into a black hole). This black hole has a mass some 70 times the mass of the sun. The trouble is, according to current theories of star formation and deaths, a stellar black hole of this type should not exist - it is too massive according to our best understanding of stars.
So, either our best understanding is not good enough yet since we have something that does exist that is outside those theories, or perhaps the measurements are wrong and we are calculating too big a value for the mass. Or there could even be a little bit of an issue with both the theories and measurements, although this is the least likely possibility.
Whatever the case, this is a wonderful example of how science works! Nature often throws us curveballs that are outside of our best models and theories, and scientists need to sit back, rethink things, and figure out what is wrong with the theoretical understanding of the topic or what new information needs to be added to a model or theory. Scientists must be humble enough to accept we do not know everything, but the whole point of what we do is to learn and grow and gain better understanding of our crazy, fascinating universe! Below is the now famous first photo taken of any type of black hole (this is a supermassive type, at the center of a galaxy)!
So, either our best understanding is not good enough yet since we have something that does exist that is outside those theories, or perhaps the measurements are wrong and we are calculating too big a value for the mass. Or there could even be a little bit of an issue with both the theories and measurements, although this is the least likely possibility.
Whatever the case, this is a wonderful example of how science works! Nature often throws us curveballs that are outside of our best models and theories, and scientists need to sit back, rethink things, and figure out what is wrong with the theoretical understanding of the topic or what new information needs to be added to a model or theory. Scientists must be humble enough to accept we do not know everything, but the whole point of what we do is to learn and grow and gain better understanding of our crazy, fascinating universe! Below is the now famous first photo taken of any type of black hole (this is a supermassive type, at the center of a galaxy)!
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