Build a Band
Design/Build Cycle - During this project I made sure to properly put enough time into each step of the design cycle and am proud to say this is the project I take most pride in from everything I've accomplished in STEM program so far. As a group we started off by organizing who was making what instruments. Since we have a bigger group than normal we had to make two of the same instruments so we also had to figure out which instrument we'd be making two off.
The next step was blueprinting. You'd think that making a guitar would have complex blueprints but at least with the design we decided on it wasn't that hard. I just had to make sure it was proportionate to the average guitar and the string length would be exactly 1/2 the wavelength of the note I'm trying to play.
Lastly the part that took the most work was building. Even though I had a group member helping me the whole time it still took us all the provided build days. Since my partner plays the guitar we were able to use both of our skills and combine them together. I was better at measurements and problem solving whilst he was able to provide guitar knowledge and did most of the handywork like cutting the wood and screwing the nails in. Once we had the main parts of the guitar down it we simply had to make some small adjustments like tuning the strings and supporting the guitars arm.
Definitions -
Frequency - The number of waves that pass a point during a set amount of time.
Wavelength - The distance between two wave crests.
Wave Speed - The velocity at which a wave moves.
Amplitude - The distance between the mid-line and crest of a wave.
Transverse Waves - Waves in which the particles move perpendicular to the way the waves are moving.
Longitudinal Waves - Waves in which the particles move parallel to then way the waves are moving.
Electromagnetic Spectrum - A range of waves ordered by wavelength or frequency in which the radiation increases.
Wave Particle Duality - Electrons propagate themselves throughout space working as a wave but when interacting at a point it acts like a particle.
Do Cellphone Signals Cause cancer? - During this project one of our assignments was to figure out if cellphones caused cancer. This helped us understand indepth how these waves worked and why people were worried. All waves carry some amount of radiation including the waves that cellphones use. Cancer is caused by mutation of DNA which radiation causes. People put one and one together since cellphone waves emit radiation. However the radation from the cellphone was are non ionizing. This means that it isn't intense enought to cause health issues and especially not cancer.
Reflection - I did well on teamwork and productivity during this project. I was able to work together with a teammate and merge our skills inti a great guitar and made sure to work hard throughout the provided work days not wasting a minute. I think however I could've planned more and included other memembers more. We didn't plan much as a group going into the workspace hoping for the best, luckly it didn't effect us much this time but I don;'t believe it'll always be like this. I think the nature of the project is a little to blame for this but I didn't work much with teammates making other instruments and let them do their thing. Overall like most my projects I am proud of what I was able to create.