The 20 Time Journey

Heyy guys! :)

Today, I gave a Ted-style talk to my anatomy class about my project. 20 Time was a fantastic experience, and I really hope it becomes the future of education. I'm very thankful to Mr.Orre and this class for implementing this idea.

As for my saltwater flashlight, I have reached an exciting conclusion with the circuit-building stage of my project! After adding more cups of saltwater in series, the light finally..lighted! :) Here is a video of it: https://youtu.be/YZbzsG0Vo7M\

I have not yet finished making my flashlight, but I have drawn a diagram of what my prototype will most likely look like. [Shown below]. It is basically just 4(or more) LEDs at the front, connected in series to four(or more) compartments of saltwater.

Though I haven't finished, I am still happy about where I've reached in this project. Making the circuit was probably the most important part of the project, and I am done with it! Now all I have to do is figure out a way to make the whole set-up MUCH smaller so it can fit in a portable flashlight. The main thing I have learnt through this project is patience. Even after many tries, my LED did not light up, and it took a lot of patience and willpower to keep going and not stop. And it all payed off because the LED lighted in the end!

Through my journey with this 20 Time project, I also realized that there were many ways that I could connect my physics-based project back to anatomy! It turns out that blood is a very ionic substance, as shown by the chart below. And of course, when ions flow, like blood does all the time, electricity can be created! Some potential uses for creating electricity from our blood I brainstormed were:

(1) To charge the human body when it is weak or tired
(2) To keep the heart in rhythm, instead of using a pacemaker(which patients have to constantly replace)
(3) Charge bones for patients of osteoporosis, etc.
(4) Many more.... :)




I think this really shows how interwoven all the sciences are these days, and the best of discoveries can be made when these beautiful sciences are combined.

The only thing I would have liked changed/added to this 20 Time project is more time. We had all set such ambitious goals, but most of us did not get to finish our projects because it was tough to find time amidst all the other schoolwork, sadly...

The Ted Talk I gave went really well! It was a good experience sharing everything I had done with all my classmates and my teacher. I definitely learnt how to make an effective powerpoint presentation with more showing (pictures) than telling.

Building Circuits!

Hello hello! =)

Welcome back to my blog. For newcomers, let me give you a quick summary of my project. Basically, I am trying to create an easy and affordable flashlight that is powered by saltwater. Saltwater batteries are not something unknown to the world, but the main part of my project is figuring out the most convenient circuit to use, and incorporating it into a simple flashlight. By the time the semester is done, I don't think I can finish designing my torch, but I want to definitely finish creating a fully working circuit. This is a project I surely intend to continue even after the school year is over.

Over the past few days, I have started trying out different circuit designs. A picture can be seen below. I still haven't been able to light up an LED yet, but after lots of trying, I checked with my voltmeter and there was a pretty decent voltage difference created by my saltwater battery! I had to connect two batteries in series- hence the two cups- to get a greater voltage. So my plan to get the light to shine is to put another cup in series, which would increase the voltage even more. For those who don't know, a voltmeter is the yellow device on the right (of the picture) which measures current, voltage and resistance of a circuit. The number on it is the voltage difference in my battery. Of course, right now the whole design is very large and definitely cannot be fixed into a flashlight. But getting the circuit to work is just the first step of this stage, so I want to get that right first.

My initial circuit. The saltwater battery is made out of galvanized nails, copper pennies, saltwater, and lots of wires! A voltage difference was created, and each bulb has a different voltage difference that it lights up with. 

The semester is coming to an end and our final presentations are in just a couple of weeks! 20 Time is really the future of education and learning, so I am very thankful for this opportunity to explore what I enjoy and find interesting.

Check in next week for (hopefully) a working circuit! Thanks guys :)

-Nandita

Designing Circuits

Hi there! Thanks for making time to check in with my project =)

Over the past two weeks, I have increased the amount of research and started to design circuits! By designing circuits, I can have a plan of what to do before I test it. I want to make around 2-3 different designs and then over the next few weeks, start to actually make them, which is the fun part!


Right below I have put a picture of a very basic design that I have drawn out. Essentially, there needs to be two electrodes (conductors through which electricity enters or leaves an object) inside saltwater and they need to be connected to an LED light. From the research I've done, I found that the light will have maximum brightness and efficiency when the distance 'r' between the electrodes is large.

Basic idea of what I need to do.

In future posts, expect to see pictures of the circuits I experiment with. I hope it is successful! Then, after I finalize the circuit, I can work on incorporating it into a flashlight. I am at the most challenging stage of my project, but it is also the most exciting part. 

Come back in a few weeks for more!!

-Nandita

Continuing Research...

Helloo!

Ok so over the past few weeks I have been continuing my research on electricity and circuits. I found out that I most probably need to use some other materials other than just saltwater, because there needs to be some sort of minor reaction to produce the energy needed to push the electrons through the circuit. This makes things a little more complicated than I expected, but it should be fine... hopefully!

One more thing I have done is order some electrical supplies (such as insulated wires, etc.) so I can get started on making the circuit over the next few weeks. This is going to be the most difficult part of my project, which is all the more reason why I am excited for it! After I finalize the circuit, all I have to work on is the engineering to incorporate it into a flashlight.

I have learnt that it takes a lot of focus and organization to work on these 20 Time projects because the structure of the project gives us so much independence and freedom. But despite how difficult it is to stay on schedule, I think it's a very good skill to gain, so I'm really happy we are doing this project. [You should all try to recommend it to your teachers!]

Check back in after 2 weeks. Thanks guys! =)

Starting Off

Heyyo! Thanks for tuning in to my second blog post. Recently, I have been trying to learn more about electricity and properties of electrodes. A few weeks back, I made a lemon battery just to experiment creating a voltage difference without using an actual battery that we are all used to seeing. Turned out the lemon battery (with 4 lemons) was actually able to power an LED bulb- it was so exciting! Check out the picture below:

Conceptually, to create an electric circuit, the most basic thing you need is the flow of ions, or charged particles, and a path for this current to go through, the wires. This is why lemons can work as batteries. This is also hopefully why saltwater (sodium and chlorine ions) will work as a battery for my project.

So far I haven't had too many setbacks (phew!).. probably because I haven't done much yet other than research. Over the next couple of weeks, I want to get active and actually try making the saltwater circuit. I will update you in future posts as to how that goes. 

Off late, I have also been wondering how I can apply this concept of making electricity out of unusual sources to our everyday lives and anatomy&physiology. I haven't quite come up with an answer to this yet, but as you probably know, the human body is made out of all kinds of ionic solutions and it stores a LOT of energy, so this is surely something worth exploring. Perhaps in the future I could work on powering objects by using our own body itself- maybe even as a means of burning excess fat! This is something I am definitely very interested in working on beyond the scope of this class.

Check back in after 2 weeks for more! =)

Something Different

I was introduced to Genius Hour on the first day of 2nd semester junior year by my teacher Mr. Orre. Genius Hour, also known as the 20 Time Project, allows for 20% of total work time to be used to explore and do something active with our passions. The concept, in fact, has been used by amazing tech companies like Google, which has witnessed Genius Hour produce wondrous inventions and ideas such as Gmail. 

I was really excited and confused at the same time when I came to know what 20 Time was. It was something so different and creative from what we usually do in school but yet I wondered what exactly a small teenager like me could do to impact the community and world around me. I love Science so I knew I would do something STEM-related, but I didn't know what. After thinking about it a bit more, I realized that a big problem in underdeveloped parts of the world is that they have no electricity and therefore no way of lighting up their lives when it gets dark outside. So I thought, "Why not create an easy and affordable product that would allow people to generate light?" And so I came up with the idea of the saltwater flashlight.

Salt water makes up 99% of all usable water on our planet. It is the most abundant resource there is, but isn't being used since we cannot drink it. A saltwater flashlight would greatly help people without lighting in their homes because they can easily recharge the torch anytime with just a bit of water. My aim with this project is to either propose the exact steps involved with building this flashlight, or even better, to actually create a prototype! I want to continue with this even after the class is over, and it would be great to one day distribute this to people in underprivileged parts of the world. 

I really enjoy Physics, but I am still very new to building circuits and such. I'm hoping this project will give me the opportunity to overcome this barrier and learn a lot about engineering and electricity! I will measure my progress by making a schedule of what I need to get done and by when. This will allow me to stay on task. I first need to figure out how to make a saltwater battery, which will be the hardest part, then I need to engineer the outer cover and inner workings of a functioning flashlight, and finally, if there is time, make a switch that will prevent waste of energy. I still have a lot of research and learning to do, but I am looking forward to it!