Experiments in Reduced Gravity: Team Reports 1 07, 2010 · Experiments in Reduced Gravity: Team...
Transcript of Experiments in Reduced Gravity: Team Reports 1 07, 2010 · Experiments in Reduced Gravity: Team...
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December 7, 2010
Experiments in Reduced Gravity: Team Reports 1Presented by teams from: New York,
North Carolina, Missouri, and Delaware
I. Reduced‐Gravity Opportunity: A Collaborative Effort– NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC)/Oklahoma State University, Teaching
from Space Program – NASA JSC Reduced‐Gravity Office – National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)
II. Participant Process where Teachers…– Propose, design, and fabricate RG investigation with their students– Fly the experiment/conduct research in a microgravity environment– Evaluate the investigation– Share findings with students, other teachers, and greater education arena.
III. Competitive Application Process administered by NSTA
IV. Reduced Gravity Education Flight Week: July 29‐August 6, 2010
Experiments in Reduced Gravity: Team Reports #1
Matthew Keil Teaching From Space OfficeNASA Johnson Space Center
• Participation
• Unique Opportunities
• Get Involved:NASA Express Mail Listserv
www.nasa.gov/education/express
Teaching From Space Websitewww.nasa.gov/education/tfs
Teachers participated in PD with NSTA and NASA
• Four Pre-flight web seminars
• NASA mentor
• Learning Center FREE Access to resources and tools
• Private Discussion Forum
• Flight Week PD Experiences in Houston
Meeting NASA scientists, engineers, ed specialists, astronauts, tours of facilities, flight training
RG flight and post-flight presentation
• Post-flight web seminars (Dec. 7, 9, & 14)
Effect of Reduced Gravity on Electrochemical Cells
Fairport, New York
Students at work…
Experiment Conditions• 2 Copper/Zinc Electrochemical Cells• 2 Copper/Aluminum Electrochemical Cells
Experiencing Weightlessness
Results at 1 GZn/Cu & Al/Cu Cells
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What will happen to voltage during flight?
A.Increases during microgravity
B.Decreases during microgravity
C.Increases during hypergravity
D.Decreases during hypergravity
E.No change
Flight Day Results
• Flight Day – Houston, TX
Voltage Production at Varying Gravity Conditions
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Next experiment…
• Try a dry cell battery to determine if the gravity effect is a result of a concentration gradient
• Test different types of volt meters to determine if the gravity effect is a result of the equipment
• Experiment with different metal/salt solution combinations
Presentations to Our Community
• Rotary Groups• Rochester Academy of Sciences –
Astronomy Section• STANYS – Science Teachers Association
of New York State• Algebra Classes at Fairport HS• Fifth Grade Classes in Fairport that are
involved with the Challenger Project• Local College Students and Faculty
Let’s pause for questions from the audience
Greensboro Day SchoolHooke’s Law Orbital Motion
Reduced-Gravity Flight Experiment
Jeff RegesterPhysics
Jason CheekMathematics
Tim MartinEarth Science
Chris BernhardtChemistry
Melinda GrahamMathematics
Eric ShillingMathematics
Hooke’s Lawdescribes the force exerted by a spring
F=k·xF = forcex = stretch of the springk = spring constant
Normal orbits caused by gravity lead to elliptical orbits. If gravity is replaced by a spring, what will the orbits look like?
stiffer springs have bigger k’s
Hooke’s Law OrbitsTwo masses, connected by a spring, are set spinning by a turntable apparatus. HYPOTHESIS: When released in 0g, the masses will oscillate in and out as they also orbit the system center of mass.
Detailed numerical model predictions are to be compared with high-speed video footage.
Construction &
Testing
Ellington Field
Fiona, our wonderful NASA mentor!
Test Readiness Review (TRR) Day One
Flight!
Flight ground track A video frame. Video was shot at 300 frames per second.
Twenty-six successful runs, testing a variety of parameters (spring constant, masses, initial RPM and axis location) were completed.
Flight 2 Run 16
Numerical model prediction
For more info...Go to the HLOM project website for
– photos and video– raw and analyzed data– numerical models– articles, papers and classroom activities as
they are writtenhttp://academic.greensboroday.org/
~regesterj/data/rgo-HLOM/MANY THANKS TO: Fiona Turett, our NASA/JSC mentor,
Flavio Mendez & Marie Wiggins at NSTAthe RGO and TFS teams at NASA, andGDS for the financial support!
Let’s pause for questions from the audience
Bubble Jeopardy Fulton High SchoolFlight Team: Chip McCann, Louis Schnoebelen, Julie Gastler, Stephanie Smith
Student Team: John Barden, Corri Hamilton, Jessie Jennings, Jalen Mahaney, Jesse McDow, Ben Menke, Jaena Smith, Taylor Woodall.
The Experiment: What do you want to know about zero-g?
• What the students did:– Brainstorm– Develop the procedure– Design an apparatus
• The end result:– Bubble Jeopardy: How
will gravity affect the rate of an acid base reaction?
Hypotheses
A. The reaction will proceed at a slower rate at lower acceleration due to gravity.
B. The reaction will proceed at a faster rate at lower acceleration due to gravity.
C. The reaction will be unaffected by acceleration due to gravity.
What do you think?
The Apparatus• Student
designed– Very LARGE
Thank you to Sammie Potts of the Physics Machine Shop at University of Missouri.
• Size concerns
Summer Work
• Changes– Materials– Extra efforts to separate
materials– Data collected
• Students ran 1-g trials.• Fundraising
– BBQ/Carwash– Parking Spot Raffles– Support Request Letters
Houston
• Meetings• Loading
– Problems with humidity
• Flight Day 1– Problems with humidity and
camera
• Flight Day 2– Problems with camera
• Tours
Back home• Data Analysis
– No video data– Few data points– Results
• Inconclusive
– Data Comparison
• Presentations– Rotary Club, School
Board• Classroom Use
Volume After 5 Seconds
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Acceleration, g
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Credits
– Moser’s– Westlakes ACE Hardware– Tractor Supply– Wal-Mart– Ameren UE– Fastlane– Lacrosse Lumber– MU Physics Machine Shop– Fulton High School Alumni– And many many others
Let’s pause for questions from the audience
NASA Reduced Gravity Flight
Education WeekDELAWARE AGRISCIENCE
TEACHERS – TEAM #1Sarah Bell
Cathy DiBenedettoScott HaldemanKellie Michaud
“Capturing Carbon from Fossil Fuels and Biofuels: Does Gravity
Matter?”Does gravity have an impact on the amount of carbon released
in simple burning of a wick saturated in kerosene and a wick saturated in ethanol?
Method• On Ground Research
– We each completed our experiment with students in the Spring of 2010
• Experiment Set-Up– We altered our experiment so that we burned
kerosene and ethanol while in flight– We brought with us 30 150 mL bottles to
collect emissions– We completed titrations on the ground
• Hypothesis– Our students hypothesized that gravity would
make a difference• Student/Classroom Results
– In class, our results indicated that kerosene and ethanol both emit the same amount of Carbon Dioxide
– We also completed burn trials while on the plane in a 1 G environment and the data was the same
Flight Week• Preparation
– Securing our Experiment on the plane
• Zero G Results– Kerosene burned well in Zero G– Ethanol difficulties
• 2 G Results– Kerosene flame size was twice as
great– Ethanol flame size was twice as
great• Flight Week Modifications
– During the first flight on Thursday of flight week we had trouble lighting flames
– Made adjustments to wick size as well as collection capabilities
– We were able to collect data better during the second flight and much more efficiently due to these modifications
Discussion• Challenges
– Securing all components of the experiment in the box during flight.
– Collecting all the data is the short amount of time given during each parabola
– Anticipating what the flight will be like in order to plan for variables and setbacks.
– TEDP/Test Readiness Review (TRR)
– Getting on the plane and flying in Zero Gravity!
• Successes– Modifying the experiment the
second time around – Carrying out a relative, current,
and successful experiment– Collecting all the data points on
the second trial– Growing closer to the team and
enjoying the experience!
Conclusions• Results
– Less carbon was emitted at zero gravity than 1G and more carbon was emitted at 2G than at 1G
– There was no significant difference in the amount of CO2 emitted from the ethanol or kerosene flames
• Analysis– Carbon emission is directly related to
size of flame– Size of flame is directly related to
amount of gravity– Flames became smaller in size in
decreased gravity and thus less carbon was emitted
– Flames were greater in size in increased gravity and more carbon was emitted
• Future Modifications– Organize trials better and decrease
number of burns– Try other types of fuels (ie. Biodiesel)
Acknowledgements• NASA• Reduced Gravity Education
Office• Reduced Gravity Flight
Crews• Dr. Thomas Leimkuehler• Ernie Bell• NSTA• The DuPont Company• Pioneer• Delaware Association of
Agricultural Educators• Lab-Aids• Vernier Equipment
Let’s pause for questions from the audience
• December 9, 2010NASA: Experiments in Reduced Gravity:
Team Reports 2
• December 14, 2010NASA: Experiments in Reduced Gravity:
Team Reports 3
Thank you to the sponsor of tonight's Web Seminar:
http://learningcenter.nsta.org
http://www.elluminate.com
National Science Teachers AssociationDr. Francis Q. Eberle, Executive Director
Zipporah Miller, Associate Executive Director Conferences and Programs
Al Byers, Assistant Executive Director e-Learning
LIVE INTERACTIVE LEARNING @ YOUR DESKTOP
NSTA Web SeminarsPaul Tingler, Director
Jeff Layman, Technical Coordinator