Underwater Mining and Sampling Robot

Today I built a platform for my robot. I had built a small, underwater robot with new technique I had learned and had added light up features to it that could be turned on remotely with a remote. Here are some photos of it. I think it looks like a bug. What do you think it looks like?

This is my sixteenth science project. It is about the night sky. 


Objective: To observe the stars in the night sky.

Observations:

The night sky.

The largest star.

The brightest star.

Twinkling star.

Different colored stars.

Think about it:

The largest star had light spread diffusely in a large area, so it seemed bigger. The brightest star had the same amount of light in it, but it was very focused in one spot. 

Some of the stars could have been planets because planets could reflect light from the sun back at the Earth, making it seem like the planets are stars. 

I don’t think the brightest star is the closest star because it was smaller than the other red stars. This leads me to believe that it was father away than the other red stars.

Results:

I could find so many stars that I couldn’t draw them all.

The brightest star was in a group of three other stars and had a reddish tint. It was off to my right when I was looking up.

I don’t think the brightest star was the largest star.

Some of the stars were twinkling.

I think the stars twinkled because particles in the atmosphere bounced the light around and distorted it so we saw the stars twinkle.

Conclusion:

Looking up at the night sky late at night (Yawn... Zzzz) was an interesting experience. There seemed to be hundreds of stars in the sky, which was tinged with the light of the houses around us. We had no telescopes, just our naked eye (plus some glasses). We saw a bat or two fly overhead, a satellite, and two or three planes. We managed to see the Big Dipper asterism, which is in the Ursa Major constellation. The stars had multiple colors, red, blue, and yellow mostly. Each type of star had its own color and size. The stars had many sizes and shades and it was fun to observe them and see how many different colors we could spot. It was hard to stop moving to focus on the stars, and I kept turning to get a better view. 

We had a great time and I hope to find a better place to look at the stars.

This is my fifteenth science project. It is about yeast.

Objective: Observe how different temperatures affect the activity of enzymes in yeast.

Predictions:

I can list salt molecules, sugar molecules, acid molecules, base molecules, water molecules, CO2 molecules.

Salt molecules make food salty.

Acids turn cabbage juice pink.

Bases turn cabbage juice green.

Glue and starch are made of polymers.

I think that CO2 molecules make bread rise.

Observations: 

Make two batches of dough with one of the batches in a cold environment and the other in a warm environment. Observe the differences between them. 

Results:

The dough that was left in a warm place became light and airy.

The dough that was left in a cold place stayed flat and bubble-less.

There is a difference between the two doughs. One had Co2 bubbles and the other did not.

The difference between the doughs was that one of the doughs was colder than the other and did not have bubbles and the other dough was warmer and had bubbles.

Conclusion:

The enzymes in yeast made bread dough rise if the enzymes are warm. If they are too hot, the yeast will die and the bread will not rise. If they are too cold, the bread will not rise. To make bread rise, the enzymes cause fermentation of the sugar and make Co2 and alcohol. The Co2 makes the bread rise and the alcohol burns off when you bake the bread.

This is my fourteenth science project. It is about cross-linking and polymers.

Objective: Explore the chemical reaction between Elmer's glue and liquid laundry starch that changes the properties of two polymers by the formation of cross-links.

Predictions:

The glue feels sticky and gooey and so I will not be able to roll it into a ball.

The laundry starch feels wet, gooey, sticky, and slightly thick.

I think that if you added laundry starch to glue it would make a gelatinous goo.

After this, I think the glue would feel different.

I think that if you added glue to laundry starch it would make a blueish gelatinous goo.

After this, I think the laundry starch would feel different.

Observations:

The starch and glue took a long time and a lot of mixing to get the mixture to become a ball.

Results:

I observed that when the starch and the glue were mixed together they made a mound.

I observed that the mixture of starch and glue changed as it was mixed together.

I observed that the mixture felt thick and sticky. I also observed that it could be rolled into a mound.

I think this meant that there was a reaction between the glue and the starch because it became warmer, stickier, and thicker than it had been before it was mixed.

Conclusion:

If the polymers, which are long chains of molecules, in a mixture are not cross-linked (connected), they will slide past each other. If they are cross-linked, they will not slide past each other. 

After a lot of work with mixing the of liquid glue and liquid laundry starch, I observed that the substances made a mound because the polymers partially cross-linked. A ball would   have been created if the polymers had completely cross-linked.

Odysseus, His Crew, and the Witch

Here is a comic I wrote about Odysseus. Enjoy!

This is my thirteenth science project. It is about tastes.

Objective: To taste different flavors and foods and to figure out what types of molecules create those flavors.

Predictions:

I think that marshmallows will taste sweet.

I think that crackers will taste salty.

I think that ripe bananas will taste neither sweet or salty.

I think that green bananas will taste neither sweet or salty.

I think that raw potatoes will taste neither sweet or salty.

I think that cooked potatoes will taste neither sweet or salty.

Observations:

How things tasted:

Results:

I found three sweet foods. I found one salty food. I found one truly neither tasting food. 

The green banana was not quite green and so it tasted a little sweet.

Two results surprised me. They were the ripe banana and the cooked potatoes. I guessed that they were neither sweet or salty and they were both sweet. 

Four out of six guesses were correct and two out of six guesses were wrong.

Conclusion:

The marshmallows, the ripe bananas, and the cooked potatoes tasted sweet because of the sugar molecules.

The crackers tasted salty because of the salt molecules.

The green bananas and the raw potatoes tasted neither sweet or salty because of the long carbohydrate molecules. When the long carbohydrate molecules are broken down by ripening or cooking, the food tastes sweet.

This is my twelth science project. It is about separating molecules.

Objectives:

Explore different ways of separating mixtures of large, dissimilar objects.

Explore different ways of separating mixtures of small, similar objects.

Use chromatography to separate molecules from mixtures.

Predictions:

If I had rocks and lego parts mixed together, I would separate them by sorting the lego parts and the rocks into two groups by them out and putting them in piles with my hands.

If I had rocks and sand together in a bag, I would separate them by dump them in a shifter and collect the sand with a bowl and the rocks in a pile.

If I had sand and salt together in a bag, I would separate them by dumping them in a shifter and collecting the sand and salt in separate bowls.

If I had salt and sugar together in a bag, I would separate them by dumping them in a shifter and collecting the salt and sugar in separate bowls.

If I had salt and sugar together in water, I would separate them by evaporating the water, then dumping the salt and sugar in a shifter and collecting the salt and sugar in separate bowls.

Observations:

Separating Lego parts from big and small rocks.

I dumped the rocks and the Lego pieces out of their bag in which they were mixed onto a tray and separated them with my hands. This procedure would not work with a huge pile of Lego pieces and rocks. In fact, there is no good way to separate a huge pile of Lego pieces and rocks with one person alone.

Separating rocks from sand.

I dumped the rocks and sand out of their bag in which they were mixed into a colander and the sand came out bottom while the rocks stayed inside the colander. This would work for large quantities too.

Separating sand from salt.

I dumped the sand and salt out of their bag in which they were mixed into a bottle which I filled with water. The salt dissolved into the water, leaving the sand behind. I dumped the water out and the sand was left on the bottom.

Separating salt from natural sugar.

I talked to Sarah about it and we decided that ants would be the candidates for the test,  but we couldn’t find any. Deciding to see what would happen if I poured it into water, I dumped the salt and natural sugar out of their bag in which they were mixed and into a bottle of cold water. The natural sugar sank to bottom and did not dissolve, while the salt was dissolved nearly instantly. I found it very surprising 

A chromatography experiment.

I put green, blue, yellow, and red food coloring in a jar with a strip of coffee filter hanging down from a chopstick. The blue started up the filter first, followed by the green, then the yellow, and finally the red. Unfortunately, the blue, green, and yellow mixed together into a greenish mess and nobody could tell which was which.  

Sarah and I independently made “Mystery Liquids” by combining a couple of food colors and water in a jar.  Using chromatography, we each tried to discover the other person’s food coloring liquids. Sarah’s prepared colors were yellow and blue and my prepared colors were blue and red.

Sarah’s liquid was a challenge to determine the colors. On the strip, I saw a little line of blue and the rest was green.  The liquid was green. It couldn’t have red in it, that was clear. So my choices were limited to blue, green, and yellow. I guessed that the colors Sarah added were yellow and green. That guess was wrong. Because blue and yellow can make green, I then correctly guessed blue and yellow. 

The chromatography strip did a good job separating the colors for Sarah, allowing her to guess correctly on her first try.

We put blue and green in a jar and the test strip came out with a little bit of blue at the top and the rest being green. 

We put yellow and green in a jar and the test strip came out with a line of bluish color and the rest being yellowish green.

We put yellow and red in a jar and the test strip came out with a section of faint yellow and a section of red.

Results:

We discovered four ways to un-mix things.

1. Pick them apart by hand.

2. Dump them into a colander.

3. Dissolve them.

4. Chromatography them.

I can un-mix the rocks from the Lego parts with my hands, but not with water or chromatography, because the Lego parts are big enough to un-mix by hand, the water would only flood them, and they aren’t colors.

I can’t un-mix the sand from the rocks using my hands, water, or chromatography, because I can’t pick up sand, the water would push the sand over everything, and they aren’t colors. I could use a colander with my hands to separate the rocks and sand though.

I can un-mix the sand from the salt with water, but not with my hands or chromatography, because the water dissolves the salt and leaves the sand, the grains are too small to pick up with my hands, and they aren’t colors.

I can un-mix the salt from the sugar using water, but not with my hands or chromatography, because the water dissolves the salt and leaves the sugar, the grains are too small to pick up with my hands, and they aren’t colors.

I can un-mix the colors with chromatography, but not with my hands or water,

because chromatography splits the colors, I can’t pick up colors, and water would only dilute the colors. 

Conclusion:

Large, dissimilar things are easier to separate than small, similar things. Large things are easier to pick up with your hands than small things. Dissimilar things are easier to separate because it is easier to spot differences in dissimilar things than in similar things with your eyes. 

Small similar objects are harder to sort unless there is an important difference, like dissolving in water. The salt, sugar, and sand all are the same size, except the salt dissolves in water and the salt and sugar don’t. This made it easy to separate the salt, sugar, and sand.

For chromatography to work, you need unique molecules, but you don’t have to see that difference. The green food coloring didn’t separate from the blue and yellow food coloring because it was formed from the blue and yellow food coloring. The red food coloring separated from the yellow and blue food coloring because it was a unique and a dark color. 

This is my eleventh science project. It is about mixtures.

Objective: Observe mixtures to see if similar liquids mix together or if dissimilar liquids do not mix together.

Predictions:

I think that if you add water to milk they will mix.

I think that if you add milk to juice they will not mix.

I think that if you add juice to oil they will not mix.

I think that if you add oil to water they will not mix.

I think that if you add oil to melted butter they will mix.

I think that if you add soap to water and then add it to oil they will mix.

Procedure: 

Mix the substances on the table together to observe wether or not they mix. Mixing is when no droplets are visible.

Data:

Results:

When I added milk to juice they did not mix. This is what I expected.

When I added water to juice they mixed. This is what I expected.

When I added water to oil they did not mix. This is what I expected.

When I added soap to my mixtures of water, juice, and soap, they did not mix better because they were already fully mixed.

When I added soap to my mixtures of water and oil, they mixed better because the layers were less definite and the droplets were more evenly spaced.

When I added soap to my mixtures of oil and butter, they did not mix better because they were already fully mixed.

Conclusion:

Liquids of the same types mix and liquids of different types do not mix. The water, milk, and juice all mixed together because they were all water based. These liquids do not mix with fat based liquids which were the oil and butter. The soap mixed with all the liquids because it was both water and fat based.