User:Minhnguyen/ENES-100/Project 1 Cornstarch Walker

 /Cornstarch Mixing/ 

Week1 Narrative
''Our first project is going to be making a Cornstarch Walker. When our group got together we made a list of ideas of how we what the cornstarch walker to move, by powered and if speed or constancy is more important. We split up the list for each person to do more extensive research. I looked into swimming and running with 4 legs. I found that swimming would not be possible since you have to be under the cornstarch to start with, which is not what we want to do. With running we know that it is possible since we have seen it done many times before in past experiments. With running you just need to apply constant pressure so that the cornstarch forms a solid when you need it to. We also researched different power sources that we could use to power our device. I looking into battery powered devices and motors. They are very reliable since they deliver a constant energy supply. They also come is all types of shapes and sizes which makes they very easy to apply to any device that we come up with. The down side is that most of them are not water or cornstarch proof which means that it could be damaged by the solution. Using our research we will make a list of advantages and disadvantages.''--Minhnguyen (discuss • contribs) 14:47, 18 February 2013

My Second Task
On Tuesday afternoon our group is going to meet up and compile our data. We will compare our results and see which methods would be best and most reliable. We will also have to do so more reseach after we decide on a method or transportation. We will do a vote to see what ideas everyone has.

Week2 Narrative
''The week we came to the conclusion that we are doing to make something that will drive across the cornstarch. Our group was also able to experiment with the cornstarch. We come up with a ratio of about 1.6 parts cornstarch and 1 part water. we are sill debating on what kind of energy source we are going to use. Our top three choices are battery power, combustion or spring. I am researching how our machine will work with a combustion engine. I think this method will get our car the farthest, I am just not sure how reliable and realistic it will be.''--Minhnguyen (discuss • Conceive) 18:48, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

We also did an experiment to test our driving idea with a toy car. Here are our videos: Video 1 and Video 2

Here is our /Conceive/ page.

My Third task
''Next we have to finalize our design and what kind of a power source we want on our car. We will also have to start thinking about the overall design of the car and how it will function. There is also the weight of the car to decide on and how big it will be. We will also be testing a toy car to see how the car would function on cornstarch, so we have an idea of what challenges we are going to face while designing this. --Minhnguyen (discuss • contribs) 19:32, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Week3 Narrative
''After our test last week we realize that driving across cornstarch is not the best method. We decided that we should take another look at making something at walks across the cornstarch. We do know that our machine will be battery powered. Batteries are affordable and easily available. This weekend I am making some designs of what I think we should do.--Minhnguyen (discuss • contribs) 20:06, 3 March 2013 (UTC)'' ''For this week our group will be meeting on Tuesday to go over some of our design ideas. After we tested the car and it failed we are moving on to a different mechanism to move across the cornstarch. We are going to revisit the walking method. We all came up with designs and will meet up on Tuesday to talk about what design would be best. Our machine will be battery powered because we decided that it would be most affordable and easily available. We also have to find materials that would make this work.--68.34.44.241 (discuss) 02:19, 5 March 2013 (UTC)''

Week4 Narrative
''During last Thursday we also got to clean up out cornstarch mixture. The mixture was going bad so we thought it was best to get rid of it before it got any worst. Our group got together it discuss our final plans for the project. We are going to be doing just a conceive page because we do not think we have a working design. All of our test have shown us what will not work.''--68.34.44.241 (discuss) 00:48, 12 March 2013 (UTC)

Here is our final Conceive Page

/Clean Up/ Tutorial

Here are linked examinations of Trial 2: Trial 2: Walking Trial 2: Crawling Trial 2: Rotating Wheel