Westwood on the Cutting Edge

Westwood on the Cutting Edge

Mike Desmond

 

It is coiled heating wires on the roof of a car that will heat snow off of the roof in the winter and prevent accidents.  This will come in handy in northern areas and Canada.  It uses an Emotiv to sense the environment to sense snow and turn on the heaters.
People will learn math, science, and physics from this project.  They will learn how an emotiv works because the emotiv will sense the temperature outside and turn on the coils to heat the outer shell of the car, which will melt the ice and snow.  When the car turns on, the emotiv will automatically detect the temperature of the environment, and detect if their is any weight on the roof of the car and will activate the heating coils.

 

Design Cycle Notecard Challenge

Mike Desmond

Mr. Adkins performing the "Adkins A"                 How the structures collapsed.

For this challenge we had to design a structure to hold as much weight as possible.  The design needed to be out of a notecard, and 4 inches of tape.  It had to hold the weight at least an inch above the ground.  Most people rolled the paper tightly and used it as columns to support either the books, the weights, or Mr. Adkins.

On our first attempt we took the whole notecard and rolled it horizontally to make one column to support the weight.  This failed horribly and did not support much weight.  When we observed other people attempting this project, we found out that it was more helpful to use multiple skinny columns rather than fewer wider columns.  These were more sturdy and stable and resisted crushing better.  Another thing we experimented was the placement of the columns.  We started with placing them all in the middle, to placing them at the extents of the weights.  With all of this, we were able to design a structure that got us to hold over 200 lbs.

A design that failed 

Innovation: Facebook

 

Facebook

 

Created by Mark Zuckerberg - 2007 - Facebook

 

 

Before Facebook, MySpace was another form of social media, but not everyone used it.  Facebook was created as a very easy application to use, so that you could interact and see what's going on with people you know.  It made society a little closer together as know it is easier to see what other people are up to.

This transformed society into an interconnected web.  Everyone knows what everyone else is doing and a complete stranger can track your every move.  But, you can catch up with your family members across the globe!



Invention: Penicillin

 

Penicillin

Alexander Fleming - discovered in 1928 - called it Penicillin

 

 Before the discovery of penicillin, life was rough.  Many people had lived short lives.  There was no true medicine for the illnesses people had.  When penicillin came around, everyone's lives became healthier.  The expected live span around the world jumped.  There was now medicine!  It could now cure many infections.

This discovery now boosted life for humans.  We can now live longer and not have to worry as much when we get sick, as we have penicillin.  This discovery also led to many other advances in medicine.  These other advances are helping us live a healthy long life.  The world as we knew it became a healthier place.