Blog Posts - K.I.D.S. (Kids Into Discovering Science)

ISR participation helps for college!

3/16/2015

It's almost spring. To college-bound high school seniors, it's the time of year when college acceptances (or not) start coming in. One of our team members, Lydia, who helped with the last submarine got accepted to Caltech, one of the top technical schools in the US. We all knew Lydia was brilliant when, at age 15, she did all the calculus for the submarine project, but it's nice to see such a distinguished school recognize her gifts. When she went to Caltech for a visit, after having been accepted to the school, several of the staff told her they had noted her work on Il Calamaro, our 2013 ISR entry, and that it was a PLUS on her resume. Congratulations, Lydia!

Lydia cuts a hole for the Il Calamaro emergency strobe light.

Lydia shows off one of the trim weights she sewed from a chicken feed bag.

hull work party

3/12/2015

Today's focus was cutting pieces of wood for the fixture we will be building on Saturday. We reviewed safety procedures and got to work. What a great way to learn about fractions! The biggest problem we had was getting the work crew here! Poplar Hill Road, a dirt road, is suffering from the slow snow melt; today it looked like a mud-wrestling pit. Cars stopped at the top of the hill and the kids slogged through the mud. It was definitely a "leave your boots at the door" kind of day.

A few interesting facts

3/3/2015

Our submarine is named Nautilus. In a future post, we can look at the first nuclear submarine, Nautilus, and possibly Jules Verne's Nautilus, but in today's post, let's learn about the beautiful sea creature, the nautilus. Did you know that the chambered nautilus:

Is a member of the cephalopod family, along with the octopus, the squid and cuttlefish?
Adds chambers to its shell as it grows?
Regulates buoyancy by changing the ratio of gas (argon-nitrogen mix) to saline solution in its chambers?
Can live 15 to 20 years?
Retracts into its shell when threatened?
Has up to 90 tentacles (but no suction cups)?
Lives in an area stretching from Andaman Sea to Fiji and from southern Japan to the Great Barrier Reef?
Are “living fossils”, relatives of the ammonoids whose fossils date back 500 million years?
Are noctural feeders, living by day at around 1500 ft and rising at night to about 300 ft?
Has a geometry that sometimes corresponds to the Fibonacci sequence, but is always a logarithmic spiral?

Science in nature is a wondrous thing. Here's a good article about the Fibonacci sequence from Temple University's Dan Reich:

And here we can see Bernoulli's tombstone from Basel Minster church. The church was originally a Catholic cathedral, but became part of the Swiss Reformed Church in 1529. Of note here is the logarithmic spiral that Bernoulli requested be put on his tombstone. The stonemason took a little artistic license and carved an Archimedean spiral, but the intent was there. Latin around the spiral reads, "EUDEM MUTATA RESURGO" or "the same, yet changed, I rise again."

Detail from Bernoulli's tombstone

And once again the value of the International Submarine Races shines forth. Not only can our team learn about engineering science, but we can learn about biology, art, history, mathematics, Latin, geography and more. I'm very thankful for the sponsors of ISR, the Foundation for Underwater Research and Education.

George Skypeck comes to visit!

2/27/2015

Military commemorative artist George Skypeck heard about our submarine project and wanted to help. His solution? Create an original work of art and donate it and its copyright to KIDS! He stopped by Friday to make a special presentation to the group. We learned a lot about the Nautilus submarine, symbolism in military art, and how art can be used as therapy and to help others. THANK YOU, Mr. Skypeck!

To learn more about Mr. Skypeck, click on the link above.

fiberglass lessons

2/21/2015

On this snowy Saturday, Sam and Teddy, along with Zaahid, went to FusionFiber to meet with Mr. Whitley for the last of their fiberglass tutorials. Here's what they brought home.

A simple ring made from one layer of 3/4 oz fiberglass mat and two layers of 1708 bi-cloth. Polyester resin was used.

A ring with balsa core! The lay-up goes like this: 1 layer 3/4 oz chop strand mat; 2 layer 1708 bi-cloth; 1 layer 1 1/2 oz chop strand mat; 1 layer 3/4" balsa core; 1 layer 1 1/2 oz chop strand mat; 1 layer 1708 bi-cloth. The result? Indestructible.

A bulkhead made by "pinching" a strip of wet fiberglass. Although the outer ring is made from fewer layers of fiberglass than the simple ring (first photo), this configuration is less flexible.

A Divinycell bulkhead. This ring was made from: 3 layers 6 oz mat; 1 layer 1708 bi-cloth. Then the Divinycell bulkhead was glassed in. This is solid enough to sit on.

Propulsion MeetinG

2/9/2015

The propulsion team got the chance to talk to Mr. Brian O'Connor, who holds a patent for the rotary lobe pump design we have been working on. He showed us his designs and is eager to assist. We appreciate his time and willingness to work with us.

External view of one of the lobe pump designs Mr. O'Connor showed us.

Mrs. Carts goes to washington (the university of, that is)

2/5/2015

The adventure continues. I visited my Coast Guard daughter, currently stationed in Seattle and residing a mere two blocks from the Space Needle. While looking at a map to plan out excursions, I saw that the University of Washington was just a few miles away. Back at the 2013 ISR, UW's beautiful submarine Laurie Bell was situated right next to our Il Calamaro out in the parking lot. Emboldened by the spirit of camaraderie that ISR engenders, I contacted UW's mechanical engineering department to see if I could visit with members of their human-powered submarine team. The response was humbling: Yes, please visit. Yes, we have a team meeting tomorrow and you're invited. Yes, come early for a tour.

Team co-captain Bentley Altizer--he gives good directions!--met me at the dive locker where the sub is being constructed. He patiently showed me various components, explained manufacturing techniques employed, encouraged me to take pictures, drew out graphs explaining "modulus of toughness", etc. I was really impressed by his knowledge, professionalism and generosity. Knowing that we were having issues forming our windows, he graciously let me take two sub-standard (a little pun!) nose cones home to show our team and possibly modify.

Following this tour, we went to the all-team meeting. Bentley gave his report. Of surprise to me was that the category of submarine for the 2017 team entry had already been selected. That's planning ahead! Sub-system leads then gave brief reports. Following these report, each sub-system had a chance to break out and meet. I sat in on the controls group. Again, I was impressed by the team work, knowledge and commitment that these young adults exhibited. It was hard to remember that they were all volunteers.

My visit to UWHPS team left me with a happy feeling. I was happy because of their warm reception. I was happy because these young people will be tomorrow's engineers, and they show such promise. I was happy because I knew I'd get to meet many of them again, in just a few month's time. Needless to say, I had a smile on my face all the way back to the east coast as I maneuvered my souvenirs, the two PETG nosecones, through various airports.

Click on the button to link to the University of Washington's sub team website:

a study in momentum

1/26/2015

Since the holidays things have REALLY picked up. The sub team seems to have picked up momentum, to realize this project is real, that major deadlines are coming up quickly. Every Friday night we've been meeting at the Knights of Columbus Hall --Thank you, JFK Council!--and working through our project plans, making decisions and breaking up into sub-system teams to make sure we're covering all the details. One of the choices we had to make was whether the pilot would be prone or recumbent. Shown in the photos above, Mrs. Gerstman works with our table-sized volunteer to show the pros and cons of each position. Our final decision: prone.

hull group visits the alexandria seaport foundation

12/22/2014

We arrived unannounced, but the staff here were just super and gave an impromptu tour of their boat building facility. The apprenticeship program is open to young adults, age 17-22, who have struggled through the traditional school system. The Foundation offers a great opportunity for folks to learn practical skills, learn through hands-on experience and to be able build a boat! Those of use who had worked on the wooden mock-up of the 2013 ISR entry Il Calamaro could really appreciate the intricacies of wood bending, etc. Again, we added to our knowledge base of what programs are available and where skilled professionals are to be found. Thank you, Alexandria Seaport Foundation and Mr. Chadwick for this great tour.

Hull group visits Techshop dc/arlington

12/22/2014

What a great tour! TechShop is sort of like a gym for "makers": They charge a membership fee which gives you access to all the equipment...once you've passed the basic safety skills test. They offer classes, too. Let's see, among equipment that's available here are:
-tool benches, basic hand tools
-design work stations with 2D and 3D software
-large printer
-silk screening area
-laser jet etching/cutting machines
-3D printer
-injection molding machine
-vacuum forming machine
-sewing area with heavy duty machines, sergers, embroidery machine, vinyl cutting machine
-bike repair/maintenance station
-wood shop (table saws, CNC milling machines, lathes, drill press, etc)
-machining shop (powder coating and sand blasting booths, tube bending machine, sheet metal bending machine, welding area, CNC milling machines, lathes, drill press, water jet cutter, etc)
There are also storage facilities, a kitchen/dining area, meeting rooms, a supply shop, and more.

So, for the submarine team, if we needed to vacuum form the windows for the sub, we could do it here. In fact, there are a lot of parts we could make here, if we had the training necessary and a membership. Another successful fact-finding trip!