Response to Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl

Author's Note:

This is my response to the first hundred pages of Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl.

While the book has sold over 25 million copies, it is actually just the diary of a girl who lived during the Holocaust.   The Holocaust was the time when Adolf Hitler was in power of Germany.  During the first hundred pages it describes, in detail, about the secret apartment that her family lived in and everyone living with them.  Anne writes extremely well in this diary and I found it to be very intriguing.

In her diary she tells about her troubles she had her mom and her sister.  She also talks about the deep love she had for her father.  In her diary she calls their hiding a Secret Annex, it was located in the top floors of her father's office building.  Finally, I thought the best part that she wrote about was when she told about all of her friends she had to leave when her family went into hiding.

Rube Goldberg Project

Tech:

CLICK HERE

 Narrative:

Dominoes falling, mouse traps snapping, and pulleys jumping.  The marble whips through a corner going around the track.  One thing leads to another until it stops.  The end product might have been accomplished several easier ways, but this was no simple machine.  This was a Rube Goldberg machine.  Abbie and I built a Rube Goldberg that we edited and improved to turn our jumbled up looking mess,  into a well-working envelope closer.

Before getting the machine to what it was in our video, we had to find what we needed to incorporate.  We found that we had to use six simple machines.  The first was a screw, which meant that we had to have something turn multiple times.  The second was a pulley, which means that we had to lift or lower something using something else's weight.  The third was a wheel and axel, which is just a rod with a  wheel on it.  The fourth was a incline plane, which is a board facing upward. The fifth was a wedge and wedges are slanted blocks facing either upward or downward.  The last was a lever, which is basically a teeter-totter.  Finally, we incorporated an extra simple machine, a spring.

Once we found ways to incorporate ways to incorporate every simple machine, we decided it was time to build the whole Rube Goldberg. As we started building we decided that the machine would turn on a sink to fill a glass of water.  Next we found that there was no object we could use that was heavy enough to lift up the handle.  Finally, the  two of us decided to start completely over.

It was Abbie's original idea to start over and to make the frame of the new Rube Goldberg.  After the draft was completed, I helped edit out flaws and fix parts that were breaking.  Doing this made the machine more consistent.  After a while, we agreed that it was time to video tape because we thought that it was working perfectly.  We soon realized that one of the turns wasn't working.  Then we fixed that problem and tried video taping again.  The second try, the whole thing worked almost perfectly, but we decided to try again and make it work as perfect as we could.  Finally, we recorded a run that was, in my words, perfect.

Creating this was no simple task, but we managed to use six simple machines to build a consistent, well-made Rube Goldberg envelope closer. 

 

Self Reflection:

I think that I worked really hard on this project and got a lot done.  Abbie and I completed an entire Rube Goldberg in only three weeks.  We stayed on task when we worked and completed tasks outside of school.  Both of us found a lot on information about friction, mechanical advantage, and more.  Overall, I think that the only thing we needed to work on was time management.

Goals:

1. Use more contacts
2. Follow task list better

Sources:

http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/wcee/keep/Mod1/Rules/EnTransfer.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210120/Mechanical%20Advantage.html

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210120/Answer%20to%20MA.html

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-mechanical-energy.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210120/Answer%20to%20MA.html

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210120/Mechanical%20Advantage.html

Kinetic Energy

Author's Note:
This is an essay on Kinetic energy and what it is used for, how to create it, and what it is. I am using a report type voice and am focusing on word choice.


Zipping down a drop almost fifty feet tall, gliding through the air, and slicing through the turns. The person sitting next to you is screaming all the way down the hill. You're buckled up, but still scared you might fall off because it is moving so quickly. Remembering that all of your friends are riding with you makes you feel safe. The power that this machine would need, would have to be a very great amount. Once you get off, you turn around to look at it one last time, it was a roller coaster. A roller coaster is just one object that posses kinetic energy.


Kinetic energy is the energy of motion, seen as the movement of an object, particle, or set of particles. Any object in motion is using kinetic energy. For example, a person walking, a thrown baseball, even a crumb falling from a table. Objects that are not in motion possess potential energy, the other main type of energy. Basically, if it's moving, it obtains Kinetic energy.

Moving objects are everywhere, but there are some obvious examples, such as roller coasters, dribbling a basketball, or moving car. There are also a number less obvious objects such as walking, kicking, or jumping. Anything can have Kinetic energy whether it is a machine, an object, or a person. Big or small, they all use Kinetic energy.

Kinetic energy is, in my opinion, the most interesting kind of energy to learn about. Being able to understand how it is used, what it's used for, and more. Riding a bike or dribbling a basketball is all that needs to happen to obtain Kinetic energy. It can be found in a roller coaster or a falling piece of bread. Overall, Kinetic energy is the energy of a moving object.

Sources:
1. " Has Synonyms, Has Antonyms | Thesaurus.com." Thesaurus.com | Free Online Thesaurus of Synonyms and Antonyms. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Apr. 2011. .
2. "Kinetic Energy." The Physics Classroom. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Apr. 2011. .
3. "Kinetic Energy." Kinetic Energy. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Apr. 2011. .