Week 7: Final Touch Up

Hello, greetings from "Team Loading...". Yes, it is week 7 which is the last week for our preparation!

We got nothing much to update for this week but we are doing the final touch up for our experiment.

To make our device looks more attractive, we had bought some spray and watercolours to make the appearance of the device looks colourful.

TADA!!! This is how the magnetic pendulum looks like after our final touch up!

OH YA! Actually we are going bring our magnetic pendulum to participate Kuala Lumpur Engineering Science Fair (KLESF) 2017 at The Mines Serdang. This exhibition will be held on 3rd, 4th and 5th of November!! And below is our beautiful poster:

So, last but not least, if you want to know more about our experiment, you can pay a visit to The Mines Serdang. We are ready to explain to you so that you will be more clear about this experiment!

If you want to know more details about the event, click on the link below.

https://www.klesf.net/ 

Thank you and see you again!! :)

Week 6: Road to Final Preparation.

Greetings from "Team Loading...". As we know that in our previous post, although we tried to modify our apparatus or material, the results we obtained are not what we wanted. In order to overcome this problem, we modified our experiment again. Instead of using thread, we used a long wooden stick to hold the magnets.

After setting up all this, we try to run our experiment again and this time everything goes well. Besides, we record it again to analyse the motion of the magnetic pendulum again using the tracker.

And this is the video of the motion of the magnetic pendulum we obtained:

The result we obtained is better than what we got previously but we think that there are still some space for improvement. So, we will try to do our best, and currently we are trying to apply physics theories into it so that we can explain all of these in our coming exhibition.

Want to know more about this experiment? Please stay tuned and we will constantly update our blog! Thank you and have a nice day.

Week 5: Keep On Trying~

           Hi, it's week 5! Well, actually we are facing some problems on the pendulum as it only works properly sometimes. So, we are trying to figure out what is the factors that affected our results. As a student, we have to keep on trying and learn from our mistakes. Firstly, we suspect that the retort stand might affect the result because the bottom part is made from metal which may affect the movement of the magnetic pendulum as it will be attracted towards metal. So, we had brought some wood sticks and some tools to make our own retort stand.

As you can see from the photo, Zhi Kang is cutting the wood stick by using a jigsaw.
P/s: Wearing slippers in a lab is actually prohibited.

After cutting all the wood stick, we proceed to join all the parts together using drill and screw,

Besides making a retort stand, we also bought a new solenoid from a shop which only cost RM5, because we think that the previous solenoid that we extracted from the speaker and fan is too small for this experiment and the magnetic field produced might be too weak.

After changing the retort stand and the solenoid, we try to run our experiment again and record the result as well.
The result is then analyzed by using the previous software named "auto tracker".

Hock Guan is analyzing the movement of the magnetic pendulum.

Although we have done some changes on our apparatus and materials but the results we obtained are not exactly what we want. So, we are still trying our best to figure out what is the problem.

VALUES AND LESSONS OF THE WEEK

Do not give up easily.
Instead of giving up when we are facing some difficulty, we should always look for alternative way to overcome the problems. This is because nobody is born perfect, all of us will make mistakes in our life. The most important thing is to keep on trying and learn from the whole progress. For example, just like our experiment, although until now we still cannot determine the exact factor that affects the  movement of magnetic pendulum. But, we are not giving up just like this.

Want to know more about this experiment? Stay tuned for our next update on next week!!! Thank you and have a nice day. :)

Week 4 : Searching AND Exploring~~

Week 4

                   Hello Everybody! Time Flies~~~and it's now week 4 ! Well , we do have some progress on our project . However , it does not represent that our flow are toward a correct pathway . As a student , when you are carrying out an experiment in a laboratory , you have to always try to explore and thinking outside of a box....

                  So yeah , we are still on our way to search for and explore the effect of different types of wires gave when it is being coiled into a solenoid . 

                                              

                In order to save cost and go green at the same time , we extract the insulated copper wire from the old and spoiled fan . Besides that , the "orange colour ball " are magnets with plasticine wrapped on it . We wrap the magnet with plasticine into a sphere-shaped as a sphere-shaped object can oscillate in a better manner . 

                Moreover , we use hair instead of thread to hang the magnet . And this does widens our knowledge ! Our hair seems to be very light and fragile ... however , after we listen to Dr.Woon's advice and try to replace the thread with hair , the results showed that hair is light and strong  and this is exactly what we are looking for ! A strong and light material to act as a string for the magnetic pendulum . Thank You Dr. Woon .

              During this week , we have tried to carry out our experiment using the insulated copper wire that we mentioned above as solenoid to observe the effect .  

                                               

                                               

                                                

              On the other hand , we have recorded videos of the oscillation of the magnetic pendulum and plugged into our laptop to be analysed using a software named "auto-tracker" . This software can be downloaded through this link →  https://physlets.org/tracker/installers/installer_help.html

                                               

              Below depicts the video of tracking the motion of the magnetic pendulum and plotting a graph simultaneously by the software :

                                          

                Batteries do supply a high current to the solenoid BUT it dies off very quick . Thus , on the same time , we are also searching a current source that is suitable to be used in our experiment . 

                                            

    

                                       

                      For example , using a power bank . A power bank does supplied a desirable amount of current but it also quite dangerous as it may explode when it's getting too hot . Hence , we decided to use adapter being plugged to a power socket instead of power bank . 

VALUES AND LESSONS OF THE WEEK

#1   Always be creative in thinking

       Sometimes you may overlook the uses of some objects  and experiment time is the best moment for you to find out . For instance , we will never know that hair can be so strong until we found out that it can hold a large mass of magnetic pendulum . 

#2    Reuse and Recycle

        In order to save cost and support the idea of "GO GREEN" being proposed by government , we choose to use the readily found materials from the old and spoiled household products instead of buying a new one . For example , the insulated copper wires from the fan . Hence , please do not simply throw away those household products but donate it to the respective institutes so that it can be recycled into a newly useful products . 

                    

#3    Not only focus on the main but do care for the surroundings

        At first , we have recorded a video and plug into laptop to be analysed . However , the software cannot detect the motion at first and need to be manually adjusted . After seeking for advice from Dr.Woon , we get to know that background of the setup that is messy will also affect the function of the software . Thus , we rearrange the setup to a clearer background . The software this time get to detect the motion of the magnetic pendulum automatically and much better . Through this , we get to learn that we should not just focus on the main setup of the apparatus but at the same time we have to take care of the surroundings that would affect our experiment . Once again , thank you Dr.Woon .  

                      

            Thank you for reading ! Stay Tuned for our upcoming posts ya! See you and Have a nice day :)