Reflextion
As this school year starts to wrap up I have been thinking a lot about my future, and how I will probably not remember very much of what happened during my schooling experience, what projects I did, what subjects I learned, or for that matter what I learned. However, I think there is at least one exception to this. One project that I think we stay with me longer than the rest. This is the Space Settlement Project it was a collaboration between my physics teacher and digital art teacher. Because of this, there were two main parts of the project. The first was the Space Settlement, for which we had to design a settlement where humans could live if the earth ever became uninhabitable. The second part of the project and arguably the more stressful one of the two was the film in which we had to display our settlement and do some more film-related stuff. Despite how simple in premise this project sound, it proved to be one of the most stressful, and rewarding experiences I have ever had.
After about a weak of brainstorming for the project, we took a trip to arguably the most impressive human creation ever. The Biosphere Two, a human-made dome sealed off from the rest of the world. While at its prime it was capable of holding and sustaining up to six people for over 2 years, it is today only being used to conduct others more boring experiments such as how rainforests survive without water. In this trip, we were in essence given a V.I.P. tour of the facility, and it was without exaggeration the most mindblowing experience I think I have ever had. As long as my memory stays intact I think one thing I will never forget is walking through the jungle of the biosphere with the sound of a creak in the background. Another part of the trip which impacted me in a very personal way was the camping. We spend 2 night in Arizona camping, and on a personal level, this was one of the first times during this school year that I have felt excepted into a group of people and felt comfortable to be myself. After a miserable fun bus ride, we returned to Durango inspired to replicate what we had seen for our own project.
In the project my main area of focus was agriculture, and I can say unquietly that my final Agricultural Report is not refined, not polished, not very readable, but I think it is still one of the things I have created this year that I am most proud of. The unrefined part comes from how up until the last day of the project I was working on something new and was never able to slow down and redo something I had already completed. After spending probably too long researching, and writing this report I created a complex multi-pronged agricultural system which also imploded several laws of physics as it relates to circular motion one of the ways that crops are harvested is through the farm being rotated so that all of the soil move to the edges. The soil in then let out through grates and all that is left behind are the crops, and this is all done while the farm is being rotated. Despite me spending probably too much of my time on the agricultural parts of the settlement I did also create and am proud of multiple other random parts.
The two other parts of the settlement I think I am the proudest of are the copper elevator, and pressure cannon. The copper elevator started, at first, as a solution to the problem of water pipes breaking and turned into a pretty bad headache. My first problem was because we would have water pipes running several miles underground in our settlement we would have no way to fix them if they break. My solution was that the pipes would be made up of hundreds of segments and we would have an elevator go down which could remove a broken segment and replace it. Then I realized that if we were to detach a segment the rest of the pipe would just be pulled down and fall because of gravity. Because of this the elevator would brace itself against the wall and acts as a stand-in segment until the repair is finished. Rather than beating gravity in this situation, I figured it would be easier if we just did not to lose to it. Given that Ceres is located in the asteroid belt, a part of the solar system that tends to have a lot of asteroids, it is in constant risk of being destroyed by an asteroid strike. Our first idea to protect us from asteroids was a cannon which could use projectiles to destroy the oncoming asteroids. However, the problem with this system is that a projectile would just break the asteroid into hundreds of pieces which would then all strike are the settlement. Given that an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon I figured all we would have to do is change the direction the asteroid was moving. This is where the pressure cannon comes into play. We would have hundreds of these cannons in orbit, and evetime an asteroid comes into range it will release a wave of force stopping the asteroid in its track and forcing it into a new direction, and because an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by something else the asteroid will continue away from the settlement forever (Hopefully). Another part of the settlement which was interesting, but we did not delve into much were are Mag Trains. The Mag Train connected the settlements on Ceres and using Newton's third law propelled them along a magnetic track at speeds of up to 4000 miles an hour.
Reviewing my performance during this project it becomes painfully clear to me what I did well and what I failed miserably at. To start with my shortcomings during this project. I did not communicate well. I believe that one of the reasons behind this is because of two members of the team, me and someone else, we had a very similar way of going about this project, and like two equal forces we sort of canceled our selves out. By this, I mean that neither one of us felt comfortable taking a leadership position, and because of this we did not talk about what we were working on. That is why I think we got very lucky despite no clear direction we were able to work well by our selves and in the end, combine all of our work into something we could be proud of. Another reason for my lack of communication was to do to us having a group member who did nothing. Usually when something like this would happen in a group task I tend to just work around the unproductive group member, but with a project was so massive I kind of just shot myself in the foot by not communicating to this individual what he needed to do, and ending up piling allot more stress and work on my shoulders then I would of have had otherwise. Unlike my evident weakness during this project, my strength is harder I feel to be pinned down. This is due to the fact that I believe I did an excellent job and excelled at a lot of things during this project. However, if I had to pick one I would say that my area of strength was problem-solving. During this project I was faced with lots of problems from, water pumps, asteroid, humidity, to transportation, and many more; and every time I was able to come up with a solution whether that be, the copper elevator, the pressure cannon, housing blocks and rotating employment, secondary water refineries, and many more. This is why I believe that my area of strength during this project was problem-solving. Because above all else, it is what I excelled the most at.
My greatest regret during this project was my lack of doing anything digital arts related. When I first went to write this part of the reflection my plan was to B.S. my way through is by saying something to the extent of "I helped keep the group organized" or something like that. But that is not true and in all honesty, I really did not do anything for digital arts during this project. From the beginning of the project, one member of the group took command of the film making process. This came as a relief as no one in my group had taken initiative yet in the realm of our film. As the project dragged on I got more and more entranced in the science parts of the project and my other group member seemed perfectly fine doing the full film. By the end of the project, all I did for the film was some terrible voice-overs, and if I could redo this project I would change that, but I can't redo the project so instead, I just did not do anything for the digital art part of the project.
At exhibition night everything we had been working on so hard came to a head, it was over there was no more we could do to improve our project. My pulse must have been going at 200 beats a minute as the night blurred on. There have not been many times in my life I have feared for my life, but that night at the exhibition I did. Looking back it seems silly, but at the time I thought that I was going to have a heart attack or stroke, thanks to stess and panic. As is probably clear I did not have a heart attack that night though I did eat part of a plastic cut, and after it was all over I went home happy, and proud of how hard I believe I worked on this project and how it turned out in the end.
After about a weak of brainstorming for the project, we took a trip to arguably the most impressive human creation ever. The Biosphere Two, a human-made dome sealed off from the rest of the world. While at its prime it was capable of holding and sustaining up to six people for over 2 years, it is today only being used to conduct others more boring experiments such as how rainforests survive without water. In this trip, we were in essence given a V.I.P. tour of the facility, and it was without exaggeration the most mindblowing experience I think I have ever had. As long as my memory stays intact I think one thing I will never forget is walking through the jungle of the biosphere with the sound of a creak in the background. Another part of the trip which impacted me in a very personal way was the camping. We spend 2 night in Arizona camping, and on a personal level, this was one of the first times during this school year that I have felt excepted into a group of people and felt comfortable to be myself. After a miserable fun bus ride, we returned to Durango inspired to replicate what we had seen for our own project.
In the project my main area of focus was agriculture, and I can say unquietly that my final Agricultural Report is not refined, not polished, not very readable, but I think it is still one of the things I have created this year that I am most proud of. The unrefined part comes from how up until the last day of the project I was working on something new and was never able to slow down and redo something I had already completed. After spending probably too long researching, and writing this report I created a complex multi-pronged agricultural system which also imploded several laws of physics as it relates to circular motion one of the ways that crops are harvested is through the farm being rotated so that all of the soil move to the edges. The soil in then let out through grates and all that is left behind are the crops, and this is all done while the farm is being rotated. Despite me spending probably too much of my time on the agricultural parts of the settlement I did also create and am proud of multiple other random parts.
The two other parts of the settlement I think I am the proudest of are the copper elevator, and pressure cannon. The copper elevator started, at first, as a solution to the problem of water pipes breaking and turned into a pretty bad headache. My first problem was because we would have water pipes running several miles underground in our settlement we would have no way to fix them if they break. My solution was that the pipes would be made up of hundreds of segments and we would have an elevator go down which could remove a broken segment and replace it. Then I realized that if we were to detach a segment the rest of the pipe would just be pulled down and fall because of gravity. Because of this the elevator would brace itself against the wall and acts as a stand-in segment until the repair is finished. Rather than beating gravity in this situation, I figured it would be easier if we just did not to lose to it. Given that Ceres is located in the asteroid belt, a part of the solar system that tends to have a lot of asteroids, it is in constant risk of being destroyed by an asteroid strike. Our first idea to protect us from asteroids was a cannon which could use projectiles to destroy the oncoming asteroids. However, the problem with this system is that a projectile would just break the asteroid into hundreds of pieces which would then all strike are the settlement. Given that an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon I figured all we would have to do is change the direction the asteroid was moving. This is where the pressure cannon comes into play. We would have hundreds of these cannons in orbit, and evetime an asteroid comes into range it will release a wave of force stopping the asteroid in its track and forcing it into a new direction, and because an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by something else the asteroid will continue away from the settlement forever (Hopefully). Another part of the settlement which was interesting, but we did not delve into much were are Mag Trains. The Mag Train connected the settlements on Ceres and using Newton's third law propelled them along a magnetic track at speeds of up to 4000 miles an hour.
Reviewing my performance during this project it becomes painfully clear to me what I did well and what I failed miserably at. To start with my shortcomings during this project. I did not communicate well. I believe that one of the reasons behind this is because of two members of the team, me and someone else, we had a very similar way of going about this project, and like two equal forces we sort of canceled our selves out. By this, I mean that neither one of us felt comfortable taking a leadership position, and because of this we did not talk about what we were working on. That is why I think we got very lucky despite no clear direction we were able to work well by our selves and in the end, combine all of our work into something we could be proud of. Another reason for my lack of communication was to do to us having a group member who did nothing. Usually when something like this would happen in a group task I tend to just work around the unproductive group member, but with a project was so massive I kind of just shot myself in the foot by not communicating to this individual what he needed to do, and ending up piling allot more stress and work on my shoulders then I would of have had otherwise. Unlike my evident weakness during this project, my strength is harder I feel to be pinned down. This is due to the fact that I believe I did an excellent job and excelled at a lot of things during this project. However, if I had to pick one I would say that my area of strength was problem-solving. During this project I was faced with lots of problems from, water pumps, asteroid, humidity, to transportation, and many more; and every time I was able to come up with a solution whether that be, the copper elevator, the pressure cannon, housing blocks and rotating employment, secondary water refineries, and many more. This is why I believe that my area of strength during this project was problem-solving. Because above all else, it is what I excelled the most at.
My greatest regret during this project was my lack of doing anything digital arts related. When I first went to write this part of the reflection my plan was to B.S. my way through is by saying something to the extent of "I helped keep the group organized" or something like that. But that is not true and in all honesty, I really did not do anything for digital arts during this project. From the beginning of the project, one member of the group took command of the film making process. This came as a relief as no one in my group had taken initiative yet in the realm of our film. As the project dragged on I got more and more entranced in the science parts of the project and my other group member seemed perfectly fine doing the full film. By the end of the project, all I did for the film was some terrible voice-overs, and if I could redo this project I would change that, but I can't redo the project so instead, I just did not do anything for the digital art part of the project.
At exhibition night everything we had been working on so hard came to a head, it was over there was no more we could do to improve our project. My pulse must have been going at 200 beats a minute as the night blurred on. There have not been many times in my life I have feared for my life, but that night at the exhibition I did. Looking back it seems silly, but at the time I thought that I was going to have a heart attack or stroke, thanks to stess and panic. As is probably clear I did not have a heart attack that night though I did eat part of a plastic cut, and after it was all over I went home happy, and proud of how hard I believe I worked on this project and how it turned out in the end.