So I did a reaserch project on zipper. The zipper did not start as the zipper we know today it was first designed with metal latched and not plastic. Of course metal is not as practical for fabric and so it was redesigned. In the JPL project I am working on o have a strong feeling that my group will need to do a similar thing. Problems will arise and we will have to resign our project to better address those problems.
So one of the biggest challenges that my JPL group is facing is a lack of materials. We just got a spring and we cut some wood for very small needs. We still need PVC pipe for our path and a mason jar for the goal. I think our brainstorming went very well. Sometimes it got a tad bit repetitive i.e we would go over the same proposal again and again, but they have been productive and given us some good ideas. We struggling with some of the calculations we need to make to determine how much force our spring needs, but hopefully we will figure it out along with experimenting once we get our PVC pipe. I feel as though our idea is really viable, it's not far-fetched and although it's not tangible yet ot tells like it will be soon.
When it comes to fears I have about the JPL project I definitely have more (hopefully) unrealistic ones. Thing like it won't actually get the ball in the jar or it will but it takes 3 minutes. In terms of more manageable problems I for see are a few. I think cutting PVC pipe in half longways will be very difficult although some of my group mates disagree. I'm hoping it will be easy to adjust some of the "initial conditions" of our design. Will we able to adjust force of spring, angle of the path, and height of device with ease? I feel pretty confident in saying that making a path for our springs to move on that will be powered by cranking will be very difficult.
On a completely different note the school play has just started. The play is called "you can't take it with you". My character is the grandpa and he is described as "having a youthful energy" according to the stage directions. It seems really funny and my character has some lines that make me laugh pretty hard. Beyond that the whole cast is super funny and friendly. There is this one scene in particular that is so funny. So my character doesn't pay income tax and someone from the IRS has come over to ask me about it. The scene is great and I'm so excited to be able to perform it for an audience.