Emergency Preparedness

Possible Emergency Situations:

1. Earthquake
2. Wildfire
3. Tsunami

Initial Emergency Preparedness List:

1. Water
2. Flashlights
3. Non-Perishable Food
4. Fireproof Box
5. Fire Blanket
6. Radio
7. Batteries
8. First Aid Kit
9. Extra Clothes
10. Inflatable raft (Portability Issue)
11. Life Jacket (Portability Issue)
12. HAM Radio (Portability Issue, hard to find)
13. Fire Extinguisher
14. Tent
15. Backup Generator (Portability Issue, expensive)
16. Spare Fuel (Portability Issue, dangerous, and inefficient)
17. Butane Stove (Portability Issue)
18. Utensils
19. Knives
20. Leatherman

Family Feedback:

(Source: Mom & Dad)

Some items may not be easy to get or safely store for that matter. The backup generator is a good idea, but not always too portable. Extra fuel, or gas, would not be easy to store and probably not the most efficient use of space. The butane stove, inflatable raft and life jackets would present similar problems as well. And HAM radios are expensive and just as hard to relocate.

Final Emergency Preparedness List:

1. Water
2. Flashlights
3. Non-Perishable Food
4. Fireproof Box
5. Fire Blanket
6. Radio
7. Batteries
8. First Aid Kit
9. Extra Clothes
10. Fire Extinguisher
11. Tent
12. Utensils
13. Knives
14. Leatherman

Rules of the Road: Mousetrap Racecar Iterative Design

New Challenge Criteria:

                        1. Use only Fischertechnique components

                        2. Must cost under $50

                        

                         3. Weight Limit

Simple Machine Challenge #1: Mousetrap Racecar

Total Number of Achievements: 11
Design:
"Brainiac" - Brainstorm solutions for your design

1. Treads vs. Wheels
2. Front Wheel Drive
3. Back Wheel Drive
4. All Wheel Drive
5. Double Leveled (with undercarriage)
6. Wheel going underneath the back axel
7. Using wheel and axel (rather than effort on axel) on the front wheels
8. Effort pulling on axel (without central wheel attatched)
9. Wheel on back axel to facilitate rotation
10. Extension off of mousetrap lever

"Visualize It!" - Create a sketch of a design and label key features (Below)

Build:
"Build It" - Build your design.
Initial Design (Failed):

Final Design:

Changes: No central wheel to power front axel. Uniform wheel size. String wrapped around axis rather then wheel.

"The Price of Glory" - If each part you use costs $1, generate a total cost for your build.
                                                                                                            Total Cost: $57

Test (Compete):
"Competitor" - Competed in the 2nd Annual Mousetrap Racecar Challenge.

"Feedback" -  Positive: Good idea with front wheel drive
                        Change: Faster acceleration
                        Question: Would it have accelerated faster without going under the body
                        Exclamation: Interesting idea having two levels

Iterate:
"Re-work" -  Initial Build and Final Build seen above

"Game Changer" - Not being allowed to use rubberbands. The rubberbands created a new dynamic to the challenge that allowed many participants to easily achieve faster acceleration. Restricting the use of rubberbands would create a "back to roots" and "basic" racecar creation feel.

"Name it" - Change "Re-work" possibly to "Innovate" or "Innovations".

Clean Up:
"Leave It Cleaner Than You Found It" - My workspace was neatly broken down into the order the components were initially found at the start of the challenge.

Reflection:
"Design/Build" - The Design/Build process is used on a daily basis in many professions. It was clearly demonstrated in this challenge as well. Each team created their initial design, tested it and then in most cases went back to the drawing board to rebuild, update, or improve their design. This is a valuable skill that is utilized in every company, group, and organization.

My First Blog Post!

Hello everyone! My name is Drew Findley and welcome to my Engineering Blog. This is my first time ever blogging in general, so I'm sure it will be an interesting experience for all. Plan on posting any types of projects that I've worked on in my Principles of Engineering class as well as other projects I complete on my own as I slowly (probably extremely slow) learn how to program using Java and C++ over the next year.

So as you can see by this image, I play water polo. Its a new sport I just recently picked up this past summer and it's been outrageously difficult and physically demanding. However it's taught me numerous things about commitment, teamwork, mental strength, and time management. So I know the experience will be worth while.

http://usawaterpolo.org/

Above is the homepage for the US Water Polo Program.

So I look forward to using this as much as possible in the Future!