Machine Design

Experiment with mechanical movement: use cams and wheels to change the speed, direction and shape of motion. Invent applications for motions: create figures that dance or jump, fence or box. Put your imagination in motion.

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The Whitney Relay

The Whitney Relay is a set of interconnectable parts that lets students master the art and science of energy transfer in the tradition of the Rube Goldberg Machine or its contemporary Japanese masterpiece: the Pythagoras Switch. Each student receives 5 ramps, 8 marbles, 6 blocks, and assorted parts to construct a chain reaction that could include your whole class. Thoughtful lessons in mechanics, invention and teamwork.

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Catapult

Explore the ancient and challenging mechanics of catapults. Rubber bands power this model. Safe for people and places when used with the ping pong ball provided. Make Happy Birds and fling them with accuracy.

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Hill Quest

Wheels, axles, chassis parts, connectors and rubber bands are the basic components of each kit that allows students to construct cars that sprint or creep to the top of a wooden ramp…jousting with another student’s car. Challenge: Beat your opponent to the top of the three foot ramp and hold your ground. The project tests all the dynamics of Force and Motion and tests planning and problem solving.

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Reversing Switch & Buggy

A battery's current flows in one direction. Clever arrangement of switches can reverse that direction. Construct a controller with a battery, motor and ultralight buggy which can go forward or backward. Learn wiring logic, precision, and trouble shooting.

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Violin

Construct a two string instrument and a bow. Devise experiments to modify pitch and tone and volume. Consider the variables of materials, tension, touch and your own dexterity... all experiments measured by ear.

Experiment with water and tuning to "see" the sound.

Designed in consultation with John Miller, Yale School of Music & the New Haven Public Schools. You can see photos and videos of schools where the Yale School of Music has enhanced the EWM violin program at http://musicians.yale.edu/musicinschools/Eli_Whitney_Violin_Program1.

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Robot Drum

Construct a music machine. Hear the logic of Leonardo's mind at work as he invents the first modern robot, an automatic drummer whose rhythms can be reprogrammed flexibly and whose tempos adjust automatically. Invent your own cadences.

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Camera Obscura

A complete light laboratory in a box. Construct a box that captures and focuses images. Use it as a camera obscura...an artist's drawing tool. Or make it into a model of the eye. Then rearrange the elements. Direct a light source on an image inside the box to project the image into a darkened room – recreate one of Leonardo da Vinci’s greatest leaps of invention: a projector..
(embedded task materials available.)

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Sustainable House

Construct a birdhouse of sustainably harvested pine and re-used plywood. Learn the measurements of adapting house to species. Learn to site house for temperature and security. Learn annual recycling. Learn sensible building choices for birds (and people) Or a birdfeeder.

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Magnetic Pendulum

All creatures live in a web of resources that support or suppress their growth. Create a dynamic model of an insect’s or bird’s world. Suspend a magnetized creature on a pendulum. Add food and shelter (with magnets) that attract the creature and predators and hazards that repel it. The creature navigates a complex and fascinating path.

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Sustainable Energy

Windmills have captured renewable energy for up to 2000 years. In new forms, wind machines will harness even more power in the future. Construct a classic whirligig to control, measure and apply wind power. With adjustable rotors.

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Mill

The Mill is the complex integration of simple machines.

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Connecticut Clipper or New England Whaling

In the first half of the 19th century, Connecticut joined the race to California and China in sleek, bold Clipper Ships. Construct a model clipper with a hold to export and import cargo that built Connecticut's industry and commerce.

Using the Charles W. Morgan, (a 19th c. whaling ship now berthed at Mystic Seaport) as a model, understand the industry that brought whalebone to the Strouse Adler Company Corset Factory in New Haven to make undergarments for upstanding Connecticut ladies.

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Slave Ship

Two hundred years ago, congress outlawed American ships’ transporting slaves. Slave trading did not stop. Even Connecticut’s ports were linked to this deadly commerce. Construct a slave ship printed with a powerful image that helped overturn this abuse. Learn the math and maps and misery of this trade.

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Mechanical Arm

Based on a design by British scientist Neil Downie, this is an exemplary model. It demonstrates the complex force of flexing muscle. Construct an arm that contracts and extends. consider Leonardo daVinci's study of anatomy and the robot mechanics it inspired. Domo arigato, Robot Armo!

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Vibrocraft

Build a vibrating motor block that will drive the Vibrocraft scampering around the room. Experiment with different kinds of 'feet' to discover just which work best for the desired results. An introduction to the art of experiment. Begin to understand friction and get some control.

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Whitney Animator

Learn the anatomy of animation and the phenomenon of persistence of vision by building a praxinoscope. With a teacher's resource guide by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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Flying Pulleys

Sometimes you have to strip away all the non-essential parts to see an idea at work. Neil Downie proposes a clever study of the exchange of speed for force. A second array of pulleys float between input pulleys and the output pulley. An elegant display of force in motion.

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Dynabrolly

Looking at wave forms at different speeds and the effect of weight, air friction and gravity. As the speed changes, see the different number of waves traveling around the edge of the cloth.

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ElectriCITY v2012

Switch on understanding. Construct a battery pack. Test it. Connect a simple switch Test it. Install an incandescent light. Test it. Then experiment with other challenges.... Lessons in electricity and thinking.

Including a new green LED circuit.

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