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bobbyburns

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bobbyburns last won the day on January 27 2023

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About bobbyburns

  • Birthday 11/29/1996

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  1. Team Name: Axburns Inc. Available Funds: $27,800 Vehicle Name: Atlantis I Vehicle Parts List and Cost: Mk1-2 command Pod ($1800), Advanced S.A.S. Module ($1100), Rockomax Brand Decoupler ($200), Rockomax x200 32 Fuel Tank ($6600), Rockomax Jumbo 64 Fuel Tank ($12500), Rockomax "Mainsail" Liquid Engine ($850), Rockomax "Poodle" Liquid Engine ($600), Mk 16 XL Parachute ($850) Total Cost: $24,500 Design Goals: We want to incorporate two engines and fuel tanks to practice stages (specifically firing the parachute, decouplers, and engines at the right times) Launch Goals: Achieve Stable Orbit Pilot Plan: Thrust vectoring until orbital velocity and altitude are reached, then thrust vectoring to maintain a vertical speed of zero. Calculating stable orbit: Our orbital speed is determined through the formula V=600000((9.807/(600000+h)))^(1/2), h being the orbital altitude (above the surface of Kerbin) Once stable orbit is achieved, the pilot will then thrust vector the engines in the opposite direction f flight, to facilitate reentry and then fire the parachute at an altitude within the atmosphere.
  2. Launch Time: 2:00PM EST Team Members Present: Katelyn, Bobby Play-by-Play: Launch Start: Straight up, no issues. About one minute in, at 0m/s, decoupler fired and screenshot taken. Booster separates from pod and parachute. Since we set the parachute and decoupler activation on the same stage setting, the parachute fired prematurely and it was, well, a SLOW ride down, but our Kerbal was happy and enjoying the ride. Photographs: We need to check our screenshots which are on the school computers. Time-of-Flight: We need to check our screenshots which are on the school computers. Summary: Our original goal was to reach 50km. Although our booster only launched us to about 35km, we were content with that, as we broke the 10km requirement. Our only safety concern was the premature firing of the parachute, which could've been avoided by placing the parachute in a third stage, seperate from the decoupler's. Our winglets provided enough pitch control to keep the booster at 90 degrees from the ground, which is what we wanted. Opportunities / Learnings: 1) Set seperate stages for seperate actions 2) Obtain a larger engine (maybe with vectorable thrust) to control flight better and attain higher altitutes Strategies / Project Timeline: We are ready to face our next challenge, and go to higher altitudes. We will probably redesign our rocket for more thrust. Milestone Awards Presented: Launch to 10km, $10,000 winnings Available Funds: $25,600+$2200 $27,800
  3. Did I just get hit with a dump truck or did I just take the AP Physics C exams? Turns out, I took the exams. Yes, they're over....and with a massive sigh of relief, I can move on with my life and enjoy the rest of my senior year. But I must be honest...they were the hardest exams I have ever laid my eyes on, and it came as a wake up call to me that, yes, maybe I DO have to work harder in future physics courses. This year in physics, although rough academically, taught me that one cannot simply understand a concept with ease at this level (with a few exceptions...) So as I move on with life, I will take physics at RIT at least knowning what to expect, and I'll have a working knowledge of the basics. But seriously, those exams hit me like a truck. And the truck had spikes and chainsaws in the front. Yes, it was pretty violent.
  4. I'll let you know when I put it up for sale.
  5. So, It's been a month since MH370 disappeared. Technically, the pings should've stopped by now, but it seems that the black box batteries haven't died yet. But what really is a black box anyway? It's a NEON ORANGE rectangular object. The box holds critical instruments, like an altimeter, airspeed indicator, attitude indicator, control positions (as in what the pilot was doing with the plane at that time), time of day, etc. The second part of the data recorder is the Cockpit Voice Recorder. This thing records that last two hours of audio spoken in the Captain and First Officer's headsets. This recorder was especially useful in determining what happened to American Airlines flight 93 on 9/11/01, when voices besides the hijackers' were heard inside the cockpit, indicating that the passengers had stormed the cockpit. The third and most important part is the underwater locator beacon. This broadcasts a "ping" or beep that can be detected by instruments on naval vessels and aircraft. That is the only reason we may have a CLUE as to where MH370 is, as we can triangulate different occasions on which the pings were heard.
  6. Our planet has a lot of gold, silver, diamond...you name it. But it's nothing. Believe me. In 1999, UC Berkeley researchers made a high value discovery (no pun intended) by showing that Methane (which is in HIGH quantity on Neptune and Uranus) can be converted to diamond (like carbon is) under intense heat and pressure. The liquid methane, cooled with liquid nitrogen, was placed in a diamond anvil cell and squeezed to between 10 and 50 billion pascals (gigapascals), or about 100,000 - 500,000 times atmospheric pressure. They then zapped it with a laser (creating the necessary heat) and...voila! Diamond Dust. So, it rains diamonds on Uranus and Neptune. The next time you go to Neptune, don't show off your wedding ring. It's mainstream.
  7. For the purpose of logic, I will ignore spacecraft because they already hold speed records for anything man made. Because they're awesome. Okay, so, our first category is Human-Powered Aircraft. No engine, just a dude flying himself in a glider. Some designs include the "wrapped rubber band" method but on a larger scale. To be honest, this record is pretty pathetic. At a whopping 19.8 mph, MIT's Monarch B human powered aircraft holds the record. *Cue streamer and confetti* Moving up in coolness is the Glider category. These aircraft are actually extremely interesting, in that they are able to travel hundreds of miles without anything powering it...just the constant pull of gravity and "thermals", pockets of rising air that push up on the bottom of the aircraft's wings, therefore pushing up the whole craft. The speed record for a glider is 190.6 mph, which is extremely fast for a small little tube with wings. The speed record aircraft is the Schempp-Hirth Nimbus, built in Germany. The whole thing at max weight only weighs 820kg. Next, we have the helicopter. These aren't built for speed; rather, they're built for accessibility. Helicopters land where they need to, ranging from sloped mountainsides to the White House Lawn. The world speed record for a helicopter is set by a Westland Lynx, at 249.1 mph. This proves impressive, especially for an aircraft that is shaped without aerodynamic contour in mind. Now, we get to aircraft. The fastest AIR breathing aircraft (meaning air enters the engines for operation) is the SR-71 Blackbird, SR meaning Reconnaissance. This aircraft flies no more, but its record will be a difficult one to beat. The aircraft topped out at 2194 mph, or about 37 miles per minute. The aircraft went so fast that the friction on its nose actually started to weld parts of the fuselage together, due to the massive amounts of heat created with all the air molecules banging against the aircraft at a relative speed of 2194 mph. Lastly, we arrive at non air breathing aircraft. Code-word for rocket. They're cheaters. The record holder is the X-15, built by North American, the same firm that built the P-51 Mustang in WWII. The X-15 reached 4510 mph, or about 1.25 miles per SECOND. I'll let you contemplate that. Signing out now.
  8. Some new research from George Washington University dived into the mysterious techniques of flying snakes, and how that actually seem to dart through the air. Could these tactics be used today to solve mechanical issues? Possibly. What the researchers did seems a little odd, but hey, it got results. Their tactic was to launch the snakes off actual cranes (don't worry, they can FLY) and observe their gliding abilities. Just for context: A normal aircraft will gradually increase lift as the angle of attack is increased, and then once the angle of attack reaches the "critical" angle, the lift becomes zero; the aircraft begins to accelerate downward in a freefall, for all intents and purposes. The researchers hypothesized that the snakes would perform the same way. They predicted the snakes to coil up and use their coiled up body like a flying saucer, creating the necessary lift. They were right in some sense, but the results of the experiment were nothing but astonishing. As the snakes increased their angles of attack on the way down, the magnitude of their lift increased. After the angle increased for a while, the lift began to decrease, but only slowly. In other words, they couldn't get the snake to enter an aerodynamic stall...which defies the properties of anything you and I have ever flown in. Maybe, in the future of aeronautics, the "saucer" approach will be taken, realizing that stalls will be harder to enter. We see too often the effects of aircraft entering stalls, like Asiana 214 and Colgan 3407 in Clarence Center. Oh, and here's what a flying snake looks like.
  9. Here's a weird one... Through a study at the University of Washington, researchers have found that, when attacked, Fruit Flies perform the evasive maneuvers similar to those of a modern fighter jet, a seemingly new relation between technology and nature. When a shadow or other threat was seen by one of the Flies, it would roll rapidly on its side, and then execute a tight turn to end up flying in the complete opposite direction. This tactic is the fundamental maneuver in modern day air forces, and it makes complete sense. Manmade aircraft share the same basic structure with flying animals, such as the wings, the fuselage (or abdomen...), and so on. It's only logical that the two creations perform the same way when evasive maneuvering is required. What I find interesting, however, is that the Fruit Flies beat any modern day aircraft in terms of maneuvering. For instance, one of the Flies involved in the expirement altered its course in 1/100 of a second, trumping any fighter jet today. The F-16 needs about 4 seconds to turn 90 degrees in another direction. I guess Fruit Flies don't have missiles though...but if they do, that'd be a whole different blog post indeed. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140410141745.htm
  10. Recently this year in France, a team of researchers conducted an experiment with seismic waves, and were able to slightly deflect them. Could this be the start of a new age in which we can avoid catastrophic earthquakes and maybe even tsunamis? It's quite the possibility. Using "cloaking" devices and meta materials, the researchers hope to someday cloak "desired" or important geological areas with the cloaking material, to fend off (reflect, to be specific) seismic waves, therefore significantly reducing any damage to the area. The cloak would in theory deflect the waves to a sparsely populated direction, where the waves could die off without causing harm. The actual cloaking device is a simple grid, that, when seismic waves enter its area, diffract the waves into smaller ones and change their direction simultaneously. A simple idea, but with genius results. The idea has its issues...of course, we must face the question of "where". For instance, say that a grid system has been installed around the whole area of NYC. An earthquake happens off shore, sending massive amounts of seismic waves to the shore. The grids than diffract and deflect the waves. What could then be the issue? Simply put, some of the waves would reflect back and end up constructively interfering with each other, sending a huge seismic wave somewhere else. Unlikely, but certainly possible. If these issues are addressed, the fatalities and dangers of earthquakes may be able to be reduced.
  11. We see it everywhere in the media, real life, and sometimes it can even happen to you. The sad, terrifying act of being slapped in the face. Aside from hurting, what are the actual physics behind being unfortunate enough to get slapped? 1) Shown in slow motion, your face has incredibly present properties of intertia. If you look at the video, you can clearly see the skin and tissue stay put while the actual skeletal tissue underneath begins to move. This is because the dense bone moves, eventually dragging the rest of the tissue along with it. The force of friction applied throughout the first couple layers of your skin is not nearly as strong as the frictional force initiated deeper in your skull! 2) The Impulse applied when getting slapped can be quite massive. Impulses (Force times change in Time) delivered through a slap could be as large as 25000 J*S, assuming a Force of 50000 Newtons (yes, boxers can punch that hard) and a time of contact of .5 seconds. When your cable's on the fritz, you get angry. When you're angry, you become irritated. When you become irritated, you make rude comments. When you make rude comments, you get slapped in the face. Don't get slapped in the face. Get rid of cable. Get DIRECTV.
  12. Yo Dawg, Grammar heheheheehhe
  13. This March, the F-35 Lightning II made its first public demonstration at an air show. The U.S. Military is expected to purchase over a thousand of the new jets in total, eventually being put in service with the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. The Air Force version, the F-35A, will be the lightest and most agile. The thrust to weight ratio is over one, meaning that the engine produces more thrust (191 kN!) than the weight of the aircraft. In other words, it is able to speed up while flying 90 degrees to the ground...straight up. The Marine Corps version, the F-35B, is the most powerful, in that it has a specialized engine. The thrust can be vectored down to "push" the aircraft off the ground, therefore allowing the aircraft to take off in ridiculously short distances (perfect for the Marines' shortened aircraft carriers) Lastly, the Naval version, the F-35C, has a larger wing area and strengthened landing gear for landing on an aircraft carrier. The wing area is increased simply because this version will have to fly very slow on final, meaning more lift is needed to keep the aircraft from entering an aerodynamic stall. The increased wing area provides more lifting surface area, so (by Bernoulli's principle), more air will flow over the airfoil, inducing a greater low pressure area over the wing. More lift is then created, allowing this model to control itself as very low airspeeds.
  14. MEGA ULTRA SUPER DEEP FIELD IMAGE...maybe you could get it in 3D?! Very interesting, nonetheless!
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