Real Research

For some reason, when I get into something I get a bit obsessed.  My Dad's the same way, except worse.  Far worse.

Some people just sit in their jammies and buy stuff on ebay implicitly trusting sellers with stars of their favorite color and "Top Rated Seller" wrapped in Olympic laurels next to their names.

Others like Amazon because it reminds them of the lovely, peaceful rain forest in Brasil where dread diseases, crocodiles, and piranha thrive.

We all have our favorite sellers.  Mine happen to be thrift stores.  Or dumpsters, but that's a story for another day.

Dad, however, does research before every purchase

One day he decided that he needed a chain saw.  So he did research.  He read articles in magazines and "took out" books from a place he called the "lieberry."  It was all a bit much for me.  And a bit much, I believe, for him also.

I didn't realize how bad it was until he was cleaning out one of his sheds and I saw his chain saw collection laid out on the uncut, clover-filled lawn.  There was the first one - I recognized it well.  It was a small Craftsman electric chain saw that I was required to use to chop wood and learn how not to accidentally amputate my foot.  The axe used for the same training purpose was on the lawn right next to it.

Then there was another one - a monster Stihl clearly meant for felling redwoods.  And another with an itty bitty cutting blade that seemed to perform the same function as the average weed whacker.  And everything in between.  Two were electric and the rest were gas.  The really fun things about electric chainsaws and electric lawn mowers is figuring out how not to cut the 250' extension cord - after repairing it about five times.

OK, maybe there were only seven chainsaws, but that's enough.  Maybe Dad should just find some ebay marketeer with a blue star and stick with whatever they sell.  It'd be easier.  Maybe even cheaper.

But nowhere near as much fun.

Teach Fzx - Gasoline Burns

We were talking energy transformations last week near the end of the Physics chapter on energy.  During the discussion I asked an Honors Physics student

“What happens to the gasoline in your car?”

Silence

“I don’t know.”

New question to next student

“Why do you have to periodically replenish the gas tank?”

“Um.”

“It gets used?”

Question directed to another student

“OK.  It gets used doing what?”

“It gets used up?”

“It’s converted from chemical potential energy to kinetic energy.”

Next question to yet another student

“What actually happens to the gasoline in your car that allows the conversion to KE?”

Still no answer.

Then a couple more queries to others in the class with no good response.

This happened in four separate Honors Physics situations.  All the while a small group of students in each class had their hands in the air grunting like Horshack on a sweaty Brooklyn day since it was apparently the easiest question I could ever ask. 

Seriously?  At least 40% of my students didn’t know that gasoline “burns” or “combusts” or “explodes” in an internal combustion engine.  I asked them later and they really were flummoxed.

Another Physics teacher observed a conversation in a Conceptual Physics class that was similarly distressing:

"Why can't we just put water in our gas tanks?"
"Yeah, water'd be better.  It's everywhere."
"Why do we have to use gas anyway?  It's too expensive."
... (the rest of the conversation makes my eyes bleed and will not be recorded here for the sake of my vision)

Mr. Mason observed in wonder as a substantial group of his students ridiculed the engineers of internal combustion engines and touted their genius invention of water powered automobiles.

Obviously they didn't know that gas burns in the engine.  Or that water cannot.

Eventually he had to step in and start asking questions since he figured that somebody was going to put water in the gas tank and disable Mommy's car.

How is it possible that my top students don't know that fuel burns in engines?  Bill Nye help us - didn't the Science Guy teach us all we need to know?

Drug Deals and DeLoreans

While jaywalking my way across town yesterday on a good walk in the sun, I almost got smacked by a maroon car with gold accents.  The driver was wearing only a white ribbed tiny tank so it stuck in my mind.  I was cold even with a hoodie and heavy jeans.

A couple minutes later, the same car stopped next to the train tracks and a passenger stepped out.  The scruffy thirty something male exited without a backward glance and walked back toward Sharpsburg.  Since there were no houses near and he had something in his hand that he quickly inspected and then shoved in his pocket, I started thinking I had just witnessed the roving equivalent of a crack house.  

Since we were headed in the same direction, I followed the crack car customer about 50 meters until he met a man waiting for him just around the corner.  They talked for a moment, veered from the sidewalk into a parking lot, exchanged goods, and parted ways.

Definitely a three-way.

That same afternoon, I was pedaling home and seriously regretted not having a camera.  A DeLorean dressed like Back to the Future pulled up to a traffic light so I had to stop and take it in.  Light strings everywhere.  Flux Capacitor sticking out of the louvered rear window and huge rear exhaust vents just like the original.  It made me smile.

"Did I just see that?" said a nearby pedestrian.  "Isn't it great!" I responded with a giggle as I pedaled off.

Maybe that was a crack-a-smile car.

Emergency Brakes

Two friends and I were riding the neighborhood back when I was 12 and we came upon three other kids walking the streets.  As we were passing, the girl on the left side decided it'd be a wonderful idea to run across the road to join her friends.

Having just switched over from coaster brakes, I still backpedaled to slow down when in a panic.  Since the brakes were on the bar I clipped her trailing foot and she slowly gimped home.

Mom made me call the family and apologize so I called the first Smith in the phone book on Theresa Drive.  I got through the entire apology before she told me that her granddaughter lived down the street so I had to do it again.  Little Miss Smith was milking it hard with crutches at the bus stop the next morning.  She had ditched them by the afternoon.

Anyway, whether from complete lack of maintenance in harsh conditions or you're a hipster and you don't need brakes, sometimes you need a backup.  I had no front brakes today since the cantilevers froze up and I had to use alternate braking on the precipitous grade heading home.  I tested it before the hill and it stopped almost as well as discs.

Right foot on pedal, left heel braking on pavement.

I've seen kids in the neighborhood jam their feet on the rear tire at the seat stays to stop their bikes.  The left leg braced against the pedal with the foot on the ground works far better.

Now when the chick crosses the road, I won't have to call her Grandma.

.22lr Slingshot

A slingshot and a box of .22lr just happened to be sitting next to each other one day.  I was in a spicy mood so I decided to combine them and see what happened.

There's a pair of cement walls where the train tracks run under the highway just a short walk from the house so I slipped the experiment in my pocket and wandered off to the lab.

I selected the first of five smooth stones that I had picked up at the water's edge - sorry, that's a different story - I slang (slung?) the first cartridge at the wall from about thirty feet away.  Nothing.  Another.  Nothing.  Ten feet.  Still nothing.  Then I fired a few at the railroad tracks right in front of me.  Nada.

Apparently, ammunition is a lot safer than I thought.  The recovered projectiles were scratched bullets and partially crushed casings empty of powder.

Thanks for the ammo, Pete.  It was inspiring.  And disappointing.

Oil vs. Water

After rinsing the Whirley Pop, I usually toss it on a lit burner just to hear the spitter spatter of the boiling water and oil.  

While popping some corn one evening, I left the top open just to see some kernels explode.  When drops of boiling oil landed on my face, I realized why it's supposed to be closed.  Not pleasant.  Glad I wear glasses.

Brownie Preparation - oil on water

Then I remembered that you're never supposed to throw water on a grease fire.  I used to think it was because the burning oil would rise atop the water and spread the fire.

Now I know that the burning oil will explosively vaporize the water and toss superheated oil everywhere.  I could see that getting ugly.

First Frame - A Homebuilt Recumbent

Almost two decades ago I went to what has become my favorite bike shop and happened upon a recumbent bicycle for the first time.  I loved the idea and wanted one but the budget was quite small so I figured I would make one since I heard people did that kind of thing.

A couple of huffymurraypacifics later I came up with this.  The front end was a BMX headtube-to-bottombracket assembly - since I couldn't weld, a muffler clamp and a couple of screws held it together.

Aluminum backpack frame and plywood seat.

Muffler clamp and front steering linkage

under seat steering.

The only thing I bought was the handlebar.

It was fun to ride and it worked out well for a summer project and a test of my limited fabrication skills.  My budget has expanded and I have learned to braze and weld but I still look back to this bike with fond memories.

Teach Fzx - Spinning Ladies and Disappearing Inertia

You're traveling down the street at 10 mph on your bicycle and BOOM - half of your mass disappears.  I mean straight vaporized - and not just vaporized but annihilated.  But not even annihilated - that mass (inertia) is just no longer even part of the universe.

Right after that BOOM, suddenly you're going 20 mph since half your inertia disappeared but momentum is still conserved - so you have to be going twice the speed.  Crazy, right?

The above situation is, of course, impossible, but that's basically what's happening when all the spinning ladies on ice at Sochi speed up when they pull their arms in.  That's why gymnasts and divers tuck to spin faster.  They lose rotational inertia - it disappears from the universe - and they speed up since rotational momentum is conserved.

The opposite process is also true.  Spinning skaters slow down when they extend their arms and flipping gymnasts seem almost to stop when they fully extend.

We live in a world where you can lose or gain rotational inertia simply by changing your body orientation or the location of your arms and legs.  We spin faster when we lose rotational inertia; slower when we gain it.

The same does not apply to linear momentum and linear inertia (mass).  But imagine what'd happen if linear and rotational were the same.  Imagine and learn.

Bug Out Horse

The Apocalypse is upon us.  This is what I have collected so far:

1) Guns - and lots of 'em - how else will I protect my wife's Precious Moments collection?  

2) Water filtration system - without plenty of water, your pee gets really yellow and it smells funny.

3) A year of food for four on a pallet in my garage - and that's just for me.  I need more.

4) Paracord - 2000 feet.  Various colors.  From the emails I get, you can do anything with it.  It may even be edible.

I may have forgotten a couple of nonessential items and I doubt I'd get a good grade from those prepper TV shows, but I figure the next thing I need is a Bug Out Horse.  And maybe a sweet classic car to drive after a massive EMP - I saw it on "Jericho."

But back to the horse.  I could strap my water filtration system and a tent to the saddle with the paracord and rig some quick release paracord straps for a grenade launcher and a shotgun.  She could take me places.  In an emergency, I could even stuff an injured child inside the carcass just like Luke Skywalker inside the Tauntaun on Hoth.  And that horse could feed my hungry family while I drive my '66 Nova.

"God made man.  Sam Colt made them equal."

Sam Colt rode a horse.  So did the Marlboro man.

Steam Bending Wood

I wanted to build a recumbent bicycle seat and I wanted to work with wood.  Having heard about steam bending and seen some of the results, I found some seat plans called for two thin pieces of laminate soaked in hot water and glued while drying on a form.  It wasn't steam bending but it was close.

Scrap plywood form and crossmembers

Using a couple pieces of the skinniest good quality 3 layer laminate available, I tried soaking them with hot water in the tub.  It took turning up the temp in the hot water tank and boiling gallons of water on the stove to realize how dumb that idea was - with no heat source in the tub and the surface kicking off heat like an obstinate mule, I couldn't keep the water hot.  Plus I almost got scalded in the shower.

Next was this huge pan to soak the wood in hot water on the stove.

Properly bent roof flashing doesn't leak.

Cute paper bag for scale.

A couple of hours later with the pan across two burners and a brick to sink the wood, I slathered both halves with wood glue, clamped it all to the form and let it sit for a couple of days.

Speed.  Force.  And plenty of both.  Speed to keep the wood flexible during clamping.  Force to wrap the stubborn wood around the form.

curves, beautiful curves

exterior laminate separation

 There was a gap in the wood that I reinforced with steel since that part was quite flexible.

Tiny gap - Big failure point

The gap happened at the tightest bend in the form. The rest of it turned out OK.  Were I to do it again, the curves in the form would have to be softened and I would put a cover on the pan during heating to make sure it got hot enough and the water soaked in well.

I'm pretty sure I ended up spending far more time and money on this failure than had I just bought a seat made by a pro.  I just buy stuff now that I have less time.  The process engaged my brain, however, and it kept me from feeling lost for a couple of days.

More Ice Formations

I really like our winter this year.  We had another snow day yesterday so it's gonna be a long spring, but I love the fresh snow on the early morning bike ride to school.  And I love looking for new ways that ice forms. Here are a couple more from the past weeks.

Arriving home after a snow I found these crystals on the seat of my daily transport.

After the big freeze the ground in my backyard looked like this.  

The frozen water expands the ground around it.

It crunches under foot.

I was -10*F and this was the view out the windows of our son's room.

As long as the roof snow melts every once in a while and it's not too much snowfall at one time and I don't fall down and my wife isn't pregnant and nobody crashes, I really like the ice.

Hawk in the Snow

In the middle of a big empty field I came upon this isolated track.

If you ignore my tracks at the left you see what seems to be a hawk after a mouse.  Close up you can see wing prints and deep grab marks in the middle along with the bounding relaunch marks.

I've never seen a raptor take a rodent in a field.  Nor have I seen a raccoon hunting at the edge of a creek.  Or a shrew tunneling under the snow.

But I have seen their tracks.  And the study of those marks as a child opened up a new world to me.  I would wander the woods after a fresh snow following deer and rabbits and watching squirrels find their buried nuts.  I even followed a fox wandering the edge of a field.  All that just by watching for their signs.

On one of my many book shelves I have A Guide to Nature in Winter, Animal Tracking, A Field Guide to Your Own Backyard, and a dozen similar titles that I've had for almost 30 years.  It's because of those books that I know what to look for.  And my parents provided opportunities - they took us camping for a few weeks every summer and they bought a good piece of land where I could walk out the door, track animals, catch snakes, and build stuff in the woods.

A few years ago I visited my aunt and uncle who lived in northern Wisconsin.  On an early morning kayak ride I was blessed to see a bald eagle swoop down and snag a fish from the lake.  Majestic

City Bike Chain Line

I was building a city bike I could transport and I ran into a problem.  The original frame was from an Ibis Trials bike that I bought in Ohio after it sat in a garage with a leaky roof.  It was so oxidized that I couldn't get the seatpost or stem out of it for the longest time.  Anyway, I got it together and used the stem extension and seatpost from Xootr - they sell their parts pretty cheap.

I assembled it as a single speed for simplicity and took it for a couple of test rides.  The gear was pretty low because of the tiny wheels but I couldn't go any bigger with the chainring since it would strike the chainstay.  Plus the chain was already rumbling since the 42 tooth chainring had to be splayed so wide that the ring and the freewheel were out of alignment.

A smaller freewheel wouldn't solve the problem and I figured I needed at least 50 teeth up front with the 16 tooth rear so I finally decided to change the shape of the right chainstay.

I tried hammering it but that was just plain stupid.  Seriously dumb.  But I knew it was steel and I could always cut out the damaged part and put in something else.  Then I remembered my collection of frames and parts in the basement.  I searched a bit and found the perfect curve from another BMX I had already cut up for another project.

They were symmetrical chainstays for a tiny chainring.

 The rear dropouts were braced with two axles.

The plastic bag houses the chain.

 Some careful cutting and grinding and fitting

Sometimes I don't take the five minutes required to remove things like the chain and the bottom braket.  It's silly.  I don't know why I think it's easier to leave them on.  Maybe the tools are more than three steps away.

 Finished braze joints

Plenty of room for a huge chainring

I installed a 50 tooth chainring and rode it.  I think I could even run a 52 but there's room for about a 60.  It doesn't look it like it but there's plenty of clearance for the tire as long as I don't use anything larger than that Primo Comet.

I could easily buy something like the Xootr Swift but I love going cheap and solving problems like this.  It takes a really long time and I get nothing important done, but I learn so much.

And, I don't know why, but it makes me feel accomplished and relaxed.  Men need their toys.

Fire Safety

"THIS DOOR TO REMAIN UNLOCKED WHEN THE BUILDING IS OCCUPIED"

It just makes sense, right?  Always give people an escape.  Never lock the door.

A fire started in Ycua Bolanos supermarket in August of 2004 in Asuncion, Paraguay and security locked all the doors.  400 died.  The owners wanted to keep people from stealing stuff but they didn't even have an operational sprinkler system.  I was a few blocks away and I really appreciate some of these safety regulations now.