Adventure is out there!!!!!!

I'm sure many have been sitting on the edge of their seats awaiting the latest news on science honors. Unfortunately for our readers, with papers to write, presentations to give, and balloons to find, blogging was not exactly at the top of the to do list. So, where did we leave off? Oh right, two balloons were 50 feet up in trees and one was yet to be found. The Thursday morning following launch, at 6am a groggy Team Sparkles, climbed into the Houghton van once more in search of adventure. Along with the professors (and luckily a professional tree climber this time), they headed south towards Williamsport, PA again. The tree climber was able to retrieve the Maple Leaf and Flying Monkey balloons. After searching for Team Sparkles' balloon for a Ruthanna spotted their ozone sensor lying on the ground. Why was it not longer attached to their balloon? Later discovery of their balloon revealed that their secondary cutdown had released their parachute a couple thousand feet up. Bad news is their box made a crash landing in the forrest. Good news is they captured sweet video on the GoPro of the free fall (and that's all that matters right?). In addition Flying Monkeys received nice pictures from their GoPro (seen in this post).

 Lastly, Maple Leaf's program recorded all of their data to the SD card. Yes. We were shocked too. Especially at 9pm when we received the data with 11 hours until paper and presentation deadline. The next morning after presentations and sad goodbyes we all headed home for some much needed sleep. Since Dr. Wolfe extended our biology paper deadline, the first week of summer included completing that paper as a group online. This will probably be one of our last posts. I know I know, how will you go on? It'll be OK. Follow a food blog (thought not not as cool as ours), subscribe to more youtube channels, climb some mountains, anything to get your mind off of it really. With 24 students next year maybe one will be as awesome as we are and blog about their adventures. Until then, pray that is the case, and watch Up over and over.
--Kayla

Just in time, a science honor's rhyme!

Hey everyone, I just wanted to share a poem that I wrote during Mayterm about science honors:

Science Honors

By: Olivia Morse

 

We were eleven from the start,

We each learned to give our part.

To the sky, land, and sea,

We looked for where climate change might be.

 

Al Gore, Muller, and many more,

We learned what scientists thought was in store.

We studied albedo, currents, and radiation,

Then electronics, programming, and circuits took our concentration.

 

We would send up a balloon into the stratosphere,

Equipped with sensors to report the data that was there.

We were split up into teams of three,

The Flying Monkeys, Team Sparkles, and Team Maple Leaf we would be.

 

Long nights were spent programming and soldering boards,

Finishing proposals and straightening out cords.

We went on road trips to see how far our radio connection could go,

And watched parachutes fall to the ground below.

 

As launch day approached we worked through the night,

Before long our balloons were in flight.

Up, up, and away they flew through the blue sky.

We watched the GPS to see how far they would fly.

 

On the back roads of Pennsylvania we followed the GPS,

Putting the minivan and cars to the test.

Some groups found their balloons high in a tree,

Others still wonder where their balloon could be.

 

Although we were left tired from launch week,

We looked back on the knowledge that were able to seek,

Learning about Fresnel zones from our tech guy Jay,

Gaining programming experience, and how to solder the correct way.

 

Nothing can compare to the friendships and connections that brought us together,

The memories of late nights in Paine, smoothie runs, and movie watching will be with us forever.

Up Up and Away!

Team Maple Leaf packages their balloon. 

Where to begin? It seems like the past week was one giant work day with short naps and snacks in between. Should I go back to the 5 minutes before launch when the SD card was recording meaningless symbols and the program was still not complete? Maybe 2 hours before when the proper antenna cables had not arrived? How about Thursday at around 1 am when Maple Leaf's circuit was being resoldered because the SD card had to be close to the arduino? Or 11pm when Team Sparkles' radios wouldn't connect again? In actuality, we should go all the way back to the first day of class. It has been 9 full months of preparation. Countless hours of hard work and dedication. Little sleep and 1 all nighter added to the adventure. The morning of launch we ran on adrenaline finishing the final preparations. Between last minute programming, final circuit tests, and outside set-up, it sometimes felt like it would never come together. We just had to remain calm, and as suggested by the teaching assistants, never stop thinking. If we started rushing or freaking out we would make careless mistakes.

Team Maple Leaf cheers as their balloon soars away. 

Finally at 11:00, the professors said we had to go with what we had. It was time to launch. After rushing out to the quad each group gave a small description of their project and what exactly they were studying. We started to fill the first balloon with helium and attach the package to the parachute. Maple Leaf was the first one to let go and watch their balloon fly away into the atmosphere (watch the video here!). Cheers of excitement and relief filled the air as it quickly drifted off. It had worked. Data was streaming through the radios and the launch had been successful!

Team Sparkles fills their balloon.

Next it was Sparkles turn. They had radio connection but their data was coming through as weird symbols. Due to radio troubles the night before they had decided to change their transmission rate.
Turns out they had a program with the incorrect baud rate. Andrew ran to re-upload a new program and then their balloon was on its way. Lastly, the Flying Monkeys were having trouble getting a radio connection. After much fiddling they heard the words "You have a connection!".With that they began to package up for send off. (watch the video here!)Sarah quickly realized that the nichrome wire cutdown system was already heating up. Luckily they were able to tie another piece of paracord to secure it.

Flying Monkeys examine their circuit. 

Three balloons successfully in the air collecting data was an incredible accomplishment. As they sailed away we knew that no matter what happened it would be OK. There was nothing else we could do. It didn't matter if nothing worked, or even if radio connection cut out. We have learned an incredible amount over the past 9 months.

Flying Monkeys watch their balloon disappear. 

At the beginning of the year, we would not have been able to write complex programs or build circuits. Though frustrating at times, we developed problem solving skills by trying various combinations until we knew what the problem was. When everyone is irritable from very little sleep, grace and positive attitudes are the only way to remain calm. Our Mayterm class is coming to a close but the discussion is not over. Since launch there has been nothing but talk of "this would have been so much easier" "they should do this next year" and "why didn't we think of that?!". Though no longer part of the program we will always be thinking about our project and a better way to do it. Who knows, maybe we'll even get to launch another balloon someday.
--Kayla

3,2, 1.... LAUNCH!!!!!

Today is the big day! The one we have waited for all year. Two semesters and nine months of preparation, research and testing culminate in a few hours of balloon flight time. At 11am each team will give a brief explanation of their balloon before filling it with helium and releasing it into the atmosphere.  There will be projectors set up displaying data for those in attendance to watch. The balloons should be in the air for 3-4 hours. Once it reaches a certain pressure at a specific altitude the balloon will pop, and the parachute will deploy. Their estimated trajectory is south toward Tioga State Forrest in PA. If you live near there and could keep an eye out for them that would be greatly appreciated! After lunch the balloon hunt begins. Each of the 3 groups will follow the GPS coordinates in search of their balloon. There is a high probability that it will be stuck in a tree which could make things interesting.
If you are in the Houghton area, we'd love to see you at the launch tomorrow morning! If not, no need to worry you can still be a part of launch day. This live page will show the GPS coordinates of each balloon as it travels and this one has live data stream to graphs for each group. Up Up and Away!
--Kayla

It All Comes Down to This...

It's finally here! Launch week is upon us with all of its colorful circuits, sleepless nights, and bipolar radios. Each team has soldered their circuit together with sensors in place. The program is being tweaked and finalized with all of the necessary bells and whistles by Michael and Andrew.  These two have stared at a computer screen for about 17 hours each day! Figuring out what is wrong is rarely easy, fast, or intuitive.  Exhibit A: The SD card reader that saves our data would not work when the GPS was plugged in. Once the pressure sensor part of the program was removed, both worked properly. If you can explain this then you are clearly smarter then 11 college freshmen. If you can't, well you still might be smarter than 11 college freshmen.

The radios seem to have a mind of their own, or maybe they just didn't like Michael and Andrew. Each team has 2 radios. One for in the balloon and one for on the ground. We also bought a 7th in case of emergency.  After much searching we found two hills .8 miles apart with a line of sight. 4 of the 7 sensors worked during that test. A small improvement from the 1/4 mile range before, but certainly a step in the right direction. Each test the radios seem to work better. The next time they reached a range of 3 miles. For the next test Kayla and Bub went on a windmill hunt. Dr. Rowley said that you could see the windmills in Bliss from the hill on Centerville Road. After leaving the circuit with suspicious looking  Yagi antenna  (good thing we live in trustworthy Houghton) along side of the road (clearly marked as radio testing equipment and not a bomb of course), they drove in the direction of the windmills.

Unfortunately Bub did not exactly remember how to get there and so they wandered around back country roads an hour and a half. Finally Bub said "turn down this road and we'll just head back". A minute later there were windmills all around. You always find something when you least expect it I guess. Their good luck shortly ended when there was absolutely no signal. Discouraged, they drove back to where they had left the other circuit. Turns out the antenna had blown over and disconnected the circuit. Maybe just maybe, the radios could still work. The second trip to the windmills was much faster because they knew how to get there. Using a program that Michael wrote they were able to collect data on the signal strength and data corruption rate. A strong signal at 7.5 and 5 miles away brought hope to the situation. You would think $600 radios that are supposed to go 30 miles should work extremely well  up to 15 or 20. Will they be able to transmit data through the entire flight of the balloon? Your guess is as good as mine. 

Things we've learned: 

1) 2 voltage regulators in parallel explode when put under high current draw. 

2) Our 3.7V batteries actually hold 4.2V and easily burn out battery clips. 

3) Powering an Arduino through Vin and the computer cable will fry it. 

4) When Ye Olde Antenna Lab in CO sends you an antenna kit, there will be assembly required. 

5) Going to bed when the birds are chirping is a very late night. 

6) In reference to 5, sleep is for the weak.

Tomorrow we launch! We have had months of planning, and now we are ready (or nearly so) to let our balloons fly into the atmosphere. Come out to Houghton College tomorrow at 11:00 am to watch!

-Kayla 

Big Balloons and High Roofs

Parachute Testing

If you think scientists don't get to do exciting things, then you haven't met our science honors group. On Monday Jordan, Olivia, and Kayla ran a parachute test from the roof with Dr. Rowley. Who doesn't like throwing things off roofs?! We used a high speed GoPro camera to videotape the falling package from the ground. After measuring the building using the windows as a form of ruler, we were able to calculate (frame by frame) the distance traveled per .001 second. We wanted to determine the terminal velocity and acceleration with varied weights. The variables of wind and difficulty of measuring a tall building made our data unreliable. You would expect the speed to increase with weight since it had the same parachute drag. Though we did not see the trend we expected, or a trend at all really (remember, it's science) we were able to get a rough estimate of how fast our balloon will be falling. 

Radio Home Base 

Meanwhile in RadioLand Michael and Andrew have been getting some mixed signals. With Michael on the roof with one radio and antenna, and Andrew walking around campus with a second set, they lost connection after about 1/4 mile (2 furlongs, 80 rods, 4.5 football fields, etc). That's great for a local campus radio station! The bad news is the stratosphere is more like 20 miles away which is quite different. Clearly the radios need some alterations. 

We have also been running tests on the laytex balloons that we will be filling with helium. In the gym we were able to measure how much force will be exerted on the string between the lunchbox (with all the components inside) and the balloon during liftoff. The last thing we need is for the string to break and our balloon to fly away without the attachment. After talking in some squeaky helium voices we filled one all the way up to 20 feet in diameter with air, much larger than we will need. This allowed us to analyze the pressure inside the ballon with respect to volume. The original intent was to fill one until it popped to find the maximum volume. The instructions claim they can stretch to 30 feet in diameter! Sadly, due to a lack of time and low ceilings, we were not able to pop the balloon. But hey, you can't have too much fun in one day right?! Especially since fun activities tend to be dangerous. NOTE: To all concerned mothers: All 11 of us are still alive... even if we haven't had enough time to call recently.

For reassurance, you should be sure to like our Facebook page because there are lots of new photos! Hopefully your work days haven't been as long as ours...bonus points to whoever guesses how many hours I spent in Paine today. :) 

--Kayla 

Mayterm Mania

So, I'm sure you've been wondering what the science honors group has been up too! Last week began our Mayterm session which means that our balloon launching date is going to be here soon. We are at Houghton until June 6, constructing our balloons, calibrating sensors, debugging programs, and learning how to analyze data. Currently, our balloons are planned to be launched on May 30th, so we have less than two weeks to finish our project! This past week we have been testing circuits and trying out our sensors. We also had a statistics lecture each day. Although we are extremely busy, we have also enjoyed playing frisbee on the quad, bike rides, and movie watching after class.
--Olivia

Sarah and April soldering parts.

Kayla and Jordan with their beautiful test circuit.

Dan intensely looks at sensor data.

Dan and Ruthanna constructing a circuit.

Team Maple Leaf conference.

Conquering Nature!

While many students headed home after finals for a nice long summer, the science honors group had a 6 day break before returning for our Mayterm session. Four of us (Kayla, Bub, Dan, and Michael) along with Whitney Farrand took a backpacking trip to the Adirondack Mountains. On Tuesday we drove to Deerfoot Lodge to pick up bear cans for our food (we can open them, bears can't). Things didn't go as planned and we actually had to spend the night in the cabins there instead of at our first campsite. The next morning we drove to our trailhead. Despite being way behind schedule we hiked super fast, made up the distance, and made it to our second campsite. Our leanto was near Bushnell Falls  so we went exploring and enjoyed the waterfall.

The next morning after fueling up on oatmeal, we were ready to head toward Mount Marcy. As elevation increased we began to see snow around 3000 feet. As long as we stayed on the packed section of snow in the middle of the trail (called the snow monorail) it was manageable. Once we hit 3600 feet the snow was deeper and harder to manage. Our feet were sinking more frequently into the deepening snow, making things difficult. Luckily, we were prepared with snow shoes thanks to Dr. Rowley's suggestion! After snowshoeing the rest of the way to the junction we dropped our packs and headed up Marcy. There was no one at the top so we were able to enjoy the view and the dinosaur gummy snacks we had packed. (Every hardcore hiker packs gummies.)

We considered using our snowshoes for traction on the way down, but quickly realized there was a much better way. With a running start we glissaded down the mountain face. Wearing t-shirts and pants it was like sledding in 60 degree weather. After a lunch break and picking up those heavy packs again we traveled on to Indian Falls.

A few more miles to our campsite and we were ready for some hot chocolate and sleep. Luckily our good luck with weather continued as we tackled Phelps on Friday. The trail was one mile of 3 feet thick ice. Though more difficult without crampons, we were able to carefully climb our way to the summit with only a few falls. 

At the top we saw rain clouds in many other places, but clear skies over our heads. 

Like good scientists assuming the storms may be headed our way, we made the slippery descent to the bottom, once again wishing we had crampons. After another lunch of peanut butter and jelly tortillas, we were ready to hit the trail again. The original plan was to drive back on Saturday morning. We were such fast hikers that we were able to finish the loop and drive back on Friday night. 

There is no way to describe how we started 5 hours behind schedule and ended a day early. What else would you expect from a group of determined academics? According to Michael's GPS we traveled a total of 28 miles and averaged 2.5mph. Our elevation range was between 2046 and 5354 with 5500 feet of climbing total. That can only be referred to, as conquering nature. 

--Kayla 

SerialRead, Write, WHAT?!

It's been a few weeks since we last posted. However, this does not mean we haven't been busy. On the contrary, so much has been going on in the science honors world that we haven't had time to post.

On the construction side of things, we moved from the retro circuit world to the futuristic microcontroller universe. In other words, a bunch of programming. So far, things are starting to come together. As a matter of intrigue, all our code for the balloon project is hosted here. For those of us who have never programmed a day in our lives (ie Bio and Chem majors) it felt like learning a foreign language. There are different functions that allow you to read data from an arduino pin [digitalRead(pin9)] and write it to a specific location [Serial.print()] to be stored or viewed on the computer monitor. Each of the pins on our arduinos will be reading data from the attached sensors (for humidity, oxygen, UV, etc). The communication between two Arduinos via radio will allow us to request data on the ground and have it transmitted to us.

Learning programming has been confusing at times but luckily the Arduino website has been extremely helpful.

On a completely different note, we're making frozen fish fillets (say that 3 times fast). We have chillers hooked up to our fish tanks and we are starting to cool the water. These machines pump water out of the tank, run it thorough a cooling system, and pump it back in. This allows us to set the water at various desired temperatures. The 3 tanks will be cooled down one degree per day to 65°, 50°, and 55°. Cortisol is a hormone released by fish in relation to stress. The lower the water temperature, the more stressed the fish will be. When we test cortisone levels in the water at the end, the coldest tanks should have the highest amount.

We are also collecting two other sets of biological data. We have been checking the nearby Rushford Lake, Spring Lake, and Moss Lake for ice levels. We want to see how long it takes for the ice covering the lake to be completely melted. Dr. Wolfe also has us recording the bud break of several tree species on campus. Data sets such as these are what scientists use to track the impact of climate change on the environment.

In other news, we are now famous! (so not really but we were featured in the Houghton Star, which is something... Next stop, NY times!)
--Kayla and Michael

Circuits

This past week in Science Honors, we were introduced to the world of circuitry. For me, this week felt like learning a new language: current, resistance, potential, Ohm's law, diodes, transistors, and voltage regulators...what?! Luckily, we used our class time to experiment and have some fun completing labs. Because our balloon project will require circuitry, this unit in class is super important for our balloon-launching-success! 

Let's take a look at some basic circuit-building vocab:

Diodes- current only travels one way through a diode; our diodes were LED. When current passes through them they light up. It was almost like playing with a Light-Brite!

The green light is a diode on one of our circuit boards.

Transistor- a gate controls the switch on a transistor. If the gate is closed, current will pass through; if it is open, current won't pass through. I think of it like an electric fence for cows: if you close the gate you'll get a shock if you touch the fence!

Transistor = small black square

Voltage Regulator- regulators are so useful in making circuits. What do you do if you have a 9 volt battery and want to light a diode that can only receive 5 volts? Use a voltage regulator! Just like their name they 'regulate voltage'; they can receive 9 volts in and send 5 volts out. They come in many different sizes: 5 volts, 15 volts, 30 volts, etc.

The voltage regulator is located in row E of our circuit board.

Resistor- resistors are used to regulate the flow of current by decreasing the amount of current. Resistors remind me of a traffic jam on the highway where only a small stream of cars get through.

The wires are connected to the resistors.

A 'mini resistor' on our circuit board. The colors of the bands indicate how much resistance it has.

At the beginning of the week, the only experience I'd had with circuits was a 6th grade project when I made a merry-go-round that very slowly rotated. By Friday, however, I had helped design circuits, drawn up schematics, and assembled circuit boards. This semester has been filled with so many new learning experiences!

--Olivia

Hatching Fish

Last Thursday, we went to a fish hatchery. If you're like me, that means absolutely nothing. So let me explain...

Caledonia Fish Hatchery

The map above is the hatchery we went to (apparently the oldest one in the northern hemisphere). The point of a fish hatchery is to, well, hatch fish. Essentially, they raise fish from eggs to normal fish-size, and then release them somewhere, in the wild or otherwise. At the hatchery, they have the whole gamut of fish-sizes, from the size of your pinky to the size of your arm. So how do they raise them?

These bins feed the fish.

The little black boxes in the map above are pools of water, which is actually redirected from the stream right next to the facility. All the pools have fish in them that, interestingly, feed themselves. Staff fill up bins (see picture to the right) in the morning, with a specific amount of food, and the fish basically bump into a bar inside and knock food down (kinda like a cereal dispenser).

They only have a few workers at the hatchery, so the dispensers allow them to spend more time on other things and less time feeding fish.

It was pretty cold walking around, but it was still pretty interesting (I think that my feet almost froze off). I was personally amazed at how the fish were quite lively in the water, even though it was so cold; I'm not a Bio major, however, so this may be standard procedure.

Overall, it was a good time.

--Michael

I enjoyed this sign.

Mixing of (Ocean) Water

Today in our 8:00 am science honors class, we learned about the thermohaline (thermo:temperature and haline:salt content) circulation that occurs in the Earth's oceans. We were given the task to create 'the Atlantic Ocean' in a small plastic container. To create the thermohaline circulation in the Atlantic Ocean (which is due to density differences in different parts of the ocean), we needed the dense water from the pole to sink and flow towards the equator, the water at the equator to stay on the surface and flow towards the pole, and intermediate water to stay in the middle.

Courtesy Wikipedia

The materials that we had to work with included: water, hot plates, dye, salt, ice/snow, and cardboard. We were given 45 minutes to create our mini ocean masterpieces.

First, we created three solutions of water: cold salty polar water (blue), hot equator water (red), and temperate water (yellow). We filled one side of our container with snow to represent the glaciers at the pole, and one side of the container was placed next to a hot plate to simulate the warming at the equator. Finally, we filled the container with the temperate water, added the hot water at the 'equator', added the cold salty water at the 'pole', and watched the circulation occur!

--Olivia and Michael

Take a look at our video:

Team Lineup

This is the team lineup. Note that the questions we are trying to answer are subject to change.

Russel

Team Members:	Team Sparkles Dan Hammers Dan Schulz Ruthanna Wantz
Balloon Name	Russell
Question to Answer:	How does the amount of ultraviolet radiation absorbed by ozone affect temperatures in the stratosphere?
Our Hypothesis:	We expect that the amount of ultraviolet radiation detected will increase with altitude, and temperature will increase accordingly.

---

Dug

Team Members:	The Flying Monkeys Andrew Redman Ronald (Bub) Duttweiler April Peterson Sarah Kopa
Balloon Name	Dug
Question to Answer:	How much infrared light is absorbed by the atmosphere at each altitude?
Our Hypothesis:	We believe that more infrared light will be absorbed at the top of the atmosphere.  As our balloon rises, we hope to see more infrared light in proportion to visible light.

---

Kevin

Team Members:	Team Maple Leaf Michael Ganger Olivia Morse Kayla Miller Jordan Scott
Balloon Name	Kevin
Question to Answer:	How does the concentration of CO2 change as altitude increases?
Our Hypothesis:	Compared to other gases in the air (N2, O2, etc.), we expect that CO2 will be less concentrated farther up into the atmosphere. Put simply, the percentage of CO2 will be less at high altitudes.

Cuba Lake: Not the tropical island

Recently the high temperature in Houghton has been 20°F. While most students have been hiding inside their warm dorm room drinking hot chocolate, the science honors students are always up for an adventure. During Monday's lab we (minus Andrew and Sarah who were sick) drove to Cuba Lake to take some water samples. First Dr. Wolfe showed us how to drill the hole through the 12 inch thick ice using the ice drill. 

Fun fact of the day: You need around 4 inches of ice for walking, 8 inches to support a small car, and 12 for a larger truck. 

A thermometer was lowered meter by meter to find the temperature of the water with depth. We used a capsule with a weight attached (called a Kemmerer water sampler) to collect water samples at various depths. With frozen hands we managed to take the pH of each sample and bag it for concentration readings on Thursday.

This data will help us to determine if it is a eutrophic or oligotrophic lake. Eutrophic lakes contain a large amount of nutrients that support plant and algae growth while oligotrophic have little to almost no nutrients. The clearer the water, the more oligotrophic. The oxygen meter was not working properly but after being there for an almost an hour we decided to leave before we got frost bite. At the end of the day we were all very thankful for wool socks and warm mittens.

Thanks to Michael's backpacking GPS we were able to track our exact location:

-Kayla

Dodgeball

"Hey! Who wants to play dodgeball? I signed science honors up to play in the tournament on Friday!" This was the conversation that began our western civilization class last week. Soon, we were all on board. Our eight player team would consist of: Bub, Michael, Andrew, Dan, Ruthanna, Kayla, Olivia, and April.

We decided then and there that science honors would dominate the competition with our dodging ability. Who could possibly beat the forces that our team would bring?

Full of team spirit, we arrived at the tournament and began our stretches. We sat in the bleachers together as the rules of the game were explained (there were a lot!). Soon, the first match-ups were announced, "Science honors will be playing the baseball team on court A." We looked around at each other in disbelief as we faced the toughest team in the competition.

Our fans cheered as we entered the court, and the game quickly began. After a few minutes of incredible dodges, throws, and ninja moves, our team was defeated. Three more intense rounds of dodgeball were played by our science honors team resulting in one win throughout the night. Overall, the dodgeball tournament was a fun experience for our team as we dodged, danced, and laughed together!

-Olivia

Radiosonde Project - Overview

So, what exactly is this "Balloon 2014" thing all about? Seems obscure. Probably irrelevant. And what in the world is a radiosonde?

Hopefully, this post will enlighten you. Read on to find out.

---

Overview

The Houghton College Science Honors group, hereafter referred to as "Science Honors," intends to collect data from the atmosphere, analyze the data, and draw conclusions. So, what does this actually mean?

You've probably never heard of a radiosonde, however you probably know what a weather balloon is.

Well radiosonde is really just a fancy scientific term for the part of the weather balloon that does all the work. The radiosonde takes all of the measurements, stores it all as data, and sends it back to the scientists on the ground.

A few years ago it would have been impossible for anyone but climate scientists and weather stations to build a weather balloon, however the price of parts has become cheap enough that it is feasible to build one on a relatively small budget.

The relative altitudes of Mt. Everest, airplanes, and weather balloons. 

Collect Data
This is done using a weather balloon. Though it won't carry people like a hot air balloon, it will certainly do more than a party balloon. Sensors will take measurements about temperature, pressure, and the amount of visible light. 

Analyze the Data

The balloons will return "raw" data. These data correspond directly to readings from the sensors, not actual conditions. We need to look at the raw data and convert the numbers we receive from the sensor into real data which has significance. 

Draw Conclusions

Obviously, if you're going to collect data, you want to use it for something. We will use the data to either prove or disprove our original theories. When we have a more definite view of what we will be measuring we will make another post describing our hypotheses.

---

Picture credit to NOAA

Requirements
Physical Balloon
The balloons will be traveling high into the atmosphere. We hope that they will be able to reach the stratosphere, nearly 20 km above the ground! 

Electronics
The balloon will be run by a small computer, called an Aruduino, which will need to be wired with sensors to take readings. An Arduino is not a very powerful computer, however it is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, and runs on very little power.

Arduino Uno Microcontroller

Programming
The balloons will be programmed to continually take measurements. These measurements will then be saved on the balloon so they can be downloaded after it is retrieved, as well as wirelessly transmitted in case the balloon is lost.

We have begun working on a protocol to transmit the data back to our computers on the ground. If you're interested, take a look at our last blog post that explains this in more detail. 

--Andrew, Michael, Kayla, Dan, Olivia