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