20-time Individual Reflection

Equation we used for calculating lift.

   In this project we chose to do a project to build a RC hot air balloon, we chose this because the project was going to last the whole semester so we wanted to try to do something that would take a lot of time and be hard. The focus of this project was to create something that hadn't been made too often so we could see what we could do to perfect it's design.

   The initial plan to achieve the goal was to have a couple months of research and then the rest of the semester we would work on building it.

Idea for built in remote control electrophoresis for
hydrogen balloon. (to dangerous to test on a large scale)

   As we started the project, we soon realized that this would require much more research than we thought we would need. Our choice of balloon envelope material changed from plastic bag to nylon to silicone coated nylon to paper to urethane coated nylon to thin plastic bag and so on. We also researched in the use of hot air, helium, and hydrogen for lift. My robotics and planning for my eagle scout project took more time than I anticipated so I had less free time to work on the project than I thought. However in researching the project I learned many new things about physics, material properties, and electronics. We would first research something and then test it for effectiveness, like putting it over a candle to test it's heat resistance. All class time for this project was used efficiently and out of class research time was used also. Overall I think this was a successful research project, however we are not yet finished with building a prototype.

   While doing this project I learned many process skills by working with my partner Will. We communicated together both in and out of school to collaborate on our research for the project. If I had done this project again I would have started with a smaller scale. I have learned that I sometimes try to be a bit too ambitious, however I think this project is achievable with a bit more time.

Diagram of simple hot air balloon idea

   Over this summer, Will and I will continue to work on this project in building a physical prototype for the RC hot air balloon. Since we have already done so much research on this topic we know what works well and what works bad, so it is just the building we need to do now. The research we have done was a good learning experience and I can't wait to make a physical prototype of our ideas and designs.