Today was the first REAL day of summer field projects (EFP) today, for me anyway. I have "class" Tuesday - Thursday, with a mandatory 8am meeting every Monday morning. The days are scheduled from 8am - 5pm each day, and how much of that time is used is determined by the professor in charge.
My schedule is as follows:
Tuesday -- Mr. Splitt -- Precipitation
Wednesday -- Dr. Lazarus -- Dune Meteorology
Thursday -- Dr. Irlandi -- Beach Renourishment Effects
So today, we started out at 9am and had a one-hour brainstorming session. We were broken up into two groups, one to design a horizontal rain gauge and the second (my group) to design a sand-transport gauge, which basically collects sand as the wind blows to determine the general movement and transport of the surface sands at the beach. We came up with designs and headed to Home Depot, where, two and a half hours later, we came away with the necessary items to build our devices. (Though our design had changed DRASTICALLY.)
We then headed back to school, took a lunch break, and began building after lunch. I'll make sure to take pictures of our finished design tomorrow and in the days to come, as we need to make some adjustments to it. We are taking it out for a trial run tomorrow.
Here is the collection part of the apparatus. They are made out of a plastic section of rain gutter, with an adapter in one end, and the other end ducktaped closed, in order to hold the sand. Unfortunately, they are also fun to play with...
My schedule is as follows:
Tuesday -- Mr. Splitt -- Precipitation
Wednesday -- Dr. Lazarus -- Dune Meteorology
Thursday -- Dr. Irlandi -- Beach Renourishment Effects
So today, we started out at 9am and had a one-hour brainstorming session. We were broken up into two groups, one to design a horizontal rain gauge and the second (my group) to design a sand-transport gauge, which basically collects sand as the wind blows to determine the general movement and transport of the surface sands at the beach. We came up with designs and headed to Home Depot, where, two and a half hours later, we came away with the necessary items to build our devices. (Though our design had changed DRASTICALLY.)
We then headed back to school, took a lunch break, and began building after lunch. I'll make sure to take pictures of our finished design tomorrow and in the days to come, as we need to make some adjustments to it. We are taking it out for a trial run tomorrow.
Here is the collection part of the apparatus. They are made out of a plastic section of rain gutter, with an adapter in one end, and the other end ducktaped closed, in order to hold the sand. Unfortunately, they are also fun to play with...
They will be held in place in the four cardinal directions on a 2ft x 2ft wooden board. We sent it downstairs to get the necessary holes drilled into it, and it managed to take several hours because of a couple of screwups, such as needing new blades for the jigsaw cutter... So with nothing to do for a long period of time, Splitt gave us something to do- calibrating the rain gauges that the school owns.
First, we had to do a calculation to determine how much an inch of water would be in the rain gauge, then put water in and determine the actual amount and compare it to our calculated value.
The following picture shows Skyler pouring water in the 8inch diameter gauge to calibrate it.
First, we had to do a calculation to determine how much an inch of water would be in the rain gauge, then put water in and determine the actual amount and compare it to our calculated value.
The following picture shows Skyler pouring water in the 8inch diameter gauge to calibrate it.
So, all-in-all, today was actually really fun. Hands-on research and work is fun, and so far I'm really enjoying it, even though I like to complain because its often times boring, takes a long time, and the end result isn't always what you were hoping for. I just hope the rest of the summer is as enjoyable as today was.
Anywho, Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals tonight; I BELIEVE IN MAGIC!!! Have a great day.
Anywho, Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals tonight; I BELIEVE IN MAGIC!!! Have a great day.