Ever measured pressure using a soda can? Ever used your own hair as a humidity sensor? Ever measured temperature with your watch? Yes: we need you! No: this will be your first time.
This Friday we will hold a MacGyver-style hackathon in which you will build a device using cast-offs donated by the exhibitors at this year's AGU fall meeting.
This hackathon was inspired by the MacGyver poster session on Tuesday, where scientists presented their custom-made, hacked, and tinkered devices to overcome measurement problems in their studies. For inspiration on the kind of atmosphere we are trying to achieve, see the "5 experiments in 5 minutes" video below, or the example by Pete Marchetto at the end of this post.
What:
A 2-hour rush to build a device from cast-offs
Where:
At the base of the entrance escalators in Moscone North
When:
Friday, Dec. 18, 13:30-15:30 PT
Who:
Anyone interested! MacGyver skills not required; you will learn on the job
Prize:
Bragging rights and all the swag that you can haul from the leftovers.
E-mail if interested to r.w.hut@tudelft.nl.
example by Pete Marchetto
I wanted to measure temperature, but all I had was this little blinking LED that I picked up from the AGU Poster Helpdesk here at the Moscone Center. Without removing it from its little plastic bag, I put it in a paper cup and put my phone on top of it to take a ten second video, seen below:
I then put some ice on top of it and waited for about a half hour for it to come down to temperature. I then shot a quick video of that for ten seconds:
I counted the number of blinks from the room temperature movie, and came up with 26, which is 2.6 Hz. I then counted the same from the freezing movie, and got 29, which is 2.9 Hz. This gives me a frequency dependence of 0.015 Hz/°C, given room temperature of ~20 °C and freezing point of ~0 °C.
This tells me two things: first, that the blinker circuit is an RC circuit (because R~T and RC=1/f), and second that I can use this as a pretty accurate thermometer, if only the movies that I take of it are long enough.