Friday and Saturday

To account for today and tomorrow, I will be out of town, camping,  and unable to make any progress on my thesis, I may bring paper to work on essays or short answers, but that’s about it. 

- Noah

Senior Survey

Today in Thesis, I worked on my senior survey. I hope I'm not making the responses too long. I may go back later to shorten a couple.

I also checked my math with Dr. Jensen (about the pressure I calculated in the post on Tuesday), and she said that to the best she could tell, I was right.

I will talk to 3RF Sunday about the strewnfield. I also am drafting a careful email to Dr. Rising to ask for some of the spider protein dope to experiment with. If she says yes, I probably will just drop the strewnfield idea and commit to spider silk. It's really cool to think that I already have the capability to design this thing and make calculations for it. I likely won't post all the math and methods, in case this becomes a big thing that could end up with a patent.

- Noah

Busy, Busy (Wed. 9/27)

So Wednesday, I didn't get home till about 6:30, then I went and recorded some trumpet playing till about 8:30, and by that time, I was really tired.

This technically is for college, 'cause I'm submitting the recordings I did to MIT, though I may want to make more to see if I can do it better.

- Noah

Thesis calculations - math!

So I've sent emails to the director and assistant director of the band at MIT, and the head of the physics dept. to let them know I'm interested and ask a couple of questions.

I also found out about what kind of pressure I'm dealing with for the silk spinner. I derived the equation:

P = (2ΔXm)/(πr²t²) = 2ΔXmπ⁻¹r⁻²t⁻²

to find the pressure (P) that I will need.

a simplified version:

P = (ma)/(πr²)

So, if I want the silk to travel ~7.5 meters (~24.6 feet) in 1 second, the acceleration will be 15 m/s².
I said the mass of the silk is 1X10⁻³ kg (which is very generous), and the change is negligible as more silk is extruded. I also said the radius of the opening in the extruder is .5mm.

I came out with 19,098.593171 kgm⁻¹s⁻² or ~19.1 kPa, which is ~ 2.90075 psi. So, about 3 psi should be plenty, which is good, because I was worried about it being a dangerously high pressure. The small radius combined with the small mass allows a small pressure to be sufficient enough to accelerate it.

Of course, this could be wrong, but there's only one way to find out...

I've been looking at some glass capillaries and solenoid valves to build with. I still need to acquire the acidic buffers and the all-important dope.

Update: (I found out the density of typical spider silk)

P = 2ΔXρₛLt⁻²
P = aρₛL

ρₛ being the density of spider silk which is ~1.3 g/cm³ (= 1300kg/m³), L being the length of the silk which should be 7.5m, and a being the acceleration which should be 15 ms⁻². With this new knowledge of mass, the pressure should be 146.25 kPa or ~21.21 psi. So a little less than average tire pressure - not too dangerous. I will double check my math, and I can always change the variables to lower the pressure. For an actual presentation, I think 5 ft/s is sufficient, so I can cut down on length and acceleration. (psi should be ~.88 psi for 5ft/s) However, for experimental purposes, I will start with what I have specified and modify from there.

The only thing I need to check is the maximum rate of production of fibers to make sure that the polymerization process itself can keep up with the ejection speed.

All in a day's work

- Noah

The past 4 days

I've been working on my resume and senior survey. My resume was far too long, and probably still is. I finished the senior survey at the end of last year, but I wanted to update it and change a few things.

I also plan on calling a guy at 3RF later today to talk about my thesis. I will also be sending another email to Dr. Rising.

- Noah

College Day

Today I did college stuff. But before I did that, I drafted a email to Dr. Rising to ask about further information and if I could try and replicate her results. I also resent an email to all the managers/directors at 3RF. They responded positively and are willing to let me do a strewnfield mapping. After I send that email to Dr. Rising and hear back from her, I will evaluate both choices and make a final decision.

I also went back and revised answers on my senior survey, made final edits to my commonapp essay (which I'm quite pleased with), and entered more information in commonapp/myMIT.

- Noah

What I've done today

Today, I thought more about each of my ideas, how I could effectively execute them, what the end product would be, how much help I may need, and if it is more relevant to what I want to study in college.

I think the spider silk has the most merit as of today. I can easily write a paper, and present my research, or construct a prototype of some sort. I still haven't heard back from 3RF, and the time required to go and actually map the field may not be easy to dedicate.

I still haven't made up my mind 100%, but I think spider silk has a leg up.

- Noah

I done persented

I gave my presentation today. I look forward to receiving feedback.

- Noah

Now presentations

Today I reviewed the presentation I prepared last week, practiced (kinda), read more of the papers I got, and will send another email to 3RF in the morning.

- Noah

Accounting for the past three days 9/14-today

So obviously I can't keep up with doing a blog a day.

I read more about synthetic spider silk, learned more, and designed an experimental setup based on a proposed diagram in one paper.

Still haven't heard back from 3RF. My dad is gonna give me his other contact information so maybe I'll be able to reach him then.

On the upside, I finished my last merit badge for eagle scout this week, will have my conference next week, and then my board in a week or two!

- Noah

What I've done the past 3 days (9/11-9/13)

So really, the past three days I've not done much other than read/research. I plan bringing the articles I printed to continue reading and annotating them tomorrow. (There's still a few wurds in there I don't know.)

I haven't heard back from that guy I know at 3RF. I think I'll give him another day, then email again, sending copies to him and other people in charge at 3RF. With some luck one of them is bound to read it.

At this point in time, I think I would find it more fun/enjoyable to map a strewnfield than do research on spider silk. That will depend on if 3RF is supportive of my proposal. However, with the spider silk idea, I could at least design a simple set-up to produce it, if not make a prototype. Now that would be fun! I have access to a cheap 3D printer, and I could order various valves, etc. from amazon. I could try experimenting with different polymers, or see if they could send me a sample of their synthetic dope. (which I HIGHLY doubt.) Heck, I might want to build something like that for fun, even if it's not my thesis.

- Noah

Ready to Present!

I just finished my presentation for introducing my main two ideas for my thesis.

"A Study of Biomimetically Synthesizing Spider Silk from Chimeric Minispidroins."

and...

"Creating a Meteoritical Strewnfield Map for the Comanche Iron Meteorite."

I'll get around to emailing 3RF today to see how they feel about the strewnfield mapping.

- Noah

*Edit* 9:00 PM

I just realized presentations are not tomorrow. :P

So by the 18th I should have a final topic decided, and a better suited introductory presentation to accompany it.

I also just sent an email to 3RF.

- Noah

I am reading

Today I printed out three papers Dr. Rising sent me. I have begun reading them and making annotations.

Tomorrow I will make my presentation, continue reading, and contact 3RF.

- Noah

9/8/17

Report:

I didn't do anything* yesterday.

Explanation:

I didn't have any time to do anything* yesterday.

- Noah


*- anything on my thesis project

Decisions

Today I will read through some of the documents Dr. Rising sent me.

Hopefully by the end of next week I'll have a topic I feel good about doing my thesis on.

- Noah

I have some reading to do...9/6/17

Oh man.
So, Dr. Rising (from SLU) responded. I asked her if she could refer me/send me information about her experiments...and she did. I was sent 9 documents of various articles and reports. Most of them are pretty comprehensible because they were public articles, but one of them is an actual scientific paper/report: "Carbonic Anhydrase Generates CO2 and H+ That Drive Spider Silk Formation Via Opposite Effects on the Terminal Domains." YES!

It's only 14 pages, but this could be a great kickoff point. It has an entire page dedicated to other resources, and is chuck full of data, charts, and graphs. I'm probably going to have to familiarize myself more with polymer chemistry.

Okay, so it looks like I could probably do a project on this.

Now I will scope out both the spider silk and strewnfield ideas, see what sort of end product I could make, and make a final decision.

- Noah

9/5/17

Today I emailed the person at SLU. I'm not sure when she'll respond (if at all).



SENIOR THESIS IDEAS/BRAINSTORM

Art

Art portfolio - collection of works with theme/purpose

Mapping a Strewnfield*

Comanche-Iron (Iron IAB-sLL)~19.7 kg: Contact 3RF

Llano River (Iron IIIAB)~4.32 kg; 30° 31' 20"N, 99° 44' 13"W

Wimberley (Iron IIIAB) ~ 7.8 kg; 29° 58'N, 98° 7'W

Synthetic Spider Silk

Research current synthesis methods + potential applications

Community Service Project

I shortened the list a bit. I did away with physics because I decided, despite my passion for it, physics would probably be too advanced/technical. I kept art on as a last resort or if I somehow have this crazy good idea or inspiration, I can use it. I am still keeping the service project in mind. I already finished my Eagle Scout Project this summer, so I thought I should explore my possibilities more. I also decided emailing back and forth with a senator or representative would be too not fun. 

Tomorrow, I'll talk with my parents to see if the strewnfield thing could transportatively (yeah, that's the word) be feasible. If it is, then I'll be in contact with 3RF. 

- Noah

Well... 9/4/17

Okay... so I really didn't do anything today, to be quite honest.

I mean, I wrote the blog I was supposed to yesterday...

Today, I spent hours working on college stuff. MIT really wants a ton of stuff, especially if you decide to make both an art and music portfolio.

Anyways, I promise that tomorrow I will do some actual work on this thing. It kinda feels like I've been given the reigns and told, "Go there." I have no idea where I'll end up, how I'll get there, and I really haven't picked a direction yet.

Tomorrow, I'll talk with some teachers to see what they think of my ideas. It would also be helpful to hear about some other students' theses.

- Noah

9/3/17

Yes, I forgot to post again.

Yesterday, I looked at the synthetic silk idea more. I think that if I am to do that as my project, it will have to be purely research, and then propose ideas for applications. I did find the contact information for one of the leaders of the research team at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences who actually made an important discovery.

What the SLU team found was that they could manipulate the DNA of certain bacteria to produce the spider silk proteins, which they could then collect. They could then put the protein into a highly concentrated solution, pump it into an acidic bath through a needle, and the protein would polymerize. They were able to make strands close to a kilometer long.

I also learned more about AMSilk, who seek to commercially produce silk (not sure of their methods). I heard about them years ago, and they really haven't seemed to make much progress.

I will probably email the person at SLU and see if I can learn more, and (maybe) obtain a sample of the silk for the presentation/demonstrative purposes.

SENIOR THESIS IDEAS/BRAINSTORM

Art

Art portfolio - collection of works with theme/purpose

Mapping a Strewnfield*

Comanche-Iron (Iron IAB-sLL)~19.7 kg: Contact 3RF, maybe map during thanksgiving/winter/spring break(?) All finds donated to 3RF. 

Llano River (Iron IIIAB)~4.32 kg; 30° 31' 20"N, 99° 44' 13"W

Wimberley (Iron IIIAB) ~ 7.8 kg; 29° 58'N, 98° 7'W

Synthetic Spider Silk

Research current synthesis methods + potential applications

Physics

Study of gravity/friction 

Community Service Project

Raise money for clean water

- I can obviously think of other ideas later, and maybe more local projects could work.

Political Correspondence

Raise awareness about...

nuclear waste, criminal justice reform, global warming, clean energy, etc.

(bold are ideas I like best)

- Noah

Idea Refinement - 9/2/17

I'm still getting used to this blogging thing. 

So yesterday, I worked a little on my thesis, but mainly focused on finishing all of my homework.

I thought more about each idea, especially the meteorite strewn field. Here's my new list:




SENIOR THESIS IDEAS/BRAINSTORM

Science-Art

4-Dimensional representations

Chemical arts (photograph, chromatography, crystals)

- maybe a combination of these; no focus on one area.

Art

Art portfolio - collection of works with theme/purpose

Mapping a Strewnfield*

Comanche-Iron (Iron IAB-sLL)~19.7 kg: Contact 3RF, maybe map during thanksgiving/winter/spring break(?) All finds donated to 3RF. 

Llano River (Iron IIIAB)~4.32 kg; 30° 31' 20"N, 99° 44' 13"W

Wimberley (Iron IIIAB) ~ 7.8 kg; 29° 58'N, 98° 7'W

- I found two more close(ish) meteorites, but I can expand my search parameters to different types of irons. (It needs to be an iron meteorite because stone and stony-iron ones will be very hard to find with my metal detector.)

Synthetic Spider Silk

Research current synthesis methods + potential applications

Develop new synthesis(+COMMERCIAL) methods + potential applications

Order materials, synthesize at home(?) - probably not; the only method I can think of is the needle+acid. It'd be so cool if it works though!

Music

Composition for trumpet - this is very iffy, I haven't taken any theory. I have written music before, but it likely won't be good enough for professional musicians.

Physics

Study of gravity/friction 

Community Service Project

Raise money for clean water

- I can obviously think of other ideas later, and maybe more local projects could work.

Political Correspondence

Raise awareness about...

nuclear waste, criminal justice reform, global warming, clean energy, etc.

(bold are ideas I like best)

I can continue my search for possible strewnfields, I also have to keep in mind various factors such as: who owns the land, is it the best place to look (arid climate, flat, etc.), how much has already been found, and how long ago it was found (there may not be any pieces left, or new land developments might make them impossible to find).

I think that I'll stay away from art/music because not only will it be hard to do for professional judges, but it would be hard to write a substantive paper on. 

The synthetic spider silk thing might be a possibility, I will do more research on that today.

- Noah

*-The meteorite data was taken from the Meteoritical Bulletin, an online meteorite database. (Ipi.ursa.edu) 

Senior Thesis Brainstorm - 9/1/17

So, I've been here sitting at my desk typing away now for a little less than an hour. I sometimes felt like I was just staring at my list, but then a topic would hit me. It was good just to think and get some ideas on paper that I can evaluate individually and with more depth.

Here's what I came up with today:

SENIOR THESIS IDEAS/BRAINSTORM

Science-Art

4-Dimensional representations

Chemical arts (photograph, chromatography, crystals)

Art

Carving (statue, object, portrait)

Art portfolio 

Mapping a Strewnfield

Comanche-Iron/Stone (3RF)

Local TX(?) - RESEARCH

West/North TX(?) - RESEARCH

Synthetic Spider Silk

Research current synthesis methods + potential applications

Develop new synthesis(+COMMERCIAL) methods + potential applications

Music

Composition for trumpet

Performance 

Learning/instructional program

Physics

New equation(lol, no)

Study of 4th dimension

Study of gravity/time/friction 

Community Service Project

Raise money for clean water

Political Correspondence

Raise awareness about...

nuclear waste, criminal justice reform, wage gap, global warming, clean energy, etc.

On this list, I think there may be one or two viable ideas. If not, I'll just keep thinking. 

I think either later today or tomorrow, I will scrutinize each of these ideas, shorten the list, then see if I can come up with some more. Eventually, I'll end up with a short list of some good ideas that I can choose from.

- Noah

Thursday, August 31, 2017

I know I'm writing this a day late, but I just found out we need to record a blog every day. From now on, I will.

I thought more about the two subjects I proposed previously. (I also set up my Common App, ApplyTexas, and MyMIT accounts and portfolios, and worked on my essays.) I am pretty sure the synthetic spider silk thing may be impractical as far as trying to develop new methods of potential commercial production. I don't have enough knowledge and technical background to do that. I could possibly research current production methods, and present ideas for potential applications (which are nearly universal). 

For the meteorite strewnfield, that may be more practical. However, it would require days-worth of time. The only close place I know of would be 3RF (Three Rivers Foundation), an astronomy dark-site. I have found a few meteorites there (and mapped their exact GPS coordinates). 3RF is about a 2.5-3 hour drive away. I would probably have to spend a minimum of a week up there to make any real data. I would also have to contact the university that owns the site for permission, and possibly assistance. 

Both of these ideas sound fun, but I think I will do some more brainstorming for other topics and more research into each. 

- Noah