LASER

For this project we made right triangles with lasers and did some math about the pythagorean theorem (A squared + B squared = C squared) which I felt was easy. What was hard for this project was making the models accompanying the right triangles. This also took the longest time. In my opinion it took the longest time because we didn’t organize it enough. So let me tell you about what we did and learned within this project.

We started with the basics. We did some math, learned more about the Pythagorean theorem and built up on the knowledge we already had. 

Second we learned about mirrors and light from a textbook and from our teacher. I’d say that to better understand light you should learn about speed, how the wave frequencies affect different colours, and how light is both a particle and a wave. This is because it’s hard to explain light in any easy and short way.

In between the learning we worked on a mind map to keep everything on track.

The big project was to make a right triangle out of one laser and mirrors. This in theory and in practice, if you only set up the laser triangle is pretty easy although if you want to make the laser triangle on convincing models of Star Wars ships made out of cardboard floating in the air it takes a bit of work.

For my group we made a model Death Star and two model star destroyers out of cardboard. As I worked on the Death Star, while Randy made the star destroyers. It was a long and dull process which was too much work for the result. The ratio of working on the actual laser compared to making the model was 1 to 10.

Then at the end of the project we set up our laser triangle which was sitting in position. So we carried it to the room. Unfortunately we dropped it and one of the star destroyers broke off. Because of this we had to improvise. We set the Death Star along with the first star destroyer a bit lower than usual and positioned the third model up on a separate platform. It worked out in the end and looked great except for the star destroyers being five times the size they are in Star Wars compared to the Death Star. Thanks to Randy who built the star destroyers I designed and designed the laser triangle and Nathan who did “research”.