The Laws of Lasers

Lasers, you love them, especially on sharks. They also make very good triangles, as this project tells.

The Beginning/Launch

One day, way back in 2021, I walked in to class, not knowing what would follow, knowing there would be a new project, (As we had finished the previous project, Tectonic Chances) but did I expect lasers? No.

The first activity we did was “Laser Tag” but not in the traditional sense, instead, we moved a laser bit by bit, taking turns between teams, until one of us (My team) hit the other teams bucket that they were using as an objective marker. Fortunately, no one was blinded

Next came the building knowledge phase, which is both the most fun and the least fun at the same time.

Building Knowledge 

Reading, reading, and more reading, oh hey, some math.

This was how it went for the first day, which I found quite boring, but the following days were different, then came the difficult math, the stuff I enjoy

Pythagorean Theorem

Anyone who graduated high school can tell you, A2+B2=C2

But what it it used for? Triangles, more specifically, figuring out if a triangle is right or not.

The Pythagorean theorem was invented by a Greek cult leader and mathematician Pythagoras, who, is the first person who’s name survived history that “invented” the theorem, however, there have been clay tablets from Mesopotamia with Pythagorean Triples.

Develop and Critique

Now came the best part, the Laser Displays (Sharks not included)

First, we made the triangle, however, the first iteration wasn’t able to make the cut, so we simply remade the triangle, and began measuring the angles and distances, until finally, it was ready, the laser display.

Core competencies.

Questioning and Predicting: Demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest

At the beginning, I wasn’t really invested in this project, however, due to my group being very encouraging, and the use of lasers (Which are counted as banned weapons under the Geneva convention if used as a weapon) helped me get into the project, and then, when the laser display presentation arrived, I think I was the most excited of all of my group.

Communicating and Representing: How can I represent mathematical ideas in concrete, pictorial, and symbolic forms?

I enjoyed this part of the project, as it included working with numbers, I learned many ways to represent numbers, however, one thing I could do better next time, is helping my group members understand the same stuff I did

Applying and innovating: How can I co-operatively design projects?

This part of the project went off 95% seamless, however, the 5% of failure was caused by my lack of communication, a skill I am constantly working on improving. I have improved at cooperating instead of being bossy, but being bossy still sometimes resurfaces

Thank you for reading

– Charlie