Bing Bada Boom Bing Bong Clock

We have focused on the concept of Time for the last unit of Light, Sound, and Time. I have learned so many new concepts. I was surprised to learn that time is relative, meaning that time can change depending on how close an object gets to the speed of light. For our FE, we went to the Alder Planetarium and understood why is is important to know the story of the universe. The class focused on the history of time telling devices, such has incense clocks, candle clocks, and hourglasses. I was inspired by my research on these devices to create my own time telling device, called The Bing Bong Clock. I was heavily inspired by church bell music that tells specific time, but I thought it is too loud. I liked how the candle clock alarmed at specific times, but it is very inaccurate. I took these to opposite qualities to make a good quality clock that I believe is better than those two devices. Here is a video explaining the importance of my invention!
Overall, this term was my favorite term at GCE so far. The concepts we learned in class related to the outside world so nicely. I am happy with how I was able to present my information in my video. I worked very hard in this AP! Although it was difficult to think of an original idea, I did and am proud of it.
"The Bing Bong Clock." Youtube. 25 Mar 2019.
“History of Timekeeping Devices.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Feb. 2019,

“Church Bell.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Mar. 2019,

Simple is Smart

In my second unit of Light, Sound, and Time, my class and I focused on how sound works. Although people don't notice it, sound is always present. Silence can't be acquired because our body constantly makes noise and our environment is always in movement. I think that noise gives humans comfort to give the feeling that they are not alone. I like having background noise around me when I work, or else I would be lost in my thoughts. On the mathematical side of the world of sound, we learned how to use the speed of sound in calculations to find wavelength and frequency. We also did a simulation on how life would be with bad hearing. This unit made me thankful for my good hearing and more considerate to help out people if they can't hear as well.

After learning about how sound waves work and their important impact in our daily lives, the class and I created our own diddley bows to create unique sounds. Diddley bows are one stringed guitars that influenced the development of blues music. They can be made with items lying around the house. I used an old tin can, a plank of wood, three screws, two batteries, and a guitar string to make mine. Everyone used the same length of wood, but different sized guitar strings, cans, and nails. My teacher taught us step by step how to make the diddley bow. I had trouble screwing the screws in that help secure my can and string, but my peers assisted me.

JMP, Diddley Bow, (2019)

The yellow and green line is the middle of the diddley bow's neck. The other lines signify the four harmonics. A harmonic is a tone produced on the diddley bow by touching the vibrating string at one of the marked lines.

I calculated the wavelength by dividing the string's frequency by the speed of sound. Then, I calculated the four harmonics with the frequency and wavelength. 

JMP, Harmonics, (2019)

My diddley bow demonstrated many key science principles from our lessons in class. The pitch varies based on the material, tightness, and the length of the string. Amplitude is how tall the wave is, which means it has a high volume. The amplitude depends on the size of my can. My can is the biggest of the class, so I have the highest amplitude; aka the loudest volume to hear my sound. The wavelength is determined by the frequency. If the frequency of my string goes up, the wavelength goes down.

Here is a labeled sketch of my diddley bow. 

JMP, Diddley Bow Sketch, (2019)

When I pluck my string, the sound wave travels to the can, where the sound gets amplified. With my slider, I can vary the pitch to make different sounds. I had to make sure that the string was tight so it would make a richer sound when I would pluck it. It was cool to see my classmates’ finished products because we all ended up with different pitches of sound.

Variables that Changed the Sound 

• Size of hole in can
• Size of can
• Size of plank of wood
• String material
• How tight string was
• Size of battery
• Where battery was placed
• Where slider was moving

I calculated the angles, sides, and area of the space between the nut and resonator. I also calculated the volume of the resonator, because I wanted to know how the amount of space in there affects the sound.

 JMP, Calculations, (2019)

In conclusion, this unit has taught me a lot. It made me conscious of my surroundings and take the moment in. I have been spending less time on social media and more time admiring the sounds and visuals around me. I would love to make another diddley bow with more strings and with frets so I can tune it. For now, I will practice how to make some music on this first version.

Pictures Last Forever

What is light?
I never took time to think about this complicated question until my class, “Light, Sound, and Time”, challenged me to answer it. First, we studied the different parts of the human eye and what they do to process images. We compared that process to a camera, which showed that the two have similar procedures! Then, the class and I delved into the science of light. Light is electromagnetic radiation, which can appear as either waves or particles. The range in frequency of the light waves is categorized in the Electromagnetic spectrum. Our eyes can only see the “visible light” portion of the EM spectrum, which are the colors of the rainbow. Other living things, such as the helmet gecko lizard or mantis shrimp, can see different light waves that humans can’t because of how their eye is formed. The science of diverse eyes amazes me, and it makes me wonder what certain colors I see differently than other organisms.

This unit was very interesting to me because it made me realize the science of my everyday life. It felt personal and important to know how my eyes receive light mathematically and scientifically.

For this Action Project, I built a pinhole camera that could successfully take a picture. It was a very tedious procedure. My pinhole camera was constructed from an empty oatmeal container, aluminum, and black paint. I made my lens by poking a pin through the aluminum. Then, I cut a quarter-sized hole into the container for a space for the lens. I made a shutter for the lens too so I can control how long the film gets exposed to light. I painted the inside of the camera black because that color absorbs stray light that doesn’t hit the film. If it was painted white, any other colors, or not painted at all, the photons of light coming from the pinhole would scatter around and overexpose the image.

JMP, Pinhole Camera (2019)

JMP, Lens, (2019)

The Latin School of Chicago generously gave our class a 90 minute photography lesson on how to take pictures with our pinhole cameras and how to develop the film. A red dinosaur was the main focus of my intended photo. I took off the shutter for three minutes and thirty seconds to let the light photons shine only through the pinhole and imprint an image onto the film in the back of my camera.

Hiu To, Untitled, (2019)

The light bounced off the top of the dinosaur and hit the paper in a straight line toward the bottom of the film. The light that bounced off the bottom of the dinosaur hit the top of the paper. This projected the image upside down on the film inside the camera.

JMP,  Pinhole Image, (2019)

Here is the image that my pinhole camera took. About 75% of the image appears to be underexposed because there isn’t a figure on it. The other 25% has the checkerboard backdrop and the back of the dinosaur. I think only part of the image was successful because my pinhole was too small and the film was not correctly aligned with the pinhole. I am still proud that I was able to get an image of something.

JMP, Projection of Dinosaur, (2019)

My camera does not use reflection or refraction to produce an image; as it is an example of light
behaving like a particle because the paper absorbs the light photons. If the light was behaving like a wave, the waves would reflect off the film and would not produce an image. Since the photons stay in air and not another medium while it hits the film, it does not use refraction. It uses visible light from the electromagnetic spectrum in order to produce the image.

Here are my calculations that show the interactions between the light rays, the camera, and the dinosaur.

JMP. Calculations, (2019)

This STEAM Action Project is now my favorite I have done at GCE. I loved my experience in a dark room in my freshman year at another school, and I always wished to use a dark room again. It felt very accomplishing to create a working camera and get an image. The project felt very connected to the math I calculated. The process was very tedious, but I just spent more time to make sure my work is precise.