Two Days Two Museums

Model of First Kitty Hawk Flier - Wright Brothers Museum

 The Air Force Museum was first and I was struck with how quickly we moved from the first Wright Flier 1903 to the first guided missile 1914.

And the first fighter plane - 1914 also.

And I was greatly awed by all the quick and stunning advances in aviation. The B-2  probably took my breath away the most with its 181 foot wingspan.

Then I encountered Bock's Car, the plane that dropped Fat Man on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 and killed almost 80,000 people and forced Japan to surrender.

Two Fat Men

 A little levity for a somber time in our history. It is ironical that a lady from Japan took the picture; she was a parent of one of the JSHS participants. I also recalled seeing Enola Gay about 20 years ago at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

The next day brought much less heaviness and great inspiration. We walked through the artifacts and accomplishments of Wilbur and Orville Wright.

They were great business men and innovators with handmade bikes and, of course, the Kitty Hawk flier. They had a grocery store and printing press before they opened their bike shop.

I loved the tools.

As with many other inventors they stood on the shoulders of others to advance flight. After Otto Lienthal died in a crash after years of gliding, the Wright Brothers took up the mantle.

It was the biggest challenge of their flight and after their early failure they coined the quote that led in this blog post - no one will fly in a thousand years. But they persevered.

We got to give flying the Kitty Hawk flier a try in the simulator - everyone crashed except Douglas who tried about ten times before he landed safely.

You know I had to try.

We had a lot of great fun and learned a lot too. I try for this magical combination in class as much as I can.

Viviek flys.

Physics Rolls Out Two Scale Models of Our Solar System

Wade shows his masterpiece Jupiter for the large scale solar system.

For the large scale from Second Period Physics, the sun will be twenty foot and placed near city hall downtown. Originally we wanted to paint a twenty foot sun of the square but did not get approval. Now we are considering a twenty foot pergola in the pocket park. Here are some of the models of the planets that will be placed at relative distances around town.

Uranus - no jokes, please.

Josh shows Mars.

 For the small scale from fifth period physics, an eight foot paper mache weather balloon will be suspended from a great hall cross beam.

The sun will have to be inflated fully in the Great Hall or it will not fit through any doors or windows.

On that scale earth will be outside my room.

Combustion Rockets

Combustion Reaction Ethanol plus Oxygen with a spark yields carbon dioxide and water

This group's rocket went off the launch pad like a guided missile and had the most beautiful stable flight - yet none of the rocket scientists got a video! 

 

Overall Winners: Mak Montz, Hunter Ballard, Savanna Frazier, and Heyden Mitchell 104 feet, 2 inches.

Second: Alexis Powell and Adrian Cotton 76 feet 11 inches

Third Place: Anna Osterman, Dejah Lane, Ali Grace Wright, and Dustin Lowe 58 feet 10 inches

We have been learning about the five kinds of chemical reactions: Synthesis, Decomposition, Single Replacement, Double Replacement, and the one all chemistry students love, Combustion. Most everyone is getting at least proficient at balancing these equations and identifying their type. It was time to blow something up.

They streamlined a 2 liter bottle and made it more aerodynamic. I built a rocket launcher out of 1/2 inch PVC and a charcoal grill spark igniter.  They poured ethanol into their rocket and swished it around until it was filled with ethanol vapor. They then poured off the excess liquid and got the mass of the ethanol in the bottle by subtraction.

Now it was time to launch.

Here are the rocket scientists at work:

National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium Inspired Innovation

At Awards Ceremony: Joseph Davide, Viviek Patel, Ashley Szabo-Johnson, Douglas Campbell and Taia McAfee

For over thirty years I have been taking trips for science. (Many thanks to my wife, Dr. Donna Banis for getting me ready for this trip, packing and taking me to and from the airport and encouraging me to go even after surgery - and for all supporting me in all those other trips!) This past week was one of the best. I had the distinct pleasure to be the chaperone for five very bright Mississippi students (pictured above).

At the Wright Brothers original restored bike shop where they first pondered manned flight.

I have a renewed respect for our military - The Army, Air Force, and Navy - sponsored over 250 students and chaperones to the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. They paid for air fair, hotel accomodations, a visit to the Air Force Museum, and for over $170,000 in college scholarships. It is a very wise investment for they hosted some of the brightest young people in the country.

On Thursday there were the poster competitions. Three of the five students from each region got to enter their poster in the Wednesday competition. The winners in each of the eight categories received a $350.00 scholarship. Here are the Mississippi Delegation posters.

The other two delegates got to compete in the oral presentation competition on Friday. First place received $12,000, second place $8.000 and third place $4000.00. Here are the two presenters from the Mississippi delegation.

The most impressive project that I heard was a senior from Maine. He lost one of his kidneys to disease as a child. He decided to do his research on kidneys. After writing and receiving several grants, he grew a kidney from stem cells and transplanted the kidney in a mouse. It functioned properly.  Another student used algae to take harmful phosphates out of lakes and streams. She also competed in the Science Technology and Society competition and won $150.000 in scholarships.

I was talking with parents of an Indian student in the restaurant. After visiting awhile, I asked him a direct questions, "what is up with you Indians?"  Every Indian student I have taught and all the ones I see at the competitions excel. He said it is easy to explain. He promptly drew a bell curve on a sticky note. Then he sliced off the A side at the top 5% end and said these are the Indians who come to the US. If you go to Indian you will see a mix of all the rest like here. We are highly driven and so are our children. I congratulated him on his son's second place win. He said thank you but it was not as good as last year's project when he won first. Arjun has $24,000 in scholarships already as he enters his senior year this fall.

Students I met were talking about a student last year who took 20 AP courses in high school and scored a five on all 20. She is completed her junior year in college this year after testing out of her freshman and sophomore years. And on the stories go.

I am meeting with my top 5% students next week and their parents. I hope to see many of you there. We will  begin the journey for Kosy's place in the scientific research pantheon.

Thanks so much to Michael and Peggy Davide for helping me chaperone!

Colonel Burpo has an undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering from Stanford, a Masters in Chemistry, and a PhD in Biology from MIT.

Some fun pictures along the way:

Only 12 years after Kitty Hawk we already had a guided missile.

1902 Kitty Hawk Flier

Two Fat Men: Unfortunately I have now seen both the Enola Gay in the Smithsonian and the Bockscar at the Air Force Museum

Two friends from Iowa: he runs a dye cast manufacturing company and she is a nursing student. They shook hands with Ted Cruz and really liked that he looked them in the eye.

B-52 - 181 foot wing span.

Travels at Mach 3.5+