Alexis's Hot Tech Blog

How Do Speakers Work?

2006-04-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

How do speakers work? We use speakers everyday in the world. We use them to listen to music or hear "You've got mail!" on the computer or to watch movies. I had the oppurtunity to get a deeper look at a stereo speaker. There is no history for now on speakers but they have been around . I will be discussing the permanent magnet and the electromagnet because these two parts are what conduct the electric current coming from the outlet in the wall. Since they are the conductors in the speaker they are what makes everything else work in order to let us hear what we want loud and clear.

2 Key Parts
a. Provide a close-up of the part with a label:

b. Give a fuller description of the purpose of the Permanent Magnet:The Permanent Magnet is attached to the electromagnet.When the electrical current flowing through the electromagnet changes,the coil's north and south poles change as well. This changes the magnetic force between the electromagnet and the permenent magnet.When this happens, the electromagnet which is attached to the diaphragm moves back and forth.

c. What is it made of? The permanent magnet is one big conductor.

d.What important sub parts does it have? What is their purpose? The Diaphram is a sub part. The permanent magnet's purpose is to work with the electromagnet in order to make the diaphragm to make sound waves.

e. How do all the sub-parts work together to enable it to function? When the electric current changes, the magnetic poles change. This causes the permanent magnet and the electromagnet to move up and down. When this happens the diaphram pops up too since it is attached to the electromagnet. The electrical signal that the speaker picks up is then turned into physical vibrations that turn into sound waves for us to hear.

a. Provide a close-up of these parts with labels

b. Give a fuller description of each part's purpose:
The electromagnet is a wire coil that is usually wrapped around a piece of iron. When running electrical current through the wire it creates a magnetic field . With an electromagnet you can change it's magnetic pole. When the flow of the current is changed the north and south poles of the wire switch. The stereo signal does this, it constantly switches the flow of elctricity.

c. What is it made of? Most of the time the electromagnet wire or coil is copper.

d. What important sub-parts does this part have? What is their purpose?The electromagnet is attached to the permanent magnet and glued to the diaphram.

e. How do all the sub-parts work together to enable it to function? These sub parts work together by creating air waves. This happens when the electric current that is coming from outlet in the wall gets changed and the magnetic poles change too. This makes the diaphram move since it's connected to the electromagnet that moves when the magnetic poles change.

Scientific Concepts:
a.Define the general term used scientists to identify the concept you are studying.
A Permanent magnet~a magnet that retains its magnetism after removal of the magnetizing force

b.Additional terminology: What key terms that are used by scientists explaining this concept? Provide terms and definitions for each.
Magnetic Pole~ A region at each end of a magnet where the external magnetic field is strongest. A bar magnet suspended in the Earth's magnetic field orients itself in a north–south direction. The north-seeking pole of such a magnet, or any similar pole, is called a north magnetic pole. The south-seeking pole, or any pole similar to it, is called a south magnetic pole.

c.Diagrams and graphs you found that help explain this concept

d.List your sources
Magnetic Pole: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9050028?query=magnetic%20pole&ct=
Permanent magnet: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/permanent%20magnet
Concept 2:

a. Define the general term used scientists to identify the concept you are studying.
An Electromagnet~a core of magnetic material surrounded by a coil of wire through which an electric current is passed to magnetize the core

b. Additional terminology: What key terms that are used by scientists explaining this concept? Provide terms and definitions for each.
Magnetic Field~the portion of space near a magnetic body or a current-carrying body in which the magnetic forces due to the body or current can be detected

c. Diagrams and graphs you found that help explain this concept : This is a picture of electromagnetism

d. List your sources
Electromagnet: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/Electromagnet

Magnetic Field: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/magnetic%20field

Design and perform a scientific experiment that illustrates how one the concepts works.

What is the “testable” question that the experiment is trying to answer?
I would like to know the effect of changing the amount of coils in a copper wire to see if that effects the magnetism of the electromagnet.

Describe how you will test the question above. Provide a diagram or photograph of the experimental setup. I wrap both ends of the wire around a nail, and both ends of the wire will be connected to four D batteries. Then I lay it in a pile of paper clips for 20 seconds to see how many paper clips come up with the nail. This will show that the coil around the wire has a magnetic field around it.

Identify the Independent variable. The indpendent variable is the number of paper clips picked up by the nail.

How was the independent variable measured? The number of paper clips picked up depends on the nail that has (x) amount of coils around it.

Dependent variable: The number of coils around the nail.

How was the dependent variable measured? This was measured by me. I dchose how many times I wanted the wire to be coiled around the nail so that I could get the information for my experiment.

List your control(s) (factors kept constant): I controled the amount of batteries and the type of batteries. There had to be four D batteries. At times in the experiemnt I did have to change the D batteries for new D batteries.

Why are these control(s) necessary? This was necessary because four double A batteries probably wouldn't work as good as the four D batteries.

Experiment Results:

i. In words, what does this graph tell you about the relationship between the number of coils around a nail (Dependent) and how many paper clips are picked up(Independent).

ii. If x represents The number of coils around the nail and y represents the number of paper clips picked up, the equation for this relationship is:y = 0.4936x - 9.7227.

iii. Using this equation, it may be possible to predict the number of paper clips picked up with even more coils around the nail.

iv. For example: If y=0.4936x-9.7227, then if I were to say x=25 then I will plug it into the equation to figure out how many paper clips will be picked up. y=0.4936(25)-9.7227, y=12.34-9.7227, y= 2.6: I should've picked up 2 or 3 paper clips.

v. How might your results be innacurate? What possible errors could have occurred that would lessen your confidence in your results?There are many factors that could have made my data innacurate. The batteries may have began to die after a while of me attaching and detaching the wires from the batteries. Maybe if I had put new batteries at a certain point in the experiment there would be more paper clips picked up. If the batteries were dying during a certain part of the experiment maybe the electromagnet wasn't picking up as many paper clips as it should've.

vi. How might you change the experiment to reduce or eliminate these errors? I'm not sure, it's hard to figure out the quality of life on a battery. I guess I would try to detach the wires from the batteries after I got my information, I use to forget to do that.

Reflection on the Amish

2006-04-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

1) Who are the Amish and why do they avoid certain technologies?
The Amish is a culture that came from Europe.They only avoid the technologies that don't help them with their everyday chores. Some examples are:Tv's,Playstation,Ipod's. These kind of electronics don't help them get their chores done, they make them "lazy".

2) According to Howard Rheingold, how do the Amish go about adopting a new technology? What criteria do they use to decide whether or not to allow it?
The Amish discuss whether or not to allow new technology into their culture.The way they decide is they question a certain object and discuss if this object brings them closer or seperate them.

3) Do you think we should be more careful about which technologies to allow into our lives? Explain your opinion. How should we decide this? Give examples of positive and negative technologies to illustrate your ideas.
I think America today is lazy and I believe it comes from the technology we use today. We have T.V which has every kind of show to keep us interested. Playstation is another invention that not only has adults becoming couch potatoes but little kids too. I think a good technology is the computer because it not only helps adults with their work but it also helps kids get their work done as well.

Neil Postman Q &A

2006-04-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

1.In this quote, Postman claims that Âtechnological change always results in winners and losers.Â He points to the printing press as an example. How does Postman think society changed as a result of the printing press? Who are the winners and who are the losers according to Postman? What changed as a result?
Neil thinks society has changed because of the printing press because no longer do people go to eachother tell people about the news, now the printing presdoesen it comes to winners and losers, in this case the printing press is the winner because now people don't depend on balladeers to tell them the news now they can read it on their own. The balladeers had no jobs after the printing press because now machines were doing it for them. People today don't go to people for the news that day now we buy the newspaper.

2.According to Postman, what is the relationship between technology and education? Does Postman think technology is a threat to education? How? Can education be used to stem the rapid advance of technology? How?
He doesn't think technology is a great way for children to learn what they need to know, he believes that books and teachers discussing the learning material would be a better way for children to learn. I think he believes that technology is a threat to technology, looking at schools today you see computers in almost every room. Teachers send their students to go on the internet and find information on Google or some other website. Technology has made it possible for students to learn things they need to know at the click of a button. There are college classes online that high school graduates can do instead of going off to college or leaving their home.

3.Do you think the rapid advance of the internet has resulted in winners and losers? Explain how you think it has changed, or will change, the nature of human interactions.
I don't think there are real winners and losers. When it comes to the internet, yes people use that a lot more compared to people using libraries. Now in my opinion, in order to be a loser you have to be down and out for the count and that's not really the case for libraries and bookstores. They don't get as much attention as the internet but they do get some people. If it came down to looking at which one has more customers i think it would be the internet, so technically it's kind of a winner.

AM New York Q & A

2006-03-17T11:39:00.000-08:00

1-According to the author, why has New York become such a popular city for Blogging? Use at least one quote from the article to support your claims. "There are nso many New Yorkers out there who write really well and tell stories really well" Since there are so many talented people in the N.Y.C and writing blogs is a new way to make it be heard.

2-What motivates people to keep their own blogs? Use at least one quote from the article to provide an example.

Others blog to flex their journalistic muscles without the constraints imposed by mainstream media outlets.

3-Choose one New York-based blog from the article that you find interesting, and give a paragraph summary of what the blog is about. Who is the author? How long have they been blogging? Why do they blog? This man's real name is Patrice Evans and he has been blogging for 6 months now. He blogs in order for people to hear what he has to say it seems. So if your interested visit this link :http://theassimilatednegro.blogspot.com/

Conductor and Insulators

2006-03-09T11:39:00.000-08:00

Electric Circuit-An electrical circuit is a network that has a closed loop, giving a return path for the current. A network is a connection of two or more simple circuit elements, and may not necessarily be a circuit. (resource)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_circuit

Electric Conductor-Conductor is a material in which an electric current can be produced. Most metals are good conductors.(resource) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conductors

Electric Insulator-An insulator is a material or object that resists the flow of electric current.(resource) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_insulation

How can you define these in your own words based on our experiment with batteries, bulbs, wires, and different materials? How can you test to determine whether a material is a conductor or an insulator? How do you know when a circuit is a CLOSED circuit?You can determine if a certaikn material is a conductor or insulator when you connect the wires to te object. If the ligt doesn't go on even when te wires are connected then the object is an insulator, if te light goes on the object is a conducor.

How do these concepts apply to your object? What parts are made of conductors? Insulators? How did you know? Are any circuits are present? How can you tell? Use pictures to explain, if you want. The magnet on my speaker was a conductor because it was a metal and the wires connected to the speaker kept the light this was also because the wires were a metal.

What do you think a semiconductor is? Predict the meaning....Then look it up. Are there anny semi-conductors in your object. Where? What parts are made of semi-conductors and what special roles do they play?I'm not sure but I guess it means that certain objects don't let a lot of electric current go through it.

semiconductor- is a material with an electrical conductivity that is intermediate between that of an insulator and a conductor. A semiconductor behaves as an insulator at very low temperature, and has an appreciable electrical conductivity at room temperature although much lower conductivity than a conductor. Commonly used semiconducting materials are silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide and indium phosphide. (resource)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor

I don't think this material is in my object (speaker)

Table for speakers

2006-02-17T11:38:00.000-08:00

Click View and select Source to see the html code behind this table. Read through it to become familiar with the different HTML "tags" that make up a table.

contains a picture...place your picture number in the quotes below-->

tbody>

Part Name	Picture	Function	Important connections and/or sub-parts
Permanent Magnet		The permanent magnet is attached to the electromagnet.When the electrical current flowing through the electromagnet changes,the coil's north and south poles change as well. This changes the magnetic force between the electromagnet and the permenent magnet.When this happens, the electromagnet which is attached to the diaphragm moves back and forth.	The permanent magnet is connected to the electromagnet and the basket..
Electromagnet		The electromagnet is a piece of wire coiled that is usually wrapped around a piece of iron. When running electrical current through the wire it creates a magnetic field. With an electromagnet you can change it's magnetic pole. When the flow of the current is changed the north and south poles of the wire switch. The stereo signal does this, it constantly switches the flow of elctricity.	This part is connected to the permanent magnet,spider, and the diaphragm.

2006-02-09T11:32:00.000-08:00

URL:http://www.walthowe.com/navnet/history.html
Author:Walt Howe
Credentials/Credibility:There isn't much about him- this page is pretty straight forward with their information.
Content of Interest:This site provides a lot of information about how the interent was first started and when. They also have Q&A's.
Cool picture(s) I might want to use later:None at the moment.
Quotes I might use, with the exact URL:None at the moment.

URL:http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/
Author:Robert H'obbes' Zakon
Credentials/credibility:There isn't a lot of background history on this person. This website looks like you could get information from it for whatever questions you have. They even have a timeline for the internet.
Content of interest:This site provides a time line of information on how the internet became what it is.
Cool picture(s) I might want to use later: None at the moment
Quotes I migth use, with the exact URL:None at the moment.

URL:http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=2961
Author:Leonard Kleinrock
Credentials/Credibility:The most you can know about this person or author is that he is a professor at UCLA and he works in the Computer Science Department. The information seems credible since it's coming from a professor who studies it as well as teach it.
Content of interest: The history of the internet is the importance of that specific page. If you would like a timeline just click on the word Timeline which is located on that page on the right hand side.
Cool picture(s) I might want to use later:None at the moment.
Quotes I might use, with the exact URL:None at the moment.

The Samsung Experience

2006-02-03T11:57:00.000-08:00

1) How is new technology presented to us by the companies that create and sell it? The new technology is presented to us in a way that interests us and grabs our attention such as: Advertisments on the street or in the newspaper or commercials on T.V. These are some of the ways technology are presented to us.
a) Observations: What images, language, textures, colors, shape, size, and other design features do you observe in this space?
list key images you observe: The Digatall had an image of a woman who had a cell phone on her.This can make a person want to know what kind of phone she has because it;s looks cool to have
list key language you hear or read: When you would press the numbers on the phone it would say the number in chinese. Maybe if I would've stayed longer I would've learned some chinese.
describe textures you feel or see: I was checking out the cellphones and they felt lite and smooth.
describe colors or color schemes you see: There were many colors all around. There were different colors on all the products and around the room.
describe common shapes you see: I guess some common shapes were circles,squares,rectangles, and I think ovals.
Size. Does it seem to matter, and in which products?On this one cell phone there was a screen which would show live t.v. This was a good thing because eventhough it's small you can see the show, if it were any bigger the phone just shouldn't be a phone people should just walk around with t.v's if they want a bigger screen.
Other observations: Some products were on display but sometimes weren't available in the U.S. or just not coming out now.
b) Inferences: What are we being asked to believe about ourselves in relationship to technology? What values are behind the technology? Justify your inferences based on observation. State any prior assumptions you are making: 1) Technology will always be around.
2) It will become more advanced in the future.
3) Certain technology or companies are claiming to be better than others.
Justification:
1) Well looking at the past and present, we ahve had technology for a long time. For example: Trains, computers,phones, e.t.c.
2)Some people think that in the future will be so advanced that cars will fly and people will be cloned. People may even be able to be teleported.
3) Certain companies whether it's phone companies or T.v companies they all say they're deifferent but somehow better than others. For ex: Verizon v.s Sprint or T-Mobile, e.t.c

2) What is your reaction to the “Samsung Experience?” Describe any shifts that occurred in your emotional and physical state when you arrived. Try to explain the cause of these feelings. At first I wasn't at all excited but then our tour guide made it interesting by showing us cool cellphones that he knew would interest us. Like the ones with t.v's. It was cool to see which products I may be interested in buying in the future.

3) Of the different products you have observed, which do you think has/will most change the way humans live in the future? Name it and explain your thinking.

There was a table with information inside that looked like it was controlled by a mouse but instead you control it with your hand with out touching a screen. This was beause there was a monitor above us which showed the "computer" what our hands were doing.