Photo Journal

Wednesday, April 02, 2008
        Our group began by setting up the high speed imaging apparatus. The apparatus included a black backdrop, a flash unit and clamp, a camera and tripod, a cardboard box mount, and dart gun. We originally planned to fire fruit and potato cores from the dart gun. However, after trials, we realized that the dart gun did not provide enough force to scatter the fruit and potato cores on impact. Therefore, we decided to create an air compression gun using PVC tubing, connectors, and an air compressor. We sawed off the PVC tubing to the correct specifications and attached the connectors, cap, and air compressor. The trials using the air compressor were successful considering that the air compression gun had not been finalized. Tomorrow we plan on taking many more pictures using the camera, which we were unable to do today due to apparatus problems.

Thursday, April 03, 2008
        Our group began the day by attempting several trials with the potato gun. However, we soon realized that we had a big problem on our hands; the potato gun was severely leaking air from the air compartment. We tried to fix this problem by adding more cement sealant to problematic areas. However, when we realized this was not sealing the air leak either, we tried to use epoxy glue. Yet again, this did not seal the air leak. We were very frustrated but we didn’t give up on finding a solution for the air leak. Finally, we decided to use a film sealant from the biology floor which turned out to work extremely well. Another main problem our group encountered was the sensor trigger. We started out using a photogate trigger, but soon realized that the photogate was not triggering when the cannon was fired. Afterwards, we decided to use a sound trigger. However, the noise caused by the air compressor and other factors made this trigger too unreliable. At last, we employed the contact trigger. The contact trigger worked extremely well and was very reliable, unlike the photogate and sound triggers. Finally, our group was able to begin running working trials and take high speed images. After we were able to hurdle over our original problems, the resulting product was of high quality and was very satisfying.

Friday, April 04, 2008
        After our initial group presentations at the start of the day, our group immediately began running more trials and capturing more high speed images. Our success rate was by far the highest it had ever been and we were able to capture many quality high speed images. At the end of the day, we used  two different flash units equipped with different colors. One had no delay while the other had a small delay. The resulting high speed image showed the progression of the impact of the apple on the target. The day was extremely rewarding and productive and our group enjoyed it thoroughly.