Venture to Australia

Mythbusters 2005

Well it's been a little while since I've written an entry in here so I thought I might post a little update on what I've been doing. Exams have been finished for a while now and I've been volunteering at the school helping out in the Department of Microelectrical Engineering. Each year they run what they call Mythbusters workshops.

The advertisement describes the workshops as follows:

I've been helping out with the Killer Coconut, Phone ESP and Distructive EMP workshops.


Electronic Breadboard with a few resistors, chips and wires.

The Killer Coconut Experiment attempts to see if a person can be killed from being hit in the head from a coconut falling from a tree. The students will be putting together sensors to measure the velocity of the coconut just before it hits the ground. I didn't help out too much with this experiment other than packing up all the kits.

The next two experiments I did a lot of work for. The first being the Phone ESP experiment in which students test to see if a person can really predict when their phone is going to ring before it rings. My job was to help design experiments for the students to do in order to prove or disprove this. Included in this workshop students will be building their own "phone detection circuits" that light up an LED if it detects a cell phone signal.


The third workshop is the most involved one because it has the most experiments in it. The basic idea is the students get to see if EMP (electromagnetic pulse) weapons are possible. We test electrostatic interference using a Van DeGraaff generator (the one we have is like a mini version of the one at the Ontario Science Centre).


Another experiment in the Destructive EMP workshop takes place on the roof of the technology building. Basically we try and disrupt a GPS from getting a signal from satellites by using microwaves. The microwaves are generated using a signal generator and attaching it to a horn (see picture below). The signal generator we use is very powerful and we have to make sure that no one steps in front of the horn while the machine is on unless they want their insides cooked.


All the rest of the experiments are being done in one of the upstairs labs normally used for 3rd and 4th year engineering students.


So there's a quick summary of what I've been up to recently. As for everything else, most people have moved out or are moving out within the next few weeks either permanently or just for Christmas. The weather is getting warmer but it's been raining most nights. I'm told that it's storm season this time of year but it should be over in a few weeks.

The malls are staying open later for the whole month of December 9am - 9pm; as opposed to 9am - 5:30pm which is the usual time the malls are open. Honestly I don't know how people get anything done around here, by the time you get off work everything's closed with the exception of a few grocery stores and family owned shops.

Finally, I've added a little Flickr Badge showing off a few of the pictures I've taken so far since I've been here; you can click on it to get to my Flickr album and see more of my pictures.

posted by Compmouse @ 12/04/2005 06:07:00 PM