I invented something! This deserves a prize at least equivalent to a middle school science fair medal.
A while ago, I really wanted to purchase an accelerometer for my car. Basically, when you go around a turn, or accelerate by gunning it or braking, the device will tell you the G's that were generated in that direction - with a nice little visual "bar" to go along with it on some models.
Since I couldn't convince myself to shell out $100 - $200 for something I really didn't need - I didn't buy it. But oh man did I make one.
The concept is similar to how some people spill their coffee when driving - going around a turn creates centrifugal forces that push the water to the outside of the turn. I'm using this force to measure the G's generated my prelude.
So basically, I got this tube filled with water. The water will climb up the sides of the U and show (relative to the water's other positions) the forces generated in the turn.
Pretty simple. But it gets better.
I can't just look at some water while driving, that's silly. I want something a little more technological - so I threw in some electricity.
The goal was to have a sequence of LED's light up according to height of the water. How should I do this? It's genius!: If you dissolve enough salt in water, it can actually conduct electricity rather well. So I’ll make a circuit with the water connecting a light to a battery. I stuck pins thought the tube at the right places, and wired a simple circuit to the thing:
battery (+) -> red pin -> water -> black pin -> LED (+) -> LIGHT! - > LED (-) -> battery
When the water level reaches the black pin, the light goes on.
Real time demonstration:
http://www.drastic-creations.com/PHO...ion/v1.0-3.AVI (3.6 Megs)
Right now it's just a "prototype". My goal is to have a practical model, with 10 LED's that light up in sequence, 5 on each side, with corresponding values to 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25 G's (I'll calculate that somehow), mounted in the car by April 27 - the first autoX meet!
[/middle-school-mentality]
My middle/high school never had science projects: I just had to try it.