Brickfilms :)

Healthy Snack

Crunchy Berry Parfait 
Ingredients: 

• 1 cup of vanilla low-fat yogurt 
• 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries 
• 6 fresh strawberries 
• 1/2 cup of granola 

Directions:

Layer 1/4 cup yogurt into the bottom of a bowl. Top with about half of each of the sliced strawberries, blueberries, and granola; repeat layering.

Q. How might I make my snack even healthier? If you think it cannot be improved because it is already extremely healthy, explain why is is so healthy. Consider fat content as well as sugar levels.
A. I think that I could've changed some of the ingredients, so that the sugar level is lower. I think that by changing the fruit into something else that is sweet but has less sugar in it. Other than that, I think that it's still pretty healthy, all the sugar is natural and is coming from the fruits.

Q. How did my snack compare to others?
A. I think that the presentation of my snack was pretty good compared to others, they also had really pretty food. But before presenting I forgot to bring spoons, so I had to run to the Grab and Go to receive spoons. The taste of my snack, was healthy and tasty, even though mostly everyone had tasty food, but some had snacks that tasted too healthy.

Q. What advice would I give next years 7th graders about this assignment?
A. One advice that I would give to the 7th graders next year about this assignment is to spend time on it. Spend a lot of time preparing it, and maybe even try it out before the actual date. Make sure that you spend time finding the recipe, and make sure that if your first attempt doesn't work to have extra time. Another thing that I would give them as advice is to really think about the ingredients they're putting into the snack, and to be aware of the different sugar and fat levels. Overall, they should just have fun with it.

The Cause Of Destruction?

As all buildings will not fight the forces and destroy, our building could crumble due to our light styrofoam base. Even though our base is isolated and is weighed down by several washers, this could end up into pieces. With forces of the shake table being strong, if the satay sticks don't stay in the foam, our building could go flying when forces shake up and down. This could also lead into the second factor behind the destruction of our building, and that factor is the satay sticks. During the "earthquake" the satay sticks could completely just fall out of the foam, not being securely stuck into the styrofoam. The satay sticks, which are also holding up the floors and are in a cross bracing method, could lead the building into collapsing. Either the shake board could be so strong that the sticks fall out, or the floors fall onto each other. In conclusion, the cause behind of the destruction of our building would be due to the isolated styrofoam base and the cross bracing of satay sticks.

Our Credible Source

What's Influencing Engineers' Choices For Buildings?

Q: What are the factors that influence engineers’ choices for adding elements that make a building more resistant to earthquakes?

A: I think that one factor that influences engineers' with their choice for adding elements is that bigger buildings should be able to sway. If they make sure that their building sways, but they also have to make sure that their building doesn't sway that much till the point of touching nearby buildings. So the factor would be the location of the building. Another thing factor that influence engineers' choices is making sure that the first story of their building must be well supported, and that the connections between layers should be strong. Another factor that is very important that would influence an engineers' choice is the different types of materials they choose to use to build their buildings. Using wood and steel is better than using brick, stone, and adobe, which are brittle and will break. By using wood and steel to support your building, it would also absorb the shock of the waves.

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How are we doing?

I think that we're doing pretty good, we had our base done and started on adding our different floors. We started off roughly, not having the right materials or not having the right amount, but we still didn't want to spend that much money. We had another plan with our base, which was similar to our first plan, but we twitched it a bit. After figuring out how to deal with our isolated base, we started rolling. We started to join the base and the first floor, and even started to add our cross bracing. During the next lesson, we plan on finishing adding the floors and the cross bracing, and maybe to even start practicing.

Before the cross bracing 

Our isolated base 

Current Progress 

Earthquake Proof Structures

Q: What are the forces generated by earthquakes and other factors that affect building stability?
A: I think that one factor that affects the stability of the building are the seismic waves. The seismic waves are the energy from the earthquakes. They move outward in all directions away from their source. Since that there are two types of seismic waves, the body waves and the surface waves. In an earthquake, body waves are responsible for the sharp jolts, this would lead to unstable buildings into pieces. But something that makes an earthquake deadly is population density, the size of the earthquake, and the type of ground. Something that we did with our plan of our building, is that we decided to had an isolated foundation, that will hopefully help prevent the building from falling while being on the shake board. When we first started, we were told that the plan for our first building was not going to be successful and that it would collapse. So we decided to re-draw our plan, I think that we had concluded on one design, and tried using the cross bracing method and the isolation foundation method. Next class we will attempt to start building our structure.

Our current plan 

Our first design plan 

Learning From Earthquake Resistant Buildings

Recently, we've been assigned a group project to make an earthquake resistant building. Before actually getting down to business, we had to independently come up with ideas of how we could build these resistant buildings and what we should avoid. Something that I learned that would help the building from being destroyed is to use cross bracing. By using the cross bracing method, it absorbs the motion during an earthquake and protects the building from damage. Another thing that I would make sure to add to our building is that the bottom or also known as the foundation should be symmetric. The third thing that I learned from my building design board is that the materials that we use should be light weight. One thing that I would definitely avoid is having the foundation be asymmetric, as I read that asymmetric buildings undergo torsion and extreme corners are subjected to very large earthquake forces. Another thing that I learned, that I will not be adding to my building is having sudden changes in lateral stiffness. Something that I learned, that is pretty interesting but will not fit to class made buildings, is that buildings should not have swimming pools or large tanks of water at the top of the building. Thirdly, we will avoid to make our building very slender. Lastly, something we will avoid is to make our building in a inverted pendulum type building. In conclusion, with this activity, I've learned a few things about what makes a good earthquake resistant building and what we should avoid in this project.