Science and Technology Equipment

Science and Technology Gear
Here's a list of the science and technology equipment used for this homeschool project:

Electronics multimeter. Here Joe is measuring the resistance on the potentiometers in a computer joystick, to select the proper potentiometer for the rudder pedals in the flight simulator we're building. (click to enlarge)

Scientific Calculators. Joe is using the TI-30Xa, a good solid basic function scientific calculator

Aviation Scanning Radio Receiver. Its hard to get the hang of the rapidly-spoken pilot lingo. Tuning in this radio to the local tower frequency, Joe can hear many, many radio calls and pick up the cadence and format. Plus, its darn fun to follow the airplanes! We purchased a RadioShack Pro-76 scanning receiver for about $99

Graduated cylinder barometer. Joe made his own barometer using a $2 surplus graduated cylinder, and following the directions in 175 Science Experiments Of course Joe reads a regular barometer also. More on this project on the Barometric Pressure page.

Airplane! Here's the instrument panel from Joe's favorite airplane (the Cessna 150 "50Mike"), which he is learning to fly, including all of the airmen's knowledge of these instruments required to pass the FAA written test for the private pilot certificate. This is Joe's view, from the left-hand seat.

Computer innards. We're dissecting various computers and building new ones from parts, both for the flight simulator project and our home network project. We've scrounged a few old but servicable computers from the State Surplus Sale Barn for parts. Here, Joe is installing a dual-monitor geforce2 video card which he was involved in bidding on over ebay (ebay is a great economics lesson in creating markets!). We plan to use this to drive the flight simulator monitors. Joe is learning the "user accessible" parts of computers, the various plugs in back and installing accessory boards, and proper techniques for static control and safety. We're also discussing how computers work, and locating the major parts inside (power supply, drives, CPU etc.). The card Joe is holding has a substantial graphics processor on it, with its own cooling fan. The intensive video required for our multi-monitor flight simulator project has us discussing parallel processing and other computer concepts too. (click to enlarge)

The start of the simulator, showing a right window monitor temporarily place.

Flight Simulator. We're building a flight simulator to be as realistic as possible, eventually have multiple "wraparound" monitors(front view and side "windows"), rudder pedals, control yoke and realistic panel controls for flaps, throttle, richness, trim, gear,

We plan to build the electronic components ourselves (panel, rudder pedals and yoke), using scrounged parts as much as possible. Joe is interested in the electronics and this project should be very educational for him.