In 1676, Isaac Newton, one of the most influential mathematicians and scientists of all time, famously wrote:
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."
The Shoulders of Giants, Inc. (TSoG) is a nonprofit (501(c)(3)) organization founded in 2013 on a vision that world-class science education should be available to all students of all ages. Since 2015, The Shoulders of Giants has offered an immersive, ongoing mentorship program for dedicated students who would like the opportunity to study more closely under the guidance of Dr. Steven J. Foland. This program is designed to provide middle and high school students with a broad foundation of knowledge and skills across science and engineering disciplines, experience working and communicating in a professional environment, and helps them develop the study habits necessary to achieve success at the university level and beyond.
In 2019, this world-class program became available to students everywhere with the launch of TSoG.tv. This online platform, created in collaboration between The Shoulders of Giants, Inc. and its sister-company Floating Point Laboratories, LLC, provides at-home exercises, live-streaming, and project support to students anywhere in the world.
Work in Progress (WiP) is the main Kepler-level (high school) series on TSoG.tv, focused on multi-disciplinary engineering and applied science.
As the late, great astrophysicist and science advocate Carl Sagan once said: "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." With that great quote in mind, this is a series where we bake the whole pie. In each season of Work in Progress we propose a practical project, lay out specifications, then discuss all of the relevant background knowledge necessary to take that project to completion.
Episodes of WiP air live on www.twitch.tv/tsogtv and are archived at www.youtube.com/tsogtv. This project is based on the work completed in episodes that aired on Monday evenings in Summer 2019.
We built our first water bottle rocket launcher in summer 2012 out of PVC pipe, zip ties, bits of string, and chewing gum. Based on one of many designs available online, our original model was ugly and unreliable.
In 2013, a team of TSoG volunteers created a minor redesign that incorporated a bike handle brake mechanism to enable users to trigger a launch from a safe distance outside the "splash zone" of the launcher. This, along with a few other small quality-of-life improvements, made for a much more reliable launch platform. The three copies that we built using this design were used in a variety of outreach activities for elementary students for the next 5 years.
In May 2019, TSoG co-founder Steven J. Foland proposed an updated redesign of this part of TSoG history could serve as one of the first seasons of the new series, Work in Progress. Now with years of water bottle rocket experience behind him and the vast improvements in rapid prototyping that the 3D printing revolution has enabled, Dr. Foland was confident that he and his students could work together to produce the ultimate launcher.
As the name of the series implies, this redesign is currently a work in progress. This section of the README will be kept up-to-date with the current state of the project as the season progresses.
- Must fit a variety of soda bottle brands and sizes ranging from 16 oz to 2 liter.
- Must be able to be operated solo: Able to turn the launcher upside down easily for loading and able to retract the cuff and load a liquid-filled bottle.
- Must be able to adjust launch angle to account for hills.
- Must be able to trigger launch remotely.
There are a numer of improvements that should be made to the old design which, while not necessarily distinct design inputs, would make replication, reliability, and usability significantly better than the old model.
- Should fold down for easy portability.
- Must be comprised entirely of either: Standard, off-the-shelf parts, or 3D printed components.
- All components which must hold pressure should be comprised of standard PVC fittings (NO janky welds or epoxy fixes).
- No exposed sharp edges!
For any active TSoG.tv students who would like to contribute to this project, please create a GitHub account and contact Dr. Foland via Discord. He will need your GitHub username to grant you permission to modify this repository.
This is a primarily mechanical CAD focused project that we will be completing in Alibre Design. You can download a 30 day trial of this software here. Students active on this project should discuss longer-term licensing options with Dr. Foland.
