English vs. Scotts or Catapult vs. Trebuchet

Two Rock 4-H SET went back to medieval history to learn about two ferocious weapons - the catapult and the trebuchet. In keeping with our 2010-11 project theme, "Kid Powered Creations", our project group met at Hobbytown USA Petaluma and watched a short video about siege weapons. That geared us up for building our wood catapult and trebuchet kits we got from Pitsco Education. These kits were fantastic. The instructions were just enough to make everyone think about what they were building but not to hard to get done in an hour or so. The catapult may have been a bit easier to build, but the trebuchets had the advantage of range, easily launching their clay projectiles across the room. The kids all brought in some things to knock over and luckily no one was unintentionally hit with flying projectiles. Let the siege begin!

4-H SET Rocket Project Blasts Off

Two Rock 4-H SET constructed two different types of rockets in December and January as a part of this years project theme "Kid Powered Creations". Our first project was air powered rockets. We used a mixture of home made supplies like cardboard tubes for rocket bodies, poster foam board for fins and ping pong balls for rocket noses. Our launchers were made from plastic PVC pipe and fittings, a sprinkler solenoid valve, two nine volt batteries and a foot pump to pressurize the air chamber.

After sorting out some problems with leaks and fittings, we ventured out in the pouring rain to press a button and launch our rockets. The kids and parent had a great time experimenting with how high they could launch their rocket. We found out that above 80-90 PSI on the air pump produced some interesting results - like exploding rockets!

Kids Build Solar Cars

Two Rock 4-H SET met at Leghorns Park, Petaluma CA to build solar race cars. We had a spectacular day of beautiful sunshine (great for solar cars), and warm weather. We learned a lot about solar cars, like you need to point the solar panel into the sun for maximum speed. The "Sun E Zoom" car kit from Pitsco was a fun solar car to build. The solar panel was high quality and they included several different gears to experiment with.

2010 4-H National Youth Science Day

Two Rock 4-H held its 2010 National Youth Science Day event in Walnut Park, Petaluma CA on October 2. Many thanks to all the Two Rock 4-H kids and parents who helped to make this event a rousing success. We had three activities for the public to participate in: The CO2 "Turtlebot", CO2 experiments and a demonstration of solar and wind energy projects.



Our CO2 Turtlebot worked great and kids had a great time trying to maximize their CO2 output by holding their breath then signing the results as drawn by the Lego NXT robot.
Special thanks to Brian Davis of the NXT Step for his support in helping us build and program our Lego robot. Using the power of the Internet for collaboration, we conserved resources in this project. and many thanks to John Melville at Vernier Software & Technology who provided us guidance on how to connect their CO2 sensor to our robot.

We had many kids try the 4-H2O experiment and kids really got the concept of the effects of CO2 in water and the air. Some kids found that increasing the amount of CO2 in the plastic bags led to "explosive results", much to the amazement of onlookers.

We also had a chance to test some of our solar model cars as part of our 2010-11 4-H project activities. Some cars worked better than others, with the overall winner being the easy to build "Solar Grasshopper". This was the first time Two Rock 4-H had done a science event like this and I am very pleased for all the support and encouragement we had from our club and the community.

4-H Foundation BBQ Fundraiser a Success

The 4-H Foundation Fundraiser “Make a Difference For Our Future Leaders” was truly a success!! A beautiful evening at Saralee’s Vineyard and Richards Grove with lots of 4-H youth members volunteering proved to be yet another successful year for the BBQ. Two Rock 4-H SET project leader and his family demonstrated several of the projects we will be working on in the 2010-11 season.

Demo of the CO2 Turtlebot

We tested the CO2 "Turtlebot" - a carbon dioxide sensing robot made from Legos Mindstorms. The Turtlebot reads the CO2 level from a sample in the air, then draws the results on a long sheet of paper. The end result is a histogram graph of CO2 measurents which resemble blades of grass.


The Two Rock 4-H club will be showing its Turtlebot and many other technology projects on October 2, 1-5 PM during the National Youth Science Day in Walnut Park, Petaluma CA.

2010 4-H National Youth Science Day

On Saturday, October 2, 1 PM - 5 PM, come join Two Rock 4-H Club Primary Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) project as we participate in the National Youth Science Day. This event will be held at Walnut Park at the Petaluma Farmers Market, 310 D Street, Petaluma, CA‎.

In 2009, the Two Rock 4-H Club started a SET project titled "Robots in the Environment". We looked at how robots interact and sense their surroundings and we made several different robots, including working underwater remotely operated vehicles.

For the 4-H NYSD event, we will have a 10' x 10' booth and have four activities related to this years theme - "Clean water, bright future"

1. The NYSD Experiment - Two Rock 4-H volunteers will lead the public through the bromothymol blue, pH experiment. We ordered 75 4-H experiment kits and will have on hand additional experiment materials as a reserve.

2. CO2 "Turtlebot" - We have a Lego's Mindstorms NXT "robot turtle" which senses CO2 levels and draws the results on a long piece of paper. the public can blow into a straw tubing and the turtlebot will measure the CO2 in their breath, then draw the results as a line on a piece of paper. Participants can sign their name on their line, at the end of the day we will have a long sheet of paper made up of hundreds of lines, each symbolic of the carbon footprint humans have on the planet.

3. "Weigh your carbon footprint" - We will have a wooden balance scale and various weights, each weight representing "tons of carbon" per capita. Participants will stack weights based on their unique carbon footprint (i.e. do they have a car, own a home, eat meat, take the car to school, etc). Next, participants will add weitghts tot he other side, each weight representing the average carbon footprint per capita from other countries. The message is that in the US, our consumption produces much more carbon than that of other countries.

4. "Eco-Robots" - 4-H kids will show off some simple robot kits that run off solar energy or wind power. Our 4-H project theme for 2010-11 is "Kid Powered Creations" and we will be building several creations that use alternative energy power (i.e. solar, wind, pneumatic, water). On October 2, we will preview some of these kits.
With help from Nxtasy.org, a Lego Mindstorms user community and Vernier Instruments, makers of environmental sensors that connect to Lego NXT, we have developed a CO2 sensing robot turtle that will measure the CO2 in your breath and draw the results on paper.

Kids will also be able to "weigh" their estimated carbon footprint and compare their results with other nations and find ways they can help reduce their carbon footprint by recycling and reusing. This is a free event to all. For more information, please contact David Bell.

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