Electronics 1914: it is rocket science

Robert Goddard

Meet the original rocket man.

In 1914, the patents Robert Goddard had filed for a multi-stage and liquid-fuelled rocket were registered. Even before the Great War had broken out, this American physicist had inadvertently launched the space race.

Born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1882, Goddard had grown up fascinated by the mechanics of flight. Inspired by Isaac Newton and War of the Worlds, he experienced an epiphany while climbing a cherry tree in his father's backyard. "I imagined how wonderful it would be to make some device which had even the possibility of ascending to Mars, and how it would look on a small scale, if sent up from the meadow at my feet."

As an undergraduate he had written papers exploring various aspects of flight technology, such as gyro-stabilisation and rocket efficiency. By 1913 Goddard was a research fellow at Princeton University. He had already developed a calculus-based theory to calculate a rocket's position and velocity in vertical flight, and was planning a sounding rocket with which to explore the atmosphere and provide data to aid future research.

It was while recovering from a serious bout of tuberculosis that Goddard wrote his revolutionary patent applications. 

Goddard's original patent application

In the next few years his research and testing continued, and focused particularly on thrust efficiency - the conversion of fuel into thrust which would hold the key to any successful space-bound rocket. A 1915 static test achieved thrust efficiency of 63% and exhaust velocities of over 7000 feet (2134 metres) - enough to convince the Smithsonian Institution and Clark University to sponsor Goddard's research.

 

Although the military showed an interest in Goddard's work, he remained sceptical and rocketry had no involvement in the technology used in the Great War. Goddard's groundbreaking book, A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes, was published in 1919. He was ridiculed by the press in these early years, but after relentless testing and implementation of his technology, it was Goddard, posthumously, who was vindicated.  

The New York Times was forced to issue an apology in July 1969, as Apollo 11 was making its way to the Moon:

"Further investigation and experimentation have confirmed the findings of Isaac Newton in the 17th Century and it is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum as well as in an atmosphere."

Turn your cat into a mouse

The Internet of Things, that’s so last year.  It’s all about the Desktop of Things now – banana keyboards, pet-enabled mice, self-drawn joysticks – all courtesy of the MaKey MaKey Inventors kit. 

“The Makey what?”, I imagine you typing into your alphabetti spaghetti keyboard.

Just a simple PCB, some crocodile clips, wires and USB lead, it can turn anything conductive into an actuator. Created by US technology experts Jay Silver and Eric Rosenbaum, it is among the top 40 most funded tech projects on Kickstarter, having received pledges worth over 2000% of its original target. Like a Raspberry Pi for people who don't have the time for programming, or just want a shortcut to fun, MaKey MaKey (= Make anything into a Key) has already spawned an enthusiastic community and is equally appealing to kids, students, makers and serious prototypers. 

So how does it work? 

First, buy the kit from Rapid. Then connect the MaKey Makey board to your PC, laptop or tablet via USB. Connect one end of the crocodile clips to one of the bottom ‘Earth’ inputs and hold the other end. You have “grounded” the electrical circuit. Then attach one end of another crocodile clip lead to an input on the MaKey MaKey board – there are three interfaces, corresponding to a mouse click, the space bar and arrow buttons on your keyboard or joystick. Attach or insert the clip on the other end of the lead to your keyboard or mouse substitute. Touching the connected item will complete the circuit and perform the appropriate action, as if your piece of fruit (for example) was a mouse.  

Using the MaKey MaKey in conjunction with a video game or piece of music software is really where the fun starts. The clever clogs at MaKey MaKey have even developed a number of bespoke programs to help you get started, but all manner of software and apps are out there to help you get creative with sound, art and vision. 

“But what can I use as my new keyboard?”, I imagine you tweeting, via characters created by splashing around in some internet-enabled buckets.

Pretty much anything that carries an electrical current: 

• Fruit & vegetables & most foodstuffs
• People
• Metal - coins, aluminium foil
• Water
• Animals
• Plants
• Pets

Yes, even pets. This will very much depend on the relationship you have with your pooch or moggie, but you could use your dogs as piano keys, as this chap has done, or create a photo booth activated by a drinking cat. It will certainly be harmless.

See a gallery of MaKey MaKey projects here.

The MaKey MaKey Inventors Kit is now available from Rapid. The world is your keyboard!

Cutting edge GCSE designs

We love these lamps designed by students at Mortimer Community College in South Shields. LEDs and switches from Rapid were incorporated into many of the designs, which were for final projects in the pupils' GCSE Product Design controlled assessment.

Toucan and rainforest lamp by E. White

Design & Technology teacher Annie Shaw tweeted these pictures and kindly sent us some of the designs from last year to show what fabulous work her students consistently produce. 

"The brief was to design and make a lamp in the style of a 20^th-century design movement", Annie told us. The pupils found inspiration in  Art Deco, Memphis and Arts and Crafts designs. 

Pupils used laser cutting equipment to create their designs from acrylic and laser plywood, spray painted the finished product and used a mixture of super bright and normal coloured LEDs to achieve the lighting effects.

Art Deco inspired lamp with turned brass feet

"Within product design, to access the higher grades I encourage the students to use a range of different materials", said Annie. "Making a circuit with LED’s gives them an extra skill within their work and helps to gain more marks".

 

"We used 15mm black rocker switches as well which finish them off really nicely and make them look more professional."