Emilly’s notes for 02/18/2024
Recap of last week’s work:
Engine Team:
Cleaned up both the small and the large components i.e., washers, using an ultrasonic cleaner (good for getting solvent into tiny spaces).
Wheel group:
Pulled out barring and retained the hardware inside.
Took the brakes apart and wheels off.
Clutch and oil:
They worked on fixing the clutch. They planned on using a piece of aluminum rod to create a cable stop.
Cons of making your own cable stop rather than purchasing: time-consuming, requires careful measurements.
Cons of using a 3D piece rather than metal: lacks material-strength, suitable material (better than aluminum) is steel.
Electric team:
Organized electrical components in the cabinet.
Sandblasted frames.
Interesting finding: found a crack on one of the frames.
ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS EXPERIMENT
Experiment 1:
Magnet on the middle part and coils on the side of a flat wooden surface.
The piece of laminated steel inside the coil generates voltage to get an LED blinking.
Based on Faraday’s law, voltage generates current, the greater the current, the brighter the LED.
Learnt: The alternator has 6 coils.
The coils have different diameters and different numbers of coils; the coils have different purposes. The coarser ones provide sufficient current to run the electrical system of the motorcycle. Some coils are for the ignition and some are for the horn system.
In the experiment;
The coils are wound in pairs.
The core is laminated, this is so to fix energy loss by restricting eddy currents to the coils.
Oscilloscope
The faster the spin, the higher the voltage. The voltage alternates from + to -.
The relationship between spinning and voltage is 1: 1(directly proportional).
Experiment 2: High voltage generator
Consist of;
A primary and a secondary coil. The primary coil has fewer wire turns while the secondary coil has multiple turns.
Laminated core, contact, breakerpoints.
The setup becomes when we run current through the primary coil, contact is broken and the setup becomes a buzzer circuit.
When we slide the secondary coil over the primary coil, sparks are seen.
Magneto-electricity(Faraday) – magnetic field changing in time.
In an ignition coil, there is;
A primary coil – this is coarse.
A secondary coil (has lots of turns for a higher voltage).
DISCUSSION
Reading: Chapters 14-16 in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Design (no motorcycle references – care when riding a motorcycle over gravel as one can fall over easily).
CHAPTER 14
Discussion led by: David
Content
The narrator reflects over going to visit DeWeese.
Question: Why does the author say that DeWeese is the living image of DeWeese as opposed to the man himself? He says so because he has no real memory of meeting DeWeese before thus he doesn’t have the personal experience that he should have as he interacted with him before as Phaedrus.
Triangular relationship between the narrator, John and DeWeese: John has a joking relationship with the author while DeWeese still sees the narrator as Phaedrus. Talk on quality; John doesn’t seem interested in deep talks that the narrator and DeWeese engage in. John and DeWeese know different forms of the narrator, they both talk to him as different people. DeWeese is defensive of the Phaedrus he knew and is kind towards the narrator. There is also a disconnect on knowledge of the narrator in both John and DeWeese, yet they both don’t know it.
DeWeese empathizes with the narrator because of his romantic view of life.
Dialogue:
DeWeese is upset with the instructions of a manual and wants the narrator to criticize it. DeWeese is interested in the sculptor’s view; if you can build it , you sculpt it.
The idea of peace of mind: to engineer something, one needs to approach it with the idea of doing it with a good calm mind, and take time in doing so. This relates to the lab; taking our time, approaching the motorcycle repair with the right attitude, and focusing on the process, not the completion.
Pg. 170 dialectic reason meaning and how it differs from a debate. Dialectic reason deals with discussion whose end result is truth while a debate is a discussion for the best argument win, not necessarily on truth.
What we learn about the narrator: teacher of rhetoric.
CHAPTER 15
Discussion led by: Vanessa
Content
Narrator’s relationship to Chris.
Chris’ fear when they go to the university and his fear of his dad, this suggests a throwback to a traumatic experience.
The narrator’s visit to the classroom and the effect that it has on him; closure, pain.
Sarah and the narrator talk on quality: what is quality and how do you know when it has been achieved? How do you evaluate the quality of an essay?
CHAPTER 16
Discussion led by: Chloe
Content
Self reflection at the beginning and religious allusions.
Question: What does the religious allusion tell us about the narrator?
Phaedrus tells the girl who had trouble writing an essay to look at the brick. This helped the girl get creative as it forced her to think about something new rather than what people tell her to do when writing.
Reflection: Phaedrus’ talks about grading and knowledge oriented students and how it applies to ourselves as students and the plot in general.
Lack of grading:
Idealism – grading shouldn’t be a motivating factor for learning thus grades should be eliminated. (Phaedrus’ argument).
Realism (class’ opinions): Grades provide feedback, people go to school to get credentials, others make it a career.
People interested in a subject become fanatically interested in it and read, not necessarily grades as a motivating factor for them.
The idea that most students would leave university when grading is dropped (according to Phaedrus) is not real as people would still join universities for credentials.