GUESS WHAT IS IT MADE OF?




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ANSWER: POLYMER CLAY




Introducing you the polymer clay! This may sound alien to you like it was to me a few weeks ago. I thought that this may be a good DT blog topic to start of with as it is new and unknown, to me at least.


YUM.. YUM.. my stomach is screaming now!!! But they aren't even real. Poor me! T_T. Right, they are all made from polymer clay. Don't they look real?!?!! I was shcoked at first to learn that its fake... Great skills these human beings (HEY I AM PRAISING YOU!) have, to trick me.


Polymer clay is actually a type of clay which turns in to a plastic like material when it is heated in an oven. NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. TRY IT IN THE DT ROOM INSTEAD. This is a precautionary measure that i guess we all should adhere to since it MAY produce poisonous fumes out into your oven and you might be sent to the hospital as a result.


Polymer clay is widely used in the US for craft purposes for both the young and old. I searched on the web for clays and came across the fimo polymer clay. In addition, there are also other types of clay which are also of good quality like the PREMO; SCULPEY clay.


Other than making it for decoration purposes, polymer clay are also used to make jewelleries, whether cute or elegant.





ELEGANT







CUTE

COLOURFUL

THESE ARE THE GREAT AND WONDERFUL CREATIONS OF US, HUMAN BEINGS.







Since they are so attractive and lovely, I have decided to make use of polymer clay to realise my idea =D AND!! if you are interested in buying this, I guess the store is near Eunos, ST. Patrick's road. (Hey Garie, I am helping you to do business with no benefits! Shouldn't you thank me? ******* JUS JOKING!)





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Signing off,

Credits: Flickr.com (picture)

Inventions
It is really impressive that we, human beings, are able to invent gadgets that help us improve and enhace our daily lifestyle. Here are some of the impressive inventions:



The Mix Master "It is simply just mixing..."

Most commercial ice cream machines dispense pre-frozen desserts. The MooBella makes its treats on the spot, storing milk, sugar and other natural ingredients in sterile, air tight containers. All you just need to do is to key in your choice of flavor, premium or light--and it mixes, flash-freezes, aerates, then serves fresh ice cream, all in about 45 seconds.





Air mattress "Hey here! I am floating!!!"

Your eyes would never tell lies. This is actually a mattress, not an ordinary one but a floating one. And what’s more, it’s floating unsupported. Its secret is a matching set of repelling magnets, built into the bed and the floor below, that's powerful enough to support almost 2,000 lbs. The magnetic fields are supposed to be perfectly safe for sleepers, but you're advised to
take off your earrings before vacuuming underneath.





The Body Double "Double takes it!"

Things couldn’t get more real, more lifelike. Can you imagine that actually one them is a robot!? HINT: The robot looks a little happier than the real man. This robot is made to look exactly like Zou Ren Ti, the inventor of this robot. The most impressive feature is its skin, which is made of silica gel that looks so lifelike! Its really impressive isn’t it?





The Doting Dinosaur "Hey! I have a heart, don't break it!"

This Doting Dinosaur is called Pleo. While robot toys look like real animals, they can’t walk the walk real animal do. The Doting Dinosaur aims to be more lifelike. It actually has a mechanical heart and has moods. If you ignore him, he would get depressed and sleep all day. Treat him to some TCL, and he would purr like a cat when you reach home. Even when it walks, it sways from side to side. It couldn’t get more real!





Scale Model "I don't want to perspire!"

The fish-scale pattern at the back of the clothe is not just a decoration, but in fact when you perspire, the flap of the fabric swing open to release heat and moisture, so you stay cool and dry. A light and stretchy mesh lining keeps the polyester-spandex material from sticking to your skin. So just forget about those annoying bits of perspiration.







Amazing Embrace "Hug me pretty please!"

It’s really impressive that this Hug Shirt actually simulates experience being embraced by a loved one. It all works perfectly just with your cell phone and this shirt. When your friend gives you a virtual hug, your cell phone notifies the shirt wirelessly, via Bluetooth. The shirt then re-creates the person’s distinctive hug replicating his or her warmth, pressure, duration and even heartbeat. And yes, this shirt is fully washable.





Drip Patrol "I repel water drops!"

Umbrellas are supposed to keep water out. Cheap ones get soaked in the rain but even the best ones drip annoyingly when you bring them indoors. But things are different with the Nanonano umbrella. You can forget about letting water drip all about. With just a little shake, the Nanonano umbrella dries almost instantly. The canopy's nanotech polyester surface is designed to repel water droplets, so they don't end up on you or your floor!





Eat Your Coffee "Spoon...Eat your coffee!"

This machine turns espresso solid which is actually formed combining regular espresso with sugar and another secret ingredient. It then squirts out of a canister like whipped cream. And what’s more, you EAT your espresso with a SPOON!




Clean machine "Superoxygenated water kills dirt!"

Tried of scrubbing and washing off bacteria and pesticides? Washing and scrubbing actually don’t help much. The new Lotus Sanitizing System turns tap water to superoxygenated water which kills microbes and removes toxics. The machine uses electrical charge to infuse the tap water with ozone, which just actually means the water carries a form of oxygen that acts as a natural sanitizer

HOW FURBY TOY WORKS





All of you must have seen this toy before. It was really popular in the 1980s till 1990s. This owl-toy is known as furby. Today i am going to explain how electric components inside it works as well as what the electirc components are. This is actually a research for the journal in the topic how electronic components are being used in running the toys.




These are pictures of the interior of a Furby toy.



Transistors A transistor is an electronic component used in a circuit to control a large amount of current or voltage using a small amount of voltage or current. It does so by sandwiching one semiconductor between two other semiconductors. The current is transferred across a resistor which has high resistance to electricity.




Electrical components, wirings, camshaft
Furby is mainly made up of gears, camshaft and electrical components. They have a single revisable motor which moves its eyelids, eyes, ears, mouth, and butt. The cams which move the eyes, ears, mouth, etc are all in a single driveshaft. A full rotation of the driveshaft would put it through all combination of motions. The sequence in which the body parts of Furby moves in determined by the position of patterns of the cam.









Example of a random camshaft
Sequences of animated motions of Furby are determined by the degrees rotated either backwards or forward. For example, for Furby to dance, the shaft must be moved back and forth 20 degrees which will move Furby’s butt but not Furby’s eyes or ears. However, for Furby to dance, processes such as eat, sleep and blink must spin through before Furby dances as the positions can only be accessed sequentially or in sequence.



How this works?
As we can see, the cams (of different shape and sizes) are attached to the camshaft. Imagine when the camshaft rotates, the cams of different shape and size too, rotates. This rotation brings the cam up to the highest point and down to the lowest point when a full revolution is made. Notice that the different cams on the shaft have pointed edges pointing at different directions. When the follower is attached above the cam, the rise and fall of the cam will be more obvious. This application is then applied the Furby toy, causing its body parts to move in a pattern or sequentially.











MOTHERBOARD: The central or primary circuit board making up a complex electronic system. A motherboard allows all the parts of the toy to receive power and communicate with one another.
The motherboard works as the central or primary circuit board in a Furby toy which contains the controllers required to control standard peripheral devices such the sound player of a Furby which enables the toy to produce sound. All these chips that reside on the motherboard are known as the motherboard’s chipset.

We all know that "design" simply means the "look" of a particular object.The art or profession of using design elements to convey information or to create an effect.

Conveying information- For example, the buttons on your cellphones.




Notice that there are little pictures of phones coloured in green and red. Clicking on the green button simply means to answer an incoming call while the red one means rejecting a call or hanging up after you have finished making a call.

Why red and green.

RED- The colour red dontes emergency or danger. Red is the colour that grabs our attention very much. Stop signs and stop lights are red to get the drivers' attention and alert them to the dangers of the intersection. When this application is applied to cell phones, it simply means to "stop" a call or to "stop" an incoming call.

Green-Green has a totally different meaning to that of red. While red donates an impression of stopping, green on the other hand gives us an impression of "going", the permission to proceed. Green also donates stability and balance and red contrasts green, grabbing attention and awareness. When this application is applied to cellphones, it simply means to "answer" an incoming call.






Not every phone has the red and green button. But, they do have buttons whereby we follow the directions given on screen and punch them accordingly. =)

Let’s look at the design of this wooden clip. It is brown in color with a plastic star on it. The star stands out on this clip.

Q: Why does the star stands out on this clip?

A: There is a vast difference of the properties of both of the materials.
The star is made of plastic while the clip is made of wood. The plastic star is smooth and shiny while the texture of the clip is rough and is dull in color.







Now, let’s take a look at this spectacle case. In my opinion, this spectacle case is indeed well designed in terms of aesthetics.

Q: Why is it well designed in terms of aesthetics?

A: This spectacle case is well designed in terms of its looks because it is brilliantly colored. The colors used are bright and matching.






These postcards have really brilliant designs. These postcards are colorful and unique which attracts our attention












This hand phone pouch has a shape of a cat on it. The cat-like-shape is made of some kind of smooth, shiny and silvery material. In my opinion, this material is really attention grabbing because of its shininess.

The pouch is made of fur and the users using this pouch will feel comfortable when holding on to it.






This is the back view of the hand phone pouch. As we can see, there is the tail of a cat at the back of the hand phone pouch. I think that this hand phone pouch is very innovative. In other words, it is simply creative!






Let us take a look at this can of drink. As we can see, part of the can drink is translucent and the half is transparent. I think this can has got a really unique design. I haven’t seen a can designed this way except for bottles.
















These few pictures are found in my house. There a lots and lots more that could be found in our school, workplace and our home! This shows that designed could be seen almost everywhere!

This is a brought foward post of 2 weeks time from the previous post.

8 december 2007
Last week, i have introduced to you the world of designs.

Today, i am going to talk more about Mechanism as this is what we are going to learn in our secondary 2 syllabus.


Mechanism in terms of technology is a device where mechanical joint is used.


Examples of mechanisms


Lever



Lever in doorknob



Pulley


Pulley in crane



Wheel and Axle




Wheel and Axle in Steering wheel




Cam






Cam in mechanical toy





Screw





Screw in clamp






Sprocket


Sprocket in bicycles









Mechanism is a process carried out between two bodies which makes something moves. When two or more bodies are subjected to motion, in result they posses relative motion to each other then they are said to be in mechanism.

21 november 07

















Since this blog is created for design and technology,




Today, i am going to talk about designs.

Design can be both used as a noun and a verb.



In a verb form, to design means to create, fashion, execute, or construct according to a particular plan. Which means using creavitivy to decorate certain things. Things like table, fabircs, wall and even cellings.



Designs can be seen in almost every part of the world.













this is an example of design.All Saints Chapel in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The structure of the building and the patterns carved are also considered a design.












Design, when applied to fashion, includes considering aesthetics( the look of a piece of clothe) and also in function form. In function form, we mean that what does this piece of clothing, when worn on a person, make the person look like. In other words, to make a short person look taller or a thin person look boarder.





Okay. Now lets look at the topic of almost every teenagers =). In terms of design, we say that this handphone is designed to be slim. It is also called a slim slider. It is designed to have a smooth metallic covering look so as to attract and encourage us, the consumers to buy it. As this smooth metallic covering is somehow new to us, we will be also attracted to get this handphone. Another factor that attracts teenagers to get this phone is because of it wide bandwidth of 2.4 inches.

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