Week 14: My thoughts and research of Airbags

Airbags were first introduced in the late1960s. The automotive company, Chrysler, were the first to make a production car with that safety feature. The airbag was invented by John Wenrick, a retired industrial engineer. Since the year 1998, all cars in the United States are required to have airbags on both the driver and passenger sides. According to statistics, airbags reduce the risk of dying or serious injury in a frontal crash by thirty percent. Today, there may be up to eight airbags in a single car.
Before looking at the details of the inner workings of an airbag, we need to understand the laws of motion. Moving objects have momentum unless an outside force acts on the object. A car traveling at a certain speed comes to a sudden stop, objects that are not attach will continue going at that speed. That is why airbags and seatbelts are important to have in order to decrease the risk of death or injuries. Bringing momentum to a halt requires a force acting over a period of time. Airbags are to increase the time of impact and to distribute the force across a larger surface area. Airbags also slows down the speed of the passenger between a small time frame. The time period between the deployment of an airbag is about a fraction of a second.
The airbag inflation system contain three main component: the bag, inflator, and the crash sensor. The bag is made of nylon fabric and is folded inside the steering wheel, dashboard, seats and or doors. The sensor sends a signal to the inflator to inflate the bag when it is activated. The activation itself is a process. Inflation happens when there is a collision force equivalent to running into a wall at ten to fifteen miles. A mechanical switch is activated when a mass shift closes a electrical contact, which alarms the system that an accident occurred. The inflation system contains chemicals that actually ignites and cause a small explosion. Sodium azide reacts with potassium nitrate to produce nitrogen gas which inflate the airbag. The airbag itself is deployed at 200 mph! The gas is then released through the tiny holes in the bag to create a soft cushion for the passenger to land on. This process happens in one-twenty-fifth of a second. Any earlier or later can result in an injury caused by the airbag and not by the car accident. The powdery substance released by the airbag is cornstarch or talcum powder. They are use to keep the bags pliable and lubricated when in storage.
Most up-to-date cars have more than two airbags because a collision can occur at all angles. Side torso airbags inflate between the door and the occupant. These airbags are to prevent any injury to the pelvic and lower abdomen region. Many different design come into play when constructing a side airbag. Manufactures have to shape the airbag to where it can cover a large according to the design of the car. There are also curtain airbags that deploy overhead near the top of the door frame to prevent any head injuries. Some airbags even maintain inflation up to seven seconds for rollover protection. Knee air bags were introduced in 1996 on a Kia Sportage vehicle. The airbag is located beneath the steering wheel to prevent any collision on the lower body.

Week 13: Griffith Observatory

My trip to the Griffith Observatory was a worthwhile experience. Although I did not learn any new material, I did enjoy my visit at the observatory. I had studied astronomy outside of class because of its great interest. My favorite part about the trip was the “Centered of the Universe” show. The show portrayed each event with great details highlighting every important scene. The Big Band Theory interest me the most because of its vast uncertainty. How did it start and why? Why did atoms suddenly come together at that time? Why not another time? There are so many questions to ask and nobody can truly give an answer. We just don’t know. The universe was formed around six billion years ago and is continuing to expand and galaxies are spreading further apart. Galaxies were form due to gravity, pulling particles together in a web-like structure, called dark matter. Astronomers explain that dark matter acts like a scaffold on the universe and that dark energy permeates all of space and increases the expansion rate. I find it strange that Astronomers can explains all of this in detail without being able to see dark matter or dark energy. But black holes cannot be seen, and yet scientists are able to claim its existence by studying the surrounding structure of the black holes. Maybe dark matter and energy do exist, but it is still in a hypothetical form.
During my visit at the observatory, I did not look through the telescope. It is something I will do when I receive the opportunity. I was never able to understand how telescope works. I understand that there are a series of mirrors in different shape and size, but how can one truly see a far distance? I know that light is captured and is redirected in many ways until it reaches the peep-hole, but it is out of my understanding to comprehend such a technology. The light that we see are old, so the current time of the object that we are looking at may not be in that same position or condition. Were looking at the past?
I understand that my paper does not describe my views or thoughts about the experience at the observatory, but a lot of my thoughts and questions did arise from the visit to the planetarium.
Another concept that I do not understand is why time decreases gravity is present. If I have two clocks that are set at the same time and I set them a great distance from each other, they should read the same time. I understand that time is older as one approaches the center of the universe, but the rate of time around gravity should not change. For example, a person that lives in California should have the same time as a person living in Florida, but the time may be read differently because of Earth’s rotation. Time itself is not changed, but can be read differently. So how do gravity increases the rate of time?
Other than theses thoughts, I did find it interesting how the planetarium had weight measures for each of the planet in our solar system. The pendulum at the main interest also intrigues me. I don’t understand how the movement of the Earth effects the circular motion of the pendulum.

Week 12: TLW Ch.20-23

As the five continue on their journey through Tibet, they meet the same kind villagers that gave them a place to rest and food to eat. The six met a missionary and a shepherd along the journey and had supplied them with great help and hospitality. Marchinkovas died in his sleep while they were on their daily rest. The group were shocked because he was not ill or showed any kind of discomfort. The five were on a trek to India and had to cross the Himalayan Foot-Hills. The Five claimed to had seen the yeti, an abominable snowman, during their journey through the Himalayan. In chapter 22, while the Five were on their way on the snowy trail, Paluchowicz fell from the white cliffs and vanished into the mist. They were in disbelief because he made a vast journey of 4000 miles and died recklessly. At the end, soldiers near the India border rescued Mister Smith, Rawicz, Kolemenos, and Zaro. When they were in recovery, they all suffered mentally. Even though Rawicz had food, he would always store his bread in his clothe or under the pillow. They were in delusion. It has been 18 months of traveling and old habits die hard. But at the end, they recovered and what had been a month, felt like a night's rest for them. In conclusion, they went their seperate path and Rawicz joined the Polish Army and started a new life with a new family. What I didn't understand was why Rawicz did not try to find them after their separation.

Week 11: summary on 197-210

Alexander Cheung writes an opposing essay about the legality of file sharing. Napster created a program that allowed people around the world to download any kind of music. The music industry did not approve of such program that would steal away their business. They took legal action against Fanning, the creator of Napster, in a publicized court case. The music industry succeeded and shutdown Napster’s operation, but his peer-to-peer file sharing still functioned. The P2P program enabled people to download music and other files from different users. Matthew Scrivner from his essay, “In Defense of Music…” explains that, “music is not a tangible object, but rather experiences that cannot be owned by anyone save for the individual listener.” In contrast, Spanier argue that illegally downloading music can be seen as plagiarism is not a good argument. Music and plagiarism does not correlate well because of their vast differences. Music does not support the educational goal, but plagiarism and the stealing of music can be seen as a copy righted material because its an intellectual property. Amos Esty in “Investigating a Mega-Mystery,” explains that the early inhabitants of this planet drove large land animals to extinction. He says, “humans moved rapidly through the Notrth America continent, wiping out most megafauna.” Even in this century, people or continuing to hunt down animals to near extinction. Many animals become endangered and therefore, are protected by special agencies. In recent date in Africa, they are only about 15,000 lions reaming compared to 2 decades ago when 150,000 lions were thriving. Many organizations are helping to protect wildlife from extinctions, creating barriers around national forest to protect them from the thriving species; humans. But some argue that rapid climate change can also play a role in the exticntion of animals, but climate is always changing. There are still a large debate on the issue because there is no singularity in the matter. Noah Feldman, in “America’s Church-State Problem,” explains that evangelicals and protestants do not focus on of religious traditions but rather focus on identifying moral values that can be shared by everyone. He added, “If we could be more tolerant of sincere religious people drawing on their beliefs and practices to inform their choices in public realm, and at the same time be more vigilant about preserving our legacy of institutional separation between government and organized religion, the shift would redirect us to the uniqueness of the American experiment with church and state.” In the early times, church governed the government itself until they were separated by the powers invested by the people who rose against the church. In modern time, the system is balanced in a way that we become operational, maintaining the separation of church from state. Although it is acceptable to have a religious perspective in a given position, it is not ideal because it may influence the choices a person may make that can affect many lives who are not of the same faith.

Week 10: Chapter 11-17

In chapter eleven of this novel, Slavomir describes his journey towards the Russian border. As they venture to the Baikal Lake, the prisoners crossed path with a fugitive girl name Kristina. She had a tragic past in regards to the Soviet Union and thus, fled away from her imprisonment. Kristina had an uplifting effect on the guys and was a positive addition to the crew. She was a strong girl and was able to keep up with the guys. In the next few chapters, Slavomir describes his journey through the Russian terrain to Mongolia. The crew faced many friendly people along their journey. They were all very kind and even offered food to the crew and were especially friendly towards Kristina. Starvation was not a big issue among the crew because they were resourceful. They kept hidden through their journey and avoid the local civilian. They hunted animals and they meticulously raided the villages for food. As they reached Mongolia, they faced a new terrain. The weather was warmer and very humid as the terrain was filled with rivers and trees. They crossed paths with many fishermen and farmers. The crew even helped the Mongolians to farm more efficient and in return, food was provided. Their journey through Mongolia was prosperous, until they reached the Gobi Desert. It was terribly hot and dry. They even crossed paths with a locus swarm and Mongolian travelers on camels. The crew’s bodies ache and were dying of thirst and exhaustion. Luckily they had spotted an oasis and were lead to believe that God had put it there in their favor. After they left the oasis, Kristina had developed a swollen feet and stumbled many times due to exhaustion. She later died on one of the men’s shoulder. She was given a proper burial and the crew was back to seven. In chapter seventeen, Makowski had showed the same symptoms as Kristian and eventually passed away too. The six who were left ventured through the desert and eventually found muddy water and snake to suppress their hunger.

Week 9: DLA summaries

My first directed learning activity was a diagnostic test about women in combat situations. My objective was to develop a focused body paragraph proving that women can mange stressful combat situations. In the workforce, women are occupying important and stressful jobs. They are taking the roles of doctors, lawyers, law enforcement, and firefighters. Women are faced with stressful situations everyday and most are caused by men. Women are constantly preyed upon by men and their pursuit for sexual relations. Even the workforce within the Fontana Success Center provides evidence for women’s workmanship. Ninety-nine percent of the workers in that facility are occupied by women. Society should not overlook the credibility of women serving in the Armed Forces. My second directed learning activity was about argumentation, opposing view point of the Salem witch trials. This activity was designed to help me to analyze rhetorical techniques used by parties on more than one side of a debate. In one of the activity, I had to argue for a person in their defense. The second part to that activity, I had to argue against the person. This activity helped me to understand the importance to be able to understand the two positions so I may have a defense to the opposing view. My third directed learning activity was about plagiarism. After writing the concept essay, I felt that I need to brush up on the rules about plagiarism. It is hard to come up with your own idea about the materials you may read. It is hard for me to describe a specific term or topic without using some of the words of the writer. But I was suggested that I summarize the materials into my own thoughts and create my own understanding of it and perhaps make a connection between the two. Anything outside of your work would be considered plagiarism and anything that you create, in example, your life’s experience would be considered an original material. Some safe practice that I already use is summaries based on memory and make notations whenever I decided to quote the material.

Week 8: The Long Walk ch. 7,8,9,10 summaries

In chapter seven of The Long Walk, Slavomir Rawicz describes the life in Camp 303. He continues in describing every detail of the camp and its infrastructures. The prisoners’ job was to build their own huts, a living quarter, to shelter them and have a place to sleep. Camp 303 was lifeless, a barren land in the middle of nowhere and snows often. The Camp provided educational class, but ti was based on the ideas of communism. There was a library and Rawicz would often visit it, but most of the books were based on communism and the Soviet Union as well. Rawicz worked at a ski shop and later was hired by the commissioner to fix his radio. The plan to escape was in the midst of his mind and made propositions with other prisoners. In chapter eight, Rawizc speaks with the commissioner’s wife and they conversed about the escape of camp 303. She offers her help because they have a mutual understanding of each other that prison life is not so great. In chapter nine, Rawicz constructs a plan to escape and recruited several prisoners that would be beneficial for the journey ahead. He and the fellow inmates made preparation, gathering and constructing as many tool as they would need to make it across the journey. Food, clothing, weapons, and other essentials were prepared, packed inside bags that the commissioner’s wife had gave them. In chapter 10, Rawicz and the others made an attempt across the snow covered fields and went over and under the barbed wired fencings. Minutes went by as they struggled to get across. Rawicz explains the feelings with great details that I felt nervous myself and having that fear that I would get caught. The first obstacle was successful and they took off running into the forest. The journey described was a sensational feeling overwhelmed by freedom. They traveled thirty miles a day and rested each night having a fulfilling dinner and enjoying each other’s company. They have a great journey ahead of them for the next few weeks.