Quantifying the Movements of an FJ Sailboat
During Fall semester 2014, I took class 2.671 - Measurement and Instrumentation. Like most MIT classes, during this class we don't just sit down and learn about "measurement and instrumentation". The main bulk of the class (in addition to many other assignments true to MIT style) is our "Go Forth and Measure" project. Students "go forth" and measure/study anything they are intersted in.
My passion is sailing and sailboats so I decided to study the FJ (Flying Junior), a small 15-foot college sailing dinghy.
True to MIT style, we did much more in 2.671 than a single individual research project.
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Weekly Labs & Lab Reports
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Semi-daily in-class quizzes
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Two formal presentations
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Lab based scientific paper
and other projects
The "lab based" paper is below. The basic concept was that by reading the measurement of a strain gauge attached to a soda can, then opening the soda can and getting a second strain gauge measurement, we were able to calculate the pressure inside the soda can before it was opened. This pressure was the pruessure inside the can when it was sealed closed!
During this semester it was a personal goal of mine to learn LaTex so as you will notice I wrote my papers in LaTex.
Also with LaTex's completely customizable formatting you can make LaTex papers more effective so they comunicate more clearly.