Hypothesis:

I believe that creating energy out of sound would be the most effective for our society because sound is created all the time from loud noises, people talking, animals barking and more. Though creating the sound circuit is more complicated, it is advanced and will get the right amount of energy we will need.

 

If the sound circuit is turned on and powered it should create enough voltage to power a triple-A battery in 15-20 minutes. The sound circuit’s advanced version should save the power and store it for later.

 

If the pressure circuit is turned on and powered it should create enough voltage to power a triple-A battery in 30-35 minutes. In the pressure sensor prototype version, it creates power once pressure is applied but one must let go and apply pressure in a rhythm to work.

 

Research:

What is Energy?

Energy is the capacity to do work. It causes change. Energy cannot be made or damaged because it is its own element, but it can be converted from one form to another. Energy is always being transformed or transferred. In physics energy is the numeric property that can be created by kinetic or potential energy. Kinetic energy is energy in motion and potential is energy stored inside an object. Energy is also a quantitative property that can be stored through a system or a body.

 

Are there different types of energy? Energy comes in many forms, but two main forms that sort all different types of energy are kinetic and potential energy. In our world, we have renewable and non-renewable energy sources. For example, coal and oil are non-renewable, which means that they will disappear at one point. Renewable energy such as the wind and pure sunlight are renewable because they are ongoing and are not limited. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/what-is-energy/ 

 

How does energy work? Energy can not be created but has a cycle of how it works. For example, a ball on the floor: If the ball is not moving it still means there is potential energy in it. Once it has been kicked it is not potential energy anymore, it is kinetic energy. It is important to keep in mind that potential energy + kinetic energy = mechanical energy. This means that the ball, once kicked, is known as mechanical energy. If we have a light and turn it on, it produces light and heat, using electrical energy. Gravitational energy is energy made by gravity. If we have an apple tree and the apples start falling off, this means gravity is pulling them down, showing gravitational energy at work.

 

What is Pressure?

Pressure is simply known as the force applied on the surface of an object per unit area over which the force is distributed. Once force is applied to a specific area the pressure increases assuming that the surface area stays consistent, the greater amount of force applied, the greater the pressure. The lower the force applied the lower the pressure. This interconnection between variables is reversed with the surface area, so once the surface area increases the pressure decreases, showing the relation between force applied and pressure and the reversed interconnection between pressure and surface area. This proves the formula pressure (P)= Force(F)/surface area(s). https://bitly.ws/ZMCJ

   

 

What is Sound?

Sound is a pressure wave that is created by loud noises and vibrating molecules or objects. Sound is simply known as a vibration that moves through a medium. It can travel through 3 different states of matter; solids, liquids and gasses Sound is similar to an acoustic wave which is part of the study of mechanical waves. It is a type of energy made by vibrations and waves, such as sound waves. Vacuum space has no matter because it has no molecules to vibrate.

https://www.cs.toronto.edu/~gpenn/csc401/soundASR.pdf 

 

 

Sound starts with a mechanical movement which causes vibrations in molecules. We cannot hear anything in a space, sound must be heard through a medium and not through a vacuum space. Sound travels better through a medium because the molecules are compacted together.

 

Did you know that the human ear can detect vibrations between 20hz-20000hz? Humans can not hear more or less than between those numbers. Hz stands for hertz which is the unit of frequency that we use. If there is a high frequency that means it will produce a higher pitch, meaning that a low frequency will create a lower pitch. Decibels are the way humans quantify the volume of sound. If any sound is below 20hz it is called an infrasound, but if it is above 20000 hz then it's called an ultrasound.http://www.podcomplex.com/guide/physics.html

 

Different types of Energy?

There are two main types of energy: potential energy and kinetic energy. Potential energy is energy that is stored and saved within a system. There are many different types of potential energy like; chemical energy, mechanical energy, Electric potential energy, Gravitational energy, and more. Kinetic energy is energy that moves or works. In other words, energy is in motion. There are many different types of kinetic energy like; electrical energy, sound energy, motion energy and more. Potential energy is not a force, but it can be turned into kinetic energy when an object is held and then let go of.

Mechanical energy is energy in motion. It is a matter of physical sciences. Mechanical energy can be both potential and kinetic energy.

Electrical energy is made by the power of a charged particle to cause motion. The movement of electrons causes electrical energy. It can also just be known as moving energy and is a type of kinetic energy. The faster the particles move the more energy that is created. Sound energy is when a force makes an object vibrate creating sound waves and is a type of kinetic energy. Sound energy creates waves and particles to move, which are made of vibrations of water, air, wood or any other objects. 

 

 Different types of Sound waves

As said before, sound is a pressure wave that is created by loud noises and vibrating molecules or objects. However, there are 3 main different types of sound waves that are used throughout the project: longitudinal waves, pressure waves, and mechanical waves.

Longitudinal waves are waves that travel parallel to the medium used. They are composed of something called a periodic disruption or vibration that takes in the same direction. When a sound wave flows the particles move perpendicular to the direction of the soundwave. Each particle of matter vibrates in its normal position along a specific axis, depending on the direction of the wave. A longitudinal wave can also be called a wavelength, which is the distance between two consecutive compressions or rarefactions. https://bitly.ws/Vhp3

 

Pressure waves, also known as compression sound waves, are waves in which the disturbance is a large span of variation in a medium. Pressure waves are technically a type of longitudinal wave, but still fall into their own category. These waves travel faster than all different sound waves. These types of waves fluctuate between low and high-pressure patterns, for example, the human ear detects rarefactions as a low-pressure wave and compressions as a high-pressure wave(citation).

Mechanical waves are waves that travel through the medium. Mechanical waves can not travel unless they have a medium to go through so the sound can move away from the source. Mechanical waves move at a regular speed going back and forth. An example of a mechanical wave are earthquake waves which travel through the different layers of the earth. These waves are powered by some sort of force vibration or disturbance in matter. Longitudinal, transverse and surface waves are a type of mechanical wave. All these waves listed are identified based on movement throughout the particles. https://www.pasco.com/products/guides/sound-waves 

 

Pitches and Frequency

Frequency is how we measure sound. It is measured by using the units hertz (h); 1 hertz=1 per second. Frequency is a repetitive pattern of something happening and the number of something happening in a certain amount of time, it is the number of waves that have passed a specific point through specific timing. A high-frequency wave means the nose is in a fixed place. The number of waves becomes less in low-frequency waves.

Pitch is the measure of sound frequency in a hertz. It is the property of sound. Pitches depend on the frequency of the sound. There are two different types of pitches, shrill sound and grave sound. A shrill sound is a thin sound with a higher pitch or higher frequency. A grave sound is a thick sound with a lower pitch or lower frequency. Each of their frequencies distinguishes shrill sound from grave sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axx8WfxQDkk

 

Why do we need clean energy?

Clean energy is a great problem for our planet right now. The energy that we are using right now (natural gasses, fossil fuels, coal and oil) will run out at one point. Energy is our main source of life right now. We use it for all technology, for example, computers, iPads and medical technology. Using clean energy reduces greenhouse gasses. Canada uses 8% renewable energy and the rest uses natural gasses, coal and oil (as shown in the graph below). In the United States, they use 3.9% renewable energy and the rest fossil fuels (as shown in the graph below). Currently, we are too reliant on these sources (citation). 

Preserving our environment is a key priority. These energy sources create pollution, and directly impact climate change. Climate change can create droughts, big changes in weather patterns and harm the inner layers of the Earth. Climate Change is very important for humans to do as much as we can to try and stop it from happening.

It takes time and effort to use renewable energy, but it keeps our environment safe, clean and green. Clean energy does not give the certain amount of energy we need, it takes a lot more time to create energy, but with scientific research and a little bit of effort, these ways can work. As humans journey through the ocean and space, this shows that there is more time and money to work on these types of projects, to have a better future for the rest of the world.

 

Mediums

Mediums are substances that transfer energy, light and sound from one place to another or from one surface to another, such as air, water, glass, paper and more.

 

Different types of Pressure

After identifying what pressure is and how it works, the next step will be identifying the different types of pressure and a brief description of each. The 4 main types of pressure that we will be looking at are Absolute pressure, gauge pressure, differential pressure and vacuum pressure.

Absolute pressure is a type of pressure that takes a vacuum space as its reference point. This pressure changes when the location changes where the pressure is measured. Absolute pressure is located in an air-free space in the world. 

Gauge pressure, also known as relative pressure, is a type of pressure that is the distinction between absolute pressure at atmospheric pressure. The pressure measured that has been collected is compared with the standard atmospheric pressure. The measured rate number can be both positive and negative numbers. Positive point values are called overpressure.

Differential pressure is a type of gauge pressure that is the difference between 2 points. Calculating the differential pressure is done by subtracting two different values. For example, Pipe A flows at 300 psi and Pipe B flows at 20 psi. The differential pressure would be 280 psi.

Vacuum pressure is the vacuum area where there is absolutely zero pressure. It is extremely hard to hit the perfect zero point and to put all the pressure out of a specific area. Vacuum pressure is anything less than local atmospheric pressure. https://bitly.ws/Vhp3

 

 

Variables:

Independent variables are variables that do not change and are left unharmed while the experiment is in progress.

Independent: Breadboard, Voltage meter and tweezers 

 

Dependent variables are the variables that change within the project and are the ones that are measured and observed.

Dependent: Voltage, Battery, Time, Amount of taps, Electricity, Energy and Steps and increase in voltage

 

Controlled variables are variables that you can control and put a certain amount of it, when needed.

Controlled: Piezoelectric transducers, Diodes, glue, wires/jump wires, capacitors, rechargeable batteries, LED’s, resistors, Speakers, Quark, Soldering, charging port, alligator clips, sound meter, shoes, normal batteries and insoles

 

Procedure

1. Collected and gathered materials necessary for the project. (Variables listed in Paragraph above)
2. A usable work surface was found
3. Started the first trial of sound-generating energy
4. A Small 3.5 inches black speaker was connected to a basic LED with two alligator clips (1st prototype)
5. Collected data regarding the small prototype and how much energy was produced. In other words, “Did the LED power on?”
6. Another prototype was made to generate energy from pressure
7. One Piezoelectric transducer was connected to the same LED with 2 alligator clips
8. One hit the piezoelectric a few times to generate energy and to turn on the LED, collected brief data on how much energy was created
9. Both basic prototypes were done and all observations were collected for both circuits
10. The second circuit for sound was created but more advanced, this was done by using a breadboard, 5 LEDs, 14 jump wires, 5 resistors, a sound sensor and lastly an Arduino Uno D3
11. The 5 LEDs were placed beside each other, 8 jump wires were connected to create a circuit between a breadboard, and another 6 were placed to connect the breadboard with the Arduino Uno D3
12. Lastly, 5 resistors were spread across the breadboard where needed
13. Moving on, the pressure circuit needed a stable homemade rectifier, so I made one
14. This rectifier was made on a breadboard with 6 jump wires, 4 diodes and a piezoelectric for sensing
15. The Breadboard was placed horizontally on the platform, the negative line facing the top
16. The piezoelectric disc with a positive and negative wire was attached to the breadboard
17. The negative wire went onto the negative line to the top and the positive wire was placed on the positive line under the negative line
18. A jump wire was attached to the negative line on the second set from the right and the other side was placed on the positive line also second from the right
19. 4 diodes were placed in series of 2 in a parallel form
20. 2 jump wires were attached beside each other to connect the diodes and piezo disc
21. Another jump wire was placed on F, 14 and the other side was placed on E, 14
22. 2 more jump wires were added on C, 14 and C, 23
23. A second circuit for pressure was created, and also more advanced
24. The main materials used to build the second circuit were; 12 milk caps, blue kitchen sponges, 12 piezoelectric discs with positive and negative wires, soldering, and lastly a black wood and sown platform
25. Each milk cap had a hole which was cut in the middle, (For support and more effectiveness)
26. The sponges were cut into multiple circles to fit in the milk caps
27. Once the sponge was fit in, each cap was glued onto the platform in a parallel series form 
28. After, a piezoelectric disc was glued onto the top of each cap and all piezoelectric disc wires were soldered according to their positive and negative components
29. Once the second circuit for pressure was complete, I measured the amount of voltage created by each tap to see if the trial succeeded, data and observations were collected
30. Still working on the circuit above, a battery output was connected with multiple wires, to see if any voltage would occur into the battery
31. The battery did not succeed, so other steps were taken further
32. A rectifier (changing one current to the other) was made to change the current powered by the circuit, so I could power an LED or a battery
33. The rectifier was created with; 4 diodes, a resistor, 3 LEDs on a breadboard
34. A diode acts like a one-way switch for a current
35. The rectifier was attached to the pressure circuit and pressure was applied to the piezoelectric transducers, data was collected from the circuits and the amount of voltage
36. The rectifier was unsuccessful with the breadboard, so I soldered the 4 diodes, resistor and LEDs together
37. I started with soldering 4 diodes in a diamond shape
38. Then I attached 3 LEDs, all connected to one wire
39. Then I made 4 of the same diode diamonds and put them aside
40. Moving on, another pressure circuit was made, but through the application
41. First, I made an insole, part from a shoe 
42. Then 4 piezoelectric discs were glued on, 2 on each side of the cut insole
43. Once each was glued on, 2 small holes were made on the right side of the insoles, this allowed the wires on this side to attach to the wires on the other side 
44. Next, two diode sets were placed, one on the left middle and one on the right middle, both were glued on the right
45. After the main part of the insole was done, all the wires were connected and soldered with their right current accordingly
46. Two alligator clips were attached to the two loose soldered wires
47. Once connected, the other end of the clips was attached to an LED
48. The LED lit and all other detailed observations were recorded 
49. Once the main part was complete, I found a used but not so old pair of shoes
50. One shoe was cleaned and the laces were taken out of it
51. The insoles were placed inside the shoe and cut to fit in the shoe size
52. The negative and positive wires were soldered to other wires to make them longer
53. Then, a charging port was connected to a rechargeable battery and the insoles
54. Once everything was in place, all parts were glued and attached to the shoes
55.  
56.  
57. Later, a battery was connected to the insoles and glued onto the shoe
58. I walked around with the pair of shoes for testing and creating voltage in the battery
59. Another one was made for judging later on
60. (Other steps for shoe project)
61. Once this circuit was done, I did another trial for sound
62. First, a large speaker, 10 inches in diameter, was connected with a black wire to a device to attract music to the speaker
63. Then two alligator clips were attached to an LED
64. The observations were collected and done
65. A pressure circuit needed a stable homemade rectifier, so I made one
66. This rectifier was made on a breadboard with 6 jump wires, 4 diodes and a piezoelectric for sensing
67. The Breadboard was placed horizontally on the platform, the negative line facing the top
68. The piezoelectric disc with a positive and negative wire was attached to the breadboard
69. The negative wire went onto the negative line to the top and the positive wire was placed on the positive line under the negative line
70. A jump wire was attached to the negative line on the second set from the right and the other side was placed on the positive line also second from the right
71. 4 diodes were placed in series of 2 in a parallel form
72. 2 jump wires were attached beside each other to connect the diodes and piezo disc
73. Another jump wire was placed on F, 14 and the other side was placed on E, 14
74. 2 more jump wires were added on C, 14 and C, 23 
75. A video was created to show how the rectifier worked and how pressure was able to create energy to charge a battery, exactly proving my point

 

Basic pressure circuit (Step #1)

Before starting a large circuit I needed to make a small and basic model. Overall throughout this step in the project, many observations were made.

Building the circuit:

When building the circuit the steps have to be quite precise. This circuit was built on a breadboard, which was easier because no soldering was needed. Every hole in the breadboard was something different, some were negative and others were positive. The piezoelectric transducer had to be connected to a positive lane and negative lane exactly beside specific wires. If the wires in the breadboard were not put all the way in, the whole circuit wouldn’t work. The capacitors were sometimes troubled to put the two ends in their places because of the short length. This circuit looks easy to build and create, but this small circuit was extremely difficult and hard to formulate. But in the end, it makes a big difference to this project.

Trials:

Every trial had the same capacitor but they each had their numbers, amount of taps and maximum amount of voltage that could fit in. It was hard to figure out that it is very unpredictable what this circuit and all the other circuits built will end up happening to the numbers. I noticed when I was doing the trials that when I was measuring the voltage with the volta metre the energy and voltage from the capacitor would drain extremely fast, this is why I had to keep repeating multiple trials because the capacitor would drain by accident and take all the voltage and energy I made from it. Throughout the observations written, I noticed how even though the capacitor read 50 volts, it didn’t go to 50 volts, it went to somewhere between 46-47 volts. Near the end of each trial the amount of voltage that was saved through the persistent amount of taps was slowing down, instead of rising by 1-2 volts, it was rising by 0.30 or 0. something volts. 

Charging the rechargeable Battery:

After knowing this circuit works, I tried to append it to a rechargeable battery (3.7 Volts). Once the rechargeable battery was attached, I started to try to charge it. After about 100-150 taps the battery was charged, in-between the taps I measured the amount of voltage. This time when the voltage was measured the energy and voltage saved were not draining. After the battery was charged I attached it to an average size circuit light bulb. The light bulb lasted about 22-23 seconds. The rechargeable battery did not take too much time to charge, 150 taps took about a minute or a minute and a half.

 

Advanced pressure circuit (Step #2)

Once the small prototype pressure circuit was made, I created another one to collect and store more energy. 

Building the circuit:

When building this circuit I noticed that attaching milk caps to the bottom of the piezoelectric discs was extremely helpful. After putting milk caps and also bouncy sponges, this increased the voltage by a little and helped throughout the experiment’s building process. When attaching the discs, 2 wires were connected by the positive and negative wires. The positive wires seemed to be on the inside of the white part of the piezoelectric disc, and the negative side was on the outside of the disc. When building this part of the experiment a rectifier was attached, which had a capacitor, multiple diodes and a resistor. After the discs were glued on, pink sponges were attached to the top.

Trial and fail:

Before this circuit started working, there were many trials and failures. Once the circuit was done being built it was connected to a voltage metre, but the metre did not read anything. After trying multiple times something appeared to be disconnected wrong. The positive and negative wires were not soldered correspondingly and many wires ripped off. This circuit had to be fixed and materials had to be replaced with others. After the first trial, another one was attempted. The circuit didn’t seem to work, even after fixing the wires. After trying a few times, with a little bit of research, the circuit needed a rectifier. The rectifier was attached to the big circuit and was connected to the voltage metre. After trying multiple times the voltage metre read quite a lot of volts, from 20-31 volts per a few pushes. However, one thing that was quite an important observation was how the rectifier heated up and burned. Another failure was when the soldering that was done to the wires was ripping and ruining the materials. 

Charging a phone: 

After getting the circuit working and running, it was connected to a charging port. Many ways were tried to connect it and power a phone. First, the port was connected directly to the circuit. Then, it was connected by a rectifier to the charging port. The charging port got hot and parts were starting to burn. This harmed the circuit a little and drained some of the electronics that were charging. Before getting this part of the project to work, the electronics that were getting charged started losing battery. After getting the experiment right, the charging port was connected with a USB to a Samsung phone. The phone started charging after applying pressure to the circuit and something that was noticed was the phone kept charging on and off when applying a little bit of lighter pressure.

Charging a battery: 

When charging a battery with a large circuit, it charges extremely fast. After charging the battery it was connected to a large circuit light bulb. It was powered on for a while. However, the light started very strong and over a little bit of time the light started fading away and flicking in and off. After taking the battery out of its port, it was put back in and the light started shining a little bit. 

Powering an LED:

When creating this circuit something that was noticed was that the circuit provided quite a lot of voltage. The voltage was not being used properly. After connecting an LED straight to the large circuit nothing lit up or happened. After a few tries multiple diodes were added. An LED was placed beside the rectifier and tested.

Application Shoe Pressure Circuit (Step #3)

After creating the small prototype and the large circuit, the next step was to include it in an application.

Building the circuit:

Creating the circuit took time. Every step was useful. Something I noticed while building this circuit was how many Piezoelectric transducers could be connected without too much soldering and electrical tape. One thing that was observed while doing this part of the experiment was that using diodes helped throughout the process of turning on LEDs, charging batteries, and power electronics. This process was made easier when the piezoelectric discs came with the positive and negative wires attached to them properly. There was no need for soldering anything to the Piezoelectric discs and took a lot less time than expected. When putting together the diodes and Piezoelectric discs it took a little bit more time because connecting all the parts were very complicated. The diodes were soldered together and attached to an insole. When creating this circuit a few piezoelectric circuits were added on the top and bottom of the insoles. Building the footstep application was a lot easier the second time. While attaching the discs and the diodes problems were faced. 

 

Trial and Fail:

During this part of the project, 3 trials were made. On the first trial, attaching it to the shoes was complicated. While attaching it to a pair of shoes the insole itself was not fitting into the shoe. This created a large problem because the discs started coming off and the wires were not long enough to reach the battery on the outside. After fixing this problem another one was encountered in this trial. Once everything was in its spot, it was time to tape and fasten everything on the shoe. While fastening everything in its belonged spot the tape was coming off and not attaching properly. 

For the second trial, while measuring the voltage something that was noticed was how the battery was being charged extremely fast. The voltage would reach 20-23 volts. But at the same time, the volts took hard pushing to gather. This footstep started with quark to give more voltage, but then once taken off and replaced with insole foam it had given a lot more power. In the beginning with the quark it was too stiff and would insulate the power. Strong stomps were needed to actually get power. However, once it was replaced with the insole foam it had worked better and needed light touches. For the rest of the trials, it was observed that while collecting observations, the discs stopped calculating voltage at one point. The discs were slowing down throughout the process and started producing less voltage.

 

Charging a battery with the footstep application

After creating the footstep application it was time to charge batteries. To connect the battery and the circuit it needed to be attached with alligator clips and multiple different wires. When the battery was attached, a voltage metre was kept on the side for later use. Something that was observed was how the footstep was creating lower voltage every time the amount of voltage in the battery got filled. 

 

Charging a Samsung A7 Phone 

After creating the pressure circuits and knowing they all work a phone was connected to 2 of them to charge the phone. 

 

Connecting the phone to the circuits:

To power and charge the phone, it needed to be connected to the circuits. To make this work I started by trying to attach the circuit directly to the phone with an alligator clip. That way did not work, so I moved on. After trying that way, another way was used. This time a rectifier was attached to the circuit and then connected to the phone. After putting the pieces together it worked. Throughout this part of the project, something that was observed was how the phone didn’t need a lot of push to start charging. One important observation was that the phone needed consistent energy to charge. So if one stops pushing, it will stop charging and needs a boost of pressure to start powering on again.

 

Battery Drainer

To use multiple batteries they needed to be drained for the most accurate results. This made making graphs and collecting data easier. 

Creating the battery drainer:

To drain the batteries a circuit was also created. This circuit was extremely simple. It was made of 4 jump wires, an LED and a resistor. When the battery drainer circuit was connected to a rechargeable battery or just a normal battery it started draining by the LED. When building the drainer it needed a resistor or else the circuit wouldn’t work. 

Process of Draining:

The process of draining the battery was quite simple. All that was needed to do was to connect the battery to the jump wires corresponding to the negative and positive sides of the battery. Draining the battery with one LED took a while. That is why sometimes a few LEDs were used. Even though more LEDs were attached it still made the process slow, even slower than before. Sometimes to make it easier another piece was used that acted like a jump wire but connected to the battery right away instead of using electric tape or alligator clips. 

Other ways of Draining:

This circuit was not made to be way too reliable. Sometimes other ways were used to drain batteries. Such as putting the batteries in electronics and devices to drain them, or a fan that used the rechargeable battery which was used the most. On this part of the project draining the battery wasn’t needed. However, the most accurate results would work with an empty battery or at least an almost-empty battery. When draining the battery it did not usually go all the way to 0, but would drain till 2V or 1.3 Volts.

 

Batteries

  One very important material in this project was a battery. Batteries helped to give estimates and know how much energy can be saved with a certain amount of push.

Different types of batteries:

2 different types of batteries were mainly being compared and worked with in this experiment. The first one was a rechargeable battery and the second one was a normal alkaline or lithium battery. 2 different types of rechargeable batteries were used, a 3.7 volt battery and a 9V pp3 volt battery. With the normal batteries, 3 different types were used, a triple A battery, a double A battery, and a 9V pp3 volt battery. This project needed the rechargeable batteries. The normal batteries could not be used because they heated up, ruined the circuits and did not work properly.

Materials Differences

Before creating this experiment many materials were purchased. Lots of materials were new and many observations were written.

I noticed that when putting diodes they did not have a positive or negative side like the LEDs, one side was not longer than the other, and they were both equal lengths. A diode was very important to the circuit, it was seen that without the diodes nothing would work, each diode had to be placed carefully and handled delicately. I also noticed that each diode has a small silver dot on the black wrapping of the diode itself.

 On a resistor I took a look at the multiple colours, some colours were blue and black, others were beige and a darker colour of red. Many of the resistors came in larger packs with numbers on the plastic wrappings of them before they were taken off. 

The breadboards that were purchased had negative and positive lines on their outer sides. On the block of the board, there are multiple numbers on the sides, top to bottom. Beside the number 1 to the right were different letters in the colour black, or red depending on what board the scientist bought. There were multiple types of breadboards, some were small and could fold a little from the ends, and others were larger and longer. One last thing I took a good look at was the small dents coming from one side of the breadboard.

To measure the amount of voltage that was being saved and drained, I had to use a voltage meter. The voltage metre had quite a lot of numbers on it. There were different ways of calculating the voltage and many different symbols around the digital reading screen. The voltage metre also had 3 large holes on the very bottom, although there were only 2 wires to read the volts

One of the main items in my experiment was the LED’s. The LEDs were used in many circuits for testing and measuring voltage. One thing that had been noticed was how many LEDs were burning out. The LEDs were easy to place and attach to other materials.

The main item that was used throughout this project was the piezoelectric transducer or disc. The piezoelectric disc had a white circle in the middle and surrounding it was a gold metal layer. A positive and negative wire was attached to the disc. Depending on what piezoelectric material was used, the negative and positive wires could have been soldered together by the company it was built. Some of them had a plastic underlayer which made the disc bigger. Of course, the transducers and discs all came in multiple sizes. However, all piezoelectric discs and transducers came in circles.

When doing the sound part of this project a speaker was used. The speaker was just the speaker part without any outer layer like a normal one. It had two hard metal bumps coming out of it. This was used to connect the positive and negative wires. Under the black hard part on the top, was something that looked like a metal attracter. The speaker had a yellow soft part beside the magnet-looking object.

Lastly, one important component that was observed throughout this project was the soldering kit. The soldering kit came with a tweezer, solder wire, soldering wax and soldering iron. This experimental project took a lot of soldering to connect wires. The soldering iron got extremely hot and was dangerous to touch. Before using the soldering iron, the wire had to be waxed before use. 

 

Sound Speaker Circuit (Step #1)

The second part of this project was sound. Sound was a very hard way to create energy. Before starting a complicated circuit a basic model had to be created.

Creating the circuit:

Creating this circuit was very easy. A speaker 2 alligator clips and an LED were attached. When attaching the speaker to the alligator clips there were 2 small metal parts, positive and negative, coming out of the speaker. That is where all clips and wires were attached. After creating this circuit, vibrations were created by pounding onto the speaker. The speaker needed hard vibrations. Even after connecting the speaker to a laptop and playing hard party music, an LED did not turn on, although the vibrations were really strong. In the beginning of the first trial pounding the speaker did turn on the LED. After trying to raise the volume as loud as it could, the speaker still did not provide any energy to go through to the speaker.

Challenges:

The sound circuit was hard to create, which created obstacles and challenges. One challenge that was faced on this part was when the black plastic on top of the speaker started to fold and dent. Just to figure out how to attach the alligator clips took time. The vibrations had to be powerful or else it would not be powered. 

Sound large Speaker Circuit (Step #2)

Continuing this bit, an advanced or bigger model was made. The same thing was done but with a larger speaker

Creating the circuit:

To create this circuit the same steps were used, but this time an 8-inch speaker was used instead of a 3.5-inch speaker. This circuit was created with the same components because it was just a larger prototype. It did not change the results and even though it was also connected to a laptop which loud music was blasting from, it did not work.

Conclusion:

To conclude this part of the project, even though mant=y times were tried it did not work and respond to the interactions it was given. The speaker was extremely hard to manage and with a big speaker it did not work at all, although a bigger speaker was supposed to work better.

Sound sensor Circuit (Step #3)

The last step or trial of the sound part was trying a multi breadboard circuit. 

Creating the circuit:

While creating this circuit an online programming source called Arduino was used. This was done after creating the breadboard circuit. The bread board circuit included a lot of jump wires which got tangled up and started coming off easily. A material that is very special in this circuit was a sound sensor. The sound sensor was supposed to collect sound and transfer it to energy through this circuit. The circuit had multiple variables, such as LEDs and resistors. Another important variable was the Arduino Nano board. The Arduino Nano Board was the variable that was connected to the programming source. This circuit was created on 2 boards and took quite some time to make an account and learn how to program it. There was not quite enough time to program and control it. Even after trying, the sound sensor failed and did not work.

 

Analysis:

Basic pressure circuit (Step #1)

As stated before, this project needed precise hands and work. This is because if one thing is mistakenly placed and not put right, the whole circuit would be damaged and the steps had to be retraced. This circuit was built onto a breadboard, which was easier than soldering because there was no need for heat and melting metal. This saved a lot of time. The breadboard that was being used had many holes that were positive and negative. On a breadboard there are different parts that mean different things. The breadboard that was used in this circuit was a half board. Which is half the size of a normal breadboard. On a half breadboard there are many different compartments which attach together. More about the breadboard will be talked about later on ‘Material Differences’. The reason the circuit won’t work if the components are put all the way in is because if the components weren’t in the holes then the circuit wouldn’t be a circuit anymore because there would be missing parts and attachments. This would make the circuit incomplete. This circuit was extremely hard to build because there is only one way the circuit was built and many ways were tried. Each LED and piezoelectric disc had to be connected in a way where all of them would attach together in a loop. This had to work to make sure the energy flow wasn’t going somewhere else, other than the capacitor. It took a while just to build this small circuit because it was very delicate and needed professional hands on it. This circuit had to be reliable and operate properly because it was the leading step to the main circuits.

Before the analysis, it had been stated that all the capacitors used were the same. Not the same as in the same piece, but the same components that were identical. More will be explained about capacitors in ‘Material Differences’. This circuit was hard to tell the numbers of the different trials because the amount of pressure per each tap is unpredictable. Since each tap could have been stronger than the other, the numbers did not come out exact but were not far apart either. The capacitors that were attached to this circuit would drain extremely fast when measured. This was because the positive and negative wires were held far apart from each other making it easy to charge the capacitor but fast to drain it. This was the substantial way capacitors were built. When the capacitor was being charged it did not go all the way to 50 volts because the creator or producer of the capacitors round the amount the capacitor can hold. ANother reason is because capacitors can start to get slower and weaker once it gets fuller with volts, because the positive and negative wires are ready to give up.

When recharging a battery, persistence is needed. When the battery was placed to charge with taps. It was measured every certain amount of taps using the volta metre. This time the battery did not lose its voltage. This happened because the only time rechargeable batteries can lose charge is when they are left unused for a long time.

Advanced pressure circuit (Step #2)

An advanced circuit was made because real results were needed to show how much energy can be made.

The milk caps and sponges on the bottom of the piezoelectric discs were helpful because the extra soft sponge gives it more bounciness. This helps the piezoelectric discs rebound and increase voltage. Adding the sponge also gave more elasticity. On a piezoelectric transducer, the positive part is in the middle because it is 70% more efficient in that spot and does not burn the device or item that was being charged or powered. The negative wires were on the outside, near the golden lithium part because the energy contracts when an electric field or pressure is applied to the disc. The only problem that might have been faced was the disc heating up and the wire burning. A rectifier was attached because it needed the current to change. The rectifier changed alternating current to direct current. The rectifier was important because the circuit did not work without it. Without the rectifier the circuit would not work because the rectifier has the diodes which help create the exchange in the current, a resistor which made sure nothing got burnt and a capacitor which would store the energy, letting the phone charge more, when pressure applied is stopped. Pink sponges were added to the top of the discs because it also gave it more spring. The pink sponges and the kitchen sponges with the milk caps were both in the circuit for the same reason.

There were many trials and failures because to get correct results multiple ways had to be tried. On the first trial nothing was being read on the metre because the positive and negative wires were not soldered correspondingly and many wires ripped off. Multiple materials had to be replaced because of their state. Some materials had broken, others had been burned. For the second trial, a rectifier was needed because connecting the circuit directly to the voltage metre did not produce any energy. As stated above, rectifiers were needed to change the current. When the rectifier was attached, it burned because the amount of energy was too much for the small rectifier. Soldering was quite hard to do, this is why the wires kept ripping.

After creating the circuit, and made sure it worked. It was time to connect it to a charging port. The first trial on connecting it was unsuccessful because there wasn’t enough energy and the port was broken. The charging port, once again, needed a rectifier. When the rectifier was added the charging port started getting extremely hot. This was very dangerous. The problem did not get quite fixed because at the end the problem was with the type of charging port. This port was a cheap type and could not stand a lot of energy going through it. There was not enough time to buy different types of charging ports and retry and test them again. When the phone got charged it started draining because there was a small light connected to the port which told if the item was getting charged. The reason why the light was powered was because the energy from the phone was charging the light. The phone needed light but consistent pressure to actually charge the phone. 

Charging a battery and powering an LED was extremely similar to charging a phone. Most of the components used to charge the phone were also used in charging a battery and powering an LED.

Application Shoe Pressure Circuit (Step #3)

The last step was made using application because making an extra circuit helped advance the project. The piezoelectric transducers did not need any soldering or electrical tape because the discs were close together and just needed a few jump wires to be connected. The diodes didn’t only help in changing the current, but helped to keep the energy flowing and create a working circuit. Many piezoelectric discs did not come with wires, or positive and negative sides attached to the disc. With the ones that were bought for this project, it was easy because the wrong ones were bought. However, the mistakenly bought ones worked better and saved lots of time. The diodes took lots of time to solder because they had to be soldered in groups of 4, shaped like a diamond. Everytime the diodes were soldered, the other ones would fall off. A piezoelectric circuit was put on each of the sides because this would create double the energy in a short amount of time. The point of this part was to collect lots of energy and show that energy can be stored while walking. Each side had 3 piezoelectric discs because there was not enough space to put more, and the insole had to fit in the pair of shoes.

As said in observations, 3 trials were made. These trials were made because to complete a proper circuit and understand the results, many tries had to be made. As putting in the insole for the shoe was not really hard, troubles were still faced. The insole had to be cut and replaced a few times, so it could fit in the size of the shoe. Since the shoe had a tall height, the wires could not reach the top, which means it could not be connected to a battery. This had to be solved by adding and soldering more wires, so it could reach the top. Since the discs were quite flexible and delicate, they needed to be handled carefully. The piezoelectric transducers were also ripping off because of the amount of pressure on them. The material these components are made of make it very complicated to tape it on fabric or cotton sort materials. Attaching and taping the materials to the shoe was very important because to test out the shoe and see if it was working, the shoe had to be worn, without any pieces coming off.

On the second trial, the battery was charging fast because harder pressure was applied. Since the amount of pressure applied every time cannot be measured, results were not as accurate as wanted. The quark that was placed on the top was an insulator. When it was put in the beginning, it was supposed to help create more energy. However, after a few tries, it was noticed that the quark was insulating the energy and stopping it from going to its full amount. This is why insole foam was used instead after. The insole foam was a lot softer and created a good bounce for the transducers. Very hard pushes on the discs will just wreck it, and oppose what the results were supposed to be. When lighter pressure is added, this creates good energy and gives reasonable results. When using a piezoelectric disc, they had to be changed often because these discs were weaker and got ruined really quickly.

 

Charging a Samsung A7 Phone

The circuit was directly attached to the phone with an alligator clip because it was supposed to generate energy right away. A rectifier was attached because it was supposed to change the current from AC to DC. The phone charged after that because now that the current was changed and a resistor was added. Applying too much pressure to the circuits did not work any better, in fact, lighter hits or taps with a finger generated more energy. Consistent energy was one large problem throughout this whole entire project. This was because if one push is applied and held there, no energy would be created. However, if it was pushed up and down on a rhythm, it would create lots of energy.

Battery Drainer

As stated before, a battery drainer was used to drain the energy or volts in the battery. This was made because it was hard to find an electronic or mechanical device which used a rechargeable battery. So, a homemade battery drainer was created. A circuit was the simplest and easiest way to drain it. This circuit needed a resistor because without it, it would burn the LED and the circuit would not work. When the LED burned out, there was no way to tell if the circuit was working or not. If the circuit was working, then the battery had not been drained to its fullest. Sometimes the circuit needed to be taken off the battery and then put again because it would be close to being empty but needed a few more seconds. Draining with one LED took a while because one LED did not need a lot of energy to power. On the other hand, the battery had a lot of power to give so it took a while. The reason that it took more time to drain the battery when more LEDs were connected was because the energy got stuck onto one battery and started burning all of them. 

Batteries

The triple A battery was used because it did not take too much voltage to charge it. After, a double A battery was used to see if energy from the piezoelectric would charge the battery. The 9v batteries were used when a great amount of energy was actually produced. The reason that rechargeable batteries must be used, is because normal batteries if recharged would burn up, creating a fire hazard. On the other hand, rechargeable batteries are made from finer material which allow it to recharge safely. Rechargeable batteries create a safe way of creating energy and putting it directly to the battery itself. Normal batteries are only meant to be used one time and made from the company it was created in. Other than that, normal batteries are very unsafe to recharge. If a normal battery was used by accident to recharge, then unplug the source right away, and make sure it does not heat up or else it can burn, creating a fire hazard.

Materials Differences

Expressed before, many materials were used. 

Diodes do not have a positive and negative side, this is because the diode always lets the current flow in one way, no matter what. It is always kept in one direction. The circuit would not work without the diodes because the current would be all over making no energy run through the circuit. Another reason is that without a diode the socket may explode or burn. Another thing noticed on a diode was a small silver dot on the wrapping. This is there because it shows the side with the negative charge where the electrons run.

On a resistor there are many colors because they represent the different tolerance rating of each. Brown means 1%, Red means 2%, Yellow means 4%, Gold means 5%, Violet means 7%, and Silver means 10%. Usually resistors have 4 colors around them. If there are only 3 colors around them, then their default tolerance would be 20%. How to read a resistor? To read a resistor, something that must be known is what to read off of them. The first 3 color bands represent the resistors values. The fourth color represents the multiplier, in which multiplies the value and the last band represents the tolerance value of the resistor. Before the resistors were taken from their packages, a few bold white numbers were showing on the plastic. This is the amount of tolerance per pack and sometimes represents how many there are in the specific packet. 

The following material was the breadboards. The breadboards had negative and positive lines on the outer sides of them. These outer sides are called ‘Terminal Strips’. These terminal strips are meant to attach different electronics and components onto the board. The terminal strips are there to make it simple to connect many components. On the breadboard there were many numbers on the sides. This represented the separate holes in the board. They are meant to help the scientist who was working with it, this just makes plugging in everything simpler. On the right of the numbers were letters. These letters were placed there because they are also used to help identify which component was going where. Multiple types of breadboards are used depending on the ice of the circuit built. The breadboard that was often used was half size because small circuits were created. The small dents that were coming out of the board, were meant to attach as many breadboards together as needed.

A voltage metre was used very often. There are many different numbers and ways of measuring voltage. A curvy line on a voltage metre represents alternating current and a straight line represents direct current, DC and AC current. The abbreviation A on a volta meter represents what current the energy is measured in. In this situation it would be amperes. On a voltage meter there are different resistance settings. On all meters there is a greek letter, omega, which represents ohms, standard unit of resistance level. There are also negative and positive dials on the meter. Such as, DC+ or DC-. If no current is being measured then the 2 wires may be put in the wrong spots, for negative and positive. There are many other symbols that will be explained later on in judging.

Another important material was LEDs. The LEDs used were burning out because if too much energy is given to the LED from the circuit, then it would completely burn the miniature light inside the small covered coloring on the outside would show no light. LEDs were easy to place because the positive and negative sides were easy to tell between each other, because one side was longer than the other.

Piezoelectric discs have white circles in the middle because they protect the metal covering and create an easier way to collect energy. The gold outer part is the disc or transducer itself. Positive and negative wires were attached to the disc because it made it easier and instead of soldering wires on, it came prepared and already done. A plastic underlayer was put on some discs because it protects the materials the discs are made from, lead zirconate titanate, barium titanate, and lead titanate. All the discs came in circles because it was just a current way companies have made it. The transducer could have been any shape.

The speaker that was used had two metal bumps coming out of them because this was how the wires were connected. The two bumps were connected to negative and positive components in the speaker. Under the top part of the speaker is a magnet. When this magnet shakes or moves by vibrations or pounding, then it starts to create energy. A yellow soft part was inside the speaker to protect it from damaging easily and collect vibrations better.

Lastly, was the soldering kit. This kit came with a tweezer because holding the soldering wire was easier and made sure one's hand does not burn. Soldering wire obviously came with the kit, because this was the wire that would be melted and used to attach the components together. Soldering wax was used to melt the wire easily. The wax was yellow and extremely sticky for easy application. Lasly, was the soldering iron, it was hot because it needed enough heat to melt the metal.

 

Sound Speaker Circuit (Step #1)

For this project a lot of pounding was needed because this speaker was weak and could not collect vibrations easily. The speaker that was used had a large magnet, which was hard to make it vibrate. Speakers have quite a strong base which is complicated to shake without hitting it quite hard. Connecting it to a laptop for loud music still didn’t work because once the vibrations hit the magnet, all of the vibrations were already gone. Creating no energy for the LED to turn on. Pounding the speaker did turn on an LED because the vibrations were hard enough, as said before. The loudest music, still could not turn on a small LED.

Challenges that were faced throughout this part of the project was the black top plastic part folding in and creating a dent. This was not a large problem because it did not harm the circuit, it only harmed the component itself. The speaker was not the best and did not have great quality.

Sound large Speaker Circuit (Step #2)

An 8 in speaker was used because it was thought that maybe with a bigger speaker more energy would be created. Even after trying a larger speaker, the same thing happened. This happened because the magnet was even heavier than the last speaker, making it larger and harder for the magnet to move. The music from the larger speaker still did not work. Although it was even louder. 

This did not work because either the music was not loud enough or it is not possible to create working energy with sound.

Sound sensor Circuit (Step #3)

The last circuit that was created was tried by online programming because there wasn’t much that could have been done. Arduino is an online company and website which sells components that help with programming and online software. Their website can be used to create accounts which help program items bought from them. The main material in this project was a sound sensor. The sound sensor is meant to collect sound and transfer it. This sound sensor is called a breadboard sound sensor. Another important item was the Arduino Nano Board, this board helped to connect the programming with the circuit board. The board had a plug which was connected to connect the laptop to the breadboard circuit. This circuit was created on 2 boards because there were many wires and components. The programming did not work because it needed advanced software engineers and there wasn’t quite enough time to read through books and pages to know how to program this circuit. If the programming was done, the circuit could have succeeded. If there was enough time this program could have been taken further to the next level.

 

 

Conclusion:

Overall to answer the big question, “Can we generate energy out of sound and pressure?” and “Which way works better?”. Yes! We can create energy out of sound and pressure. However, pressure is the easiest way to create clean and green energy. Throughout this experiment we have seen how energy can be created with more sustainable resources. This project proves how scientists in the world can create well done energy. Even though results that were gotten were small, with some advanced programming and technology this idea will work. Pressure using piezoelectric discs was not easy but at the same time not hard. If this way was used and advanced, it could be a way of actually storing and producing usable energy for the earth. The hypothesis that was guessed was not correct. Before, it was believed that sound would create more energy and would be able to be saved easier. However, that was incorrect. Using pressure to create energy and electricity was more productive. While working on this experiment most of it was based on and had a mind set of working on pressure circuits. After trying multiple times to use sound, it failed. Sound is an extremely complicated way of creating energy. It cannot be reliable for everyday use. If the small pressure circuits that were created were added to application this would create lots of energy. As shown in the observations, how using a footstep pressure circuit creates lots of voltage. To conclude this project, pressure is the most reliable, dependable and well grounded way of making energy. This is a great way to change the future without wrecking and exploding the planet. Humans can live and know they are using clean and green energy without harming the environment.

 

 

Application:

Saved energy from pressure sensors can be used for metro lights, train ticket machines, and safety gates in bus stations and airports. If pressure sensors are added to metro stairs and crowded areas; even residential stairs, energy can be created and saved for future use in minutes. Sound circuits that have been created and advanced by technology teams can be placed around airports and loud areas. Saved energy from the advanced sound circuits can be used for toy cars, fans and other similar items and objects.

 

Sources of error:

• Circuits weren’t working and many wires were ripping out of their spots and breaking
• On the main pressure circuit the support with the glue sticks kept on falling off
• Soldering kept ripping and burning me, it was extremely hard to work with
• Attaching negative to positive corresponding wires needed extra attention and precautions to power the circuit
• Burnt many LEDs throughout the process
• Keeping all jump wires, Capacitors, LED’s and other materials connected to the breadboard without falling off and disconnecting 

Citations:

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Gertler, M. (2020, January 03). What is Sound? University of Toronto.

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Unknown. (2020, July 30-31). Converting Sound Energy to Electricity. Ansal University. https://bitly.ws/Vhp3

 

Kalyani, Vijay & Piaus, Anjali & Vyas, Preksha. (2015). Harvesting Electrical Energy via Vibration Energy and its Applications. Journal of Management Engineering and Information Technology. 2. 2394-8124.

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Toppr. (2015). What is Pressure? Definition, Formula, Unit Examples. BYJU’s.https://bitly.ws/ZMCJ

Wiegand, A. (2017, December 17). Types of Pressure: Absolute pressure, gauge pressure, differential pressure.WIKA.https://bitly.ws/329kZ

 

 Briscoe, R. (2024). What Is Sound? Pasco.

https://www.pasco.com/products/guides/sound-waves

Scott Gahn, R. (2021, January 14). What is Energy? A Deep Dive Into Understanding Energy. Just Energy.

        https://bitly.ws/36bMs

 

Rajshri. (2017, February 17). What is Sound? Dr.Binocs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdGyvGPZ1G0 

 

Rajshri. (2016, February 14). Energy. Dr.Binocs. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0LBegPWzrg 

 

Wales, J. (2024, February 12). Pressure. Wikipedia.

https://bitly.ws/38czR 

Ghandriz, Y. (2021, September 21). Effect of wide observation of nature in renewable energy. Researchgate.https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Wide-observation-to-renewable-energy-sources_fig1_355433390 

 

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Britannica, E. (2024, February 12). Pressure waves. Merriam-Webster. https://bitly.ws/3a6Qa 

 

Briscoe, R. (2013). Sound Waves. Pasco.https://www.pasco.com/products/guides/sound-waves

 

Kent, H. (2023, November 21). Mechanical waves. Study.com. https://study.com/academy/lesson/mechanical-waves-production-propagation.html#:~:text=Mechanical%20waves%20are%20waves%20that,%2C%20water%2C%20and%20solid%20matter

 

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Acknowledgements:

1. Riham Ahmed 
2. Mohamed El Gamal
3. Kim O’Keefe  (Help in understanding circuits)
4. Dr.Miri Renert (Grammar and language use)
5. Madison Paul (Grammar and language use)
6. Nada Younis (Vocabulary ideas and support) 
7. Rami El Gamal (Vocabulary ideas and support)
8. Dr.Shahin Jabbari (School mentor)
9. Will Stach