TECHNOLOGY 3rd COURSE

INDEX

• UNIT 1 - Technological process and ICT

• UNIT 2 - Electricity and electronics

• UNIT 3 - Object representing systems (CAD)
• UNIT 4 - Building materials
• UNIT 5 - Control systems, programming and robotics

• Vocabulary for written and oral report
• Control sheet for sealed activities
• Summary sheets

As actividades sinaladas con * son requisito indispensable para obter aprobado na parte de libreta e indicadores das probas de pendentes. Igual carácter teñen as Summary sheets, ó final do boletín.

FIRST TERM

UNIT 1: TECHNOLOGICAL PROCESS and ICT

Last course you learnt what Technology was, its working method (technological process) and the difference between Technology and Science.

Technological process consists on investigating/describing a problem, proposing solutions, designing a prototype and checking if it works/solves the initial problem.

It is essential that you are able to describe objects properly, so have a look at the following vocabulary.

GEOMETRIC SHAPES

SIZE

Technology deals with materials and technological products. A chair, for instance, is a technological product that comes from the material “wood boards”, which comes from trees (raw material).

Any technological product or material can be described from 4 technological points of view: its function, its conformation, its socio-economical and environmental impact.

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION OF MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS

It is very important that you learn the specific vocabulary used to describe the working properties of materials, which can be classified as it follows:

PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS

Act. 1. Explain with examples which would be the necessary steps to apply the technological process to this problem: “construction of a books shell”.

Act. 2. Choose 6 technological products around you that come from different raw materials (at least one of each different origin). Write the name of the intermediate materials.

*Act. 3. Please complete the following chart in order to describe an object from a technological point of view: 

Act. 4. Find information on new building materials such as: aerografeno, grafeno, kevlar, silicene, coltan, upsalita, corn and potato starch...

Act. 5. Please create with Google Drive a process sheet for the previous project. It should contain, at least, 5 steps (your teacher should seal this activity!)

*Act. 6. Find out if we have these tools in the workshop, and write their name in Galician.

Act. 7. What would you suggest to make our workshop safer? how would you improve your workstation to make it more suitable?

Act. 8. Copy this budget to a spreadsheet, insert the necessary equations to get the results, and suggest which activity it is related to (your teacher should seal this activity!) 

ICT in Technology

*Act. 9. Explain the differences between free software, open software and paid software. Complete the chart with examples:

10. What is it “the cloud”? What are its advantages and disadvantages?

11. What does Creative Common mean? Complete the chart and explain what is the meaning of each license

12. What is it Full HD? Which video format has better resolution?

13. What is it 5G Technology?

UNIT 2 : ELECTRICITY AND ELECTRONICS

Electric current is the flow of electrons through a conductor. Since millions of electrons flow per second, we use a multiple: Coulomb

• 1C (Coulomb) = 6,241 ×1018 electrons

In order to have a current flowing, we must have an electric circuit, which is a set of connected components.

If components are not connected, we say there is an “open circuit”: electrons will not flow. If we connect wires without any component then we have a “short circuit”, which is very dangerous (intensity grows too much and would burn us).  

An electric circuit is composed by:

1. Generators, which provide the energy necessary to move the electrons. Types of generators:

1. Batteries: they use chemical processes to generate the electric direct current
2. Dynamos: they transform motion into electric direct current
3. Alternators: they transform motion into electric altern current
4. Photovoltaic solar cells and hydrogen cells: which use renewable energy sources

In direct current electrons flow always in the same direction (“real sense” from negative to positive terminal; “conventional sense”, from positive to negative terminal).

2. Receptors: they transform the electrical energy into another type of energy

3. Control and protection components

1. Control: they let us stop, start or change the direction of the electric current. They are switch, changeover switch (it has two outputs) and push botton
2. Protection: they prevent components of the circuit to be damaged in case of strong currents

In electricity there are 3 main electric quantities:

• V (Voltage, it is measured in Volts -V-): it is the difference between the electric energy per charge in 2 points of the circuit. The charge always moves from the point where the energy is highest to the lowest point. It there is no voltage, there is no current. It is also called potential difference (p.d.)

• I (Current, it is measured in Amperes or Amps -A-): is the number of electrons (Coulombs) that pass through a specific point in 1 second, i.e., the speed of the electrons. The higher voltage we apply to a circuit, the higher current. The higher current, the more speed motors have, the more  lamps shine and resistors get hot.

• R (Resistance, measured in Ohms - Ω -): it is the opposition of the components of a circuit to the flow of electric current. Conductors (metals) have low resistance, while insulators (plastic, woods) have high resistance. The thinner and longer a material is, the higher resistance. Hair dryers, stove, griddles, have resistors to transform electric energy into thermal energy.

These 3 quantities are related through Ohm’s Law, which can be expressed in 3 different but equal ways:

V=IxR    I=V/R   R=V/I

A graphic way to learn this equation is the “Ohm’s triangle”:

*Act. 9. According to what we have seen by now, which of the following lamps will shine stronger in each circuit? (Suppose they all have the same resistor). Why?

Act. 10. Create a sheet or scheme in which you classify the components of a circuit, write their name and symbol.

*Act. 11. Draw the adjoining circuits using the standard symbols.

Act. 12. Resistors are ceramic elements which value can be determined from the coloured rings they have on their surface:

Draw 3 resistors valued: 2600Ω, 13000Ω e 3k7Ω, and calculate the value of any 3 your teacher gives you.  

Act. 13. The resistor a conductor has depends on the physical and chemical properties of the material it is built: its length, its width and its material. (R= ρxL/S) Which will be the resistance of a conductor 10m length, ρ = 0.010Ω mm2 / m , and section: S = 1 mm2? And an identical conductor which is double length?

Types of circuits: the components of a circuit can be connected in series (when the output of one element provides the input for the next element), parallel (the various components share the same input and output, in other words, the wires from both sides are joined together), or combination (where some elements are connected in series and other in parallel):

When several resistors are in series, the total value of Resistance is the sum of all them. In a circuit with a lot of lamps in series they shine less, since the resistance will be too high.

(RTOT=R1+R2+R3+...)

On the other hand, when resistors are in parallel, the total value of Resistance is lower than the one each resistor has on its own, so current will be higher. If we are talking about lamps, they will shine more than on their own!

Check in the workshop what happens in the previous circuits, and add one more lamp. What happens? What if we disconnect one lamp? Now try to connect them in a combined circuit and describe what happens.  

*Act. 14. Find the missing quantity applying Ohm’s Law

To measure the value of the electrical quantities, we use a multimeter: an electrical device which combines a voltmeter (to measure Voltage), ammeter (to measure Current) and a ohmmeter (to measure Resistance). Para medir o valor das magnitudes eléctricas nun circuíto, utilízase o polímetro:

There are some rules to measure quantities:

• To calculate the value of a resistor, it must not be connected.
• To measure current, the multimeter must be connected in series, as if it was another component
• To measure voltage, multimeter must be connected in parallel 

Use the multimeter in your workshop to identify the parts of the adjoining multimeter

Act. 15. In the workshop, connect the following circuit, complete the sheet and draw haw you took the measurements using a multimeter (your teacher should seal this activity!) 

Act. 16. Design the electrical circuit for the lamps of a room: there must be 2 lamps and 2 “points” where you can switch them on and off.

Electric power is the speed at which electric Energy is produced or generated. A powerful appliance absorbs a lot of energy, very quickly. A low powerful generator produces low energy. Power depends on the Voltage and Current that flows through the circuit:

• P=VxI  (measured in Watts, which are VxA)            
• P=E/t  , so  E=P.t  (Measured in Watts or Joules)

Act. 17. Calculate the power each resistor disipates in the adjoining circuits:

Act. 18. A hair dryer has a power of 2300W. How high is the current it absorbs (it is connected to the net, V=230V)? How much Energy does it consume if it works for 10 min?

Act. 19. Try to fill the following electric invoice.

UNIT 3: REPRESENTING OBJECTS (CAD)

Act. 1. Try to draw an isometric perspective based on the following views. Do you know any software to draw the views? What is the difference between Tinker CAD and QCAD?  

Act. 2. “To dimension” an object is to measure and state its dimensions. This cannot be done any way: there are some rules to care about. The fundamental one is to use the exact number of dimensions, not more or less than the precise ones. Dimension figures must be placed over an arrow limited by auxiliar lines. The dimension units are not stated on the arrow.  

Other dimensioning rules are:

a)        Dimension arrows must be drawn outside the figures, and never over the object edges

b)        Diameter or radius dimension arrows must never be horizontal or vertical

c)        Dimension arrows should be parallel to the object. Auxiliar lines should be perpendicular

d)        If possible, dimension arrows and auxiliar lines will not traverse the object itself

e)        Figure dimensions must be centered over the dimension arrows

*2a) According to the previous specifications, point out in the figure which dimensions are not properly stated

*2b) Dimension the following drawings (figure out that each square is equivalent 1mm)

Act. 3. Scales: when we draw reality we must adapt it to our paper; with this purpose “scales” were defined. A scale is “S x:y”, where x is our drawing size and y is the real size. For example: S 2:1 is to draw something with double size. Draw and dimension your sharpening pencil with the scales 1:2, 1:3 and 3:1.

Act. 4. These exercises drawings are “bitmap images”. Could you explain the advantages and disadvantages of the bitmap format relative to a vector format? Could you write the name of different picture’s software which uses bitmap and vector format?

Act. 5. What are the “layers” in CAD software? What are they used for? What is it drawn usually in them?

UNIT 4: BUILDING MATERIALS: WOOD, METAL, STONES, CERAMICS, PLASTICS AND TEXTILES 

Read and solve the proposed activities for each building material.

4.1. Wood

Wood is, besides stones, the oldest building material used by human beings.

It’s composed by cellulose and lignin. It exists in abundance in nature, it is easy to extract and process and it has good technical qualities: buoyancy, thermal and electrical isolation, hygroscopicity, good mechanical strength; it is biodegradable and recyclable. Its derivatives are malleable.

It is extracted from the forests and it goes through the following processes before being a useful material: it is carved, decortized and transported to sawmills. There it is sawed, drIed and brushed (try to find out the machinery that is used in these processes as well as the tool with which wood is mechanized in joinery and the basic binding methods -mainly assemblies-).

Kinds of natural woods

Act. 6. For the previous trees, find out their galician name, draw their leaves and point out the main uses of each tree.

*Act. 7. Find out the consequences of the monocultive of eucalyptus.

     WOOD BYPRODUCTS

4.2. METALS

These are materials with multiple properties and utilities. To get them you have to find and extract the mineral from which they come from, which is usually found underground.

Metals are widely used in industry because their excellent properties are very useful in the construction of machines, structures, mechanisms, circuits and tools.

The most important metal is IRON and metals derived from it are called FERROUS METALS. The ones which do not contain iron are called NON FERROUS.

Metalworking is the process of working with metals to create individual parts, assemblies, or large-scale structures. The term covers a wide range of work from large ships and bridges to precise engine parts and delicate jewelry.

Metalworking has evolved from the discovery of smelting various ores, producing malleable and ductile metal useful for tools and adornments. Modern metalworking processes, though diverse and specialized, can be categorized as forming (conformado), cutting (corte), or joining (ensamblado) processes.

Forming is the metalworking process of fashioning metal parts and objects through mechanical deformation; the workpiece is reshaped without adding or removing material, and its mass remains unchanged.

• Rolling (calandrado), where the material is passed through a pair of rollers
• Extrusion (extrusión), where the material is pushed through an orifice
• Die forming (estampado), where the material is stamped by a press around or onto a die
• Forging (forxa), where the material is shaped by localized compressive forces

Cutting means to divide a metal in several parts or to remove excess material using various kinds of tools. In cutting metals the waste is chips or swarf and excess metal.

Cutting processes fall into one of three major categories:

• Chip producing processes most commonly known as machining (mecanizado). The most important ones use files, drill, metal saw, lathe, milling machine or CNC
• Burning (abrasado):  the metal is cut by oxidizing a kerf to separate pieces of metal
• Clean cut: guillotine or power shears  

There are also some miscellaneous specialty process, not falling easily into either of the above categories

Joining metals can be done through fixed (welding, brazing or soldering and riveting), or detachable joints (screwing).

Act. 8. Draw different techniques of joining metals.

4.3. STONE PRODUCTS

The craft of stonemasonry (or stonecraft) involves creating buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone from the earth, and is one of the oldest trades in human history. These materials have been used to construct many of the long-lasting, ancient monuments, artifacts, cathedrals, and cities in a wide variety of cultures.

Masonry is the craft of shaping rough pieces of rock into accurate geometrical shapes, at times simple, but some of considerable complexity, and then arranging the resulting stones, often together with mortar, to form structures.

*Act. 9. Explain the difference between concrete and mortar. What uses do they have?

Act. 10. Explain the difference between limestone and clay. What uses do they have?

Act. 11. What’s the name of the technique that uses mortar to fill gaps in a wall and smoothe it? And the one which uses plaster?

Act. 12. Name different quarries of stones in Galicia.

Act. 13.  In the drawing aside some building materials are numbered: please find out their names

Act. 14. Which is the difference between natural stones and stone binders? find 4 examples of each kind. Which are more expensive? In which kind of edifications are each one used? Any of them are used to join stones?

4.4. PLASTICS

Plastic is material consisting of any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic compounds (polymers) that are malleable and so can be molded into solid objects. They are usually synthetic, most commonly derived from petrochemicals, however, an array of variants are made from renewable materials such as polylactic acid from corn or cellulosics from cotton linters.

The world's first fully synthetic plastic was bakelite, invented in New York in 1907 by Leo Baekeland who coined the term 'plastics'. In developed economies, about a third of plastic is used in packaging and roughly the same in buildings in applications such as piping, plumbing or vinyl siding. Other uses include automobiles (up to 20% plastic), furniture, and toys. The high consumption of plastics in the developed world is leading to serious environmental problems, aggravated by the lack of custom of recycling in many homes. 

A POLYMER is a large molecule, or macromolecule, composed of many repeated subunits based in CARBON. Due to their broad range of properties, both synthetic and natural polymers play essential and ubiquitous roles in everyday life. Polymers range from familiar synthetic plastics such as polystyrene to natural biopolymers such as DNA and proteins that are fundamental to biological structure and function. Polymers, both natural and synthetic, are created via POLYMERIZATION of many small molecules, known as monomers.

Act. 15. The petrochemical industry is concerned with the production and trade of petrochemicals. It directly interfaces with the petroleum industry. A major part is constituted by the plastics (polymer) industry. Find out how it works the general process of extracting and transforming petroleum into polymers. What is it the fracking?

Act. 16. Plastics manufacturing is a major part of the chemical industry, and some of the world's largest chemical companies have been involved since the earliest days. Could your name at least 3? Which are the most important Spanish companies?

Act. 17. Thermoplastics can be remelted and reused, and thermoset plastics can be ground up and used as filler, although the purity of the material tends to degrade with each reuse cycle. There are methods by which plastics can be broken down to a feedstock state. Find out something about this topic.

Act. 18. How does it work the municipal recycling system where you live? (types and colors of containers, collection system, separation and recycling centers…)

Act. 19. There are differing estimates of how much plastic waste has been produced in the last century. By one estimate, one billion tons of plastic waste have been discarded since the 1950s.Others estimate a cumulative human production of 8.3 billion tons of plastic of which 6.3 billion tons is waste, with a recycling rate of only 9%. Much of this material may persist for centuries or longer, given the demonstrated persistence of structurally similar natural materials such as amber. What consequences are derived from this abusive production?

Act. 20. The presence of plastics, particularly microplastics, within the food chain is increasing. In the 1960s microplastics were observed in the guts of seabirds, and since then have been found in increasing concentrations.The long-term effects of plastic in the food chain are poorly understood. Do a research in Google about this topic.

*Act. 21. The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) established a classification system in 1988 to allow consumers and recyclers to identify different types of plastic. Manufacturers place an SPI code, or number, on each plastic product, usually moulded into the bottom. This guide provides a basic outline of the different recyclable plastic types associated with each code number. They are all thermoplastic. Could you find the name of other thermosetting and elastomer plastics?

Act. 22. As with metals, there are several techniques to form plastics. Have a look at the most common ones (in the Aula Virtual you can see some animations) and find out 5 items around you that are built according to each technique (please consider adding the roll forming technique as well). Try to find the name of the plastic using the SPI codes seen before.

4.5. TEXTILES

Fiber or fibre is a natural or synthetic substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorporate fibers, for example carbon fiber and ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene.

Synthetic fibers can often be produced very cheaply and in large amounts compared to natural fibers, but for clothing natural fibers can give some benefits, such as comfort, over their synthetic counterparts.

The union of textile fibers gives rise to a thread and, in turn, by means of wires fabrics are made.

Act. 23. Find the name of 2 fibers por each item above (one for each synthetic). Describe their properties and uses.

Act. 24. Have a look at your closet or at your mates’ and your own clothes: which are the most common fibers?

Act. 6. In the figure aside some textile labels are displayed. Draw them in your notebook and and find them in your clothes and your partners’ ones.

*Act. 24. Please copy and complete the following chart in your notebook:

*Act. 25. Solve the test:

UNIT 5: CONTROL, PROGRAMMING and ROBOTS

Act. 1. What kind of control system is the one of the figure? Can you name any everyday example of it?

Act. 2. Choose any android (human looking robot) and point in it its main components

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VOCABULARY FOR WRITTEN AND ORAL REPORT - PROJECT PRESENTATION

1. APPROACH

We have built XXXX to (EXPLAIN YOUR NEED OR INITIAL PROBLEM) in a Project called “XXX”.

We have worked in our project in Tech lessons; we were told the XXXX  should include several building materials. We decided to use XXX and YYY because… (YOU CAN EXPLAIN HERE THE MAIN PROPERTIES AND USES OF THE MATERIALS YOU DECIDED TO USE).

We have also worked in our Project in XXXX lesson (IF ANY OTHER SUBJECT IS INVOLVED) lessons.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE SOLUTION

We chose (XXX) because…

• It is a …
• They have…
• We think…
• In our opinion…

Technical description

Analysis of form

• It consists of a main body and some accessories…
• Its shape is…
• Its measurements are (height, width and depth)
• Its colours are…

Technical analysis

• The XXX consists of different pieces:

• The main body is made of XXX. Its characteristics are…
• The basis withstands the structure, and it is made of (XXXX). Its characteristics are…
• The pieces are joined by (glue, hinges, nails, screws...)
• The manufacturing processes that have been used are…

• Drawing: pencils, rulers, carpenter rulers, tape measures
• Sawing: saw (backsaw, handsaw, miter box)  
• Roughing: rasp, lime, sand paper, plane, chisel
• Drilling: brace, drill, hand drill, gimlet, awl
• Joining: pliers, screwdrivers, hammers, glue gun...

Analysis of function

• Our XXX is going to be used to...
• It is going to be part of an installation placed in the hall of our high school celebrating...
• ….

Socio-economical analysis

• The environmental effects of its use are not worrying since all the materials used are recycled or reused
• If this product was to be sold it would cost… because…. To find out how we made the calculations, the Budget (see our written Technical report) should be consulted.
• It could have been even less polluting if we had used ….. instead of ….

3. SPECIFIC FEATURES OF THE MANUFACTURING

Written report: here it would come your plans (views and perspective), your process sheet (describing with detail each step, tools, materials, responsible students, safety rules) and your budget).

We have already described the materials and tools we used. In order to get an exhausting description of the manufacturing process, the process sheet should be analysed.

Nonetheless we would like to focus on the safety measures that have been adopted:

• General Health rules:

• Have we had any accident? Did we make a report of it?
• We have kept our hands clean and dry, our table clean and tidy…
• We have tried not to be noisy, aggressive, bully…

• Safety rules:

• We haven’t worn necklaces, rings or loose-fitting clothes while using machines
• We haven’t wasted materials or damaged our tools
• We have used protective clothing: glasses, gloves…
• We have obeyed signs: mandatory, danger, first aid & emergency, prohibition
• Before using tools and machines we have learned how to work with them
• We have made it sure that tools and machines were in good conditions before using them

4. VERIFICATION, PRESENTATION and EVALUATION

• In our opinion, our project accomplishes our initial objectives: XXXX...
• We have used all the materials required in Tech class, as well as the junction methods
• The finish of the project is quite good because we varnished-painted…. And the XXXX were decorated…. But….
• Our group has worked properly since all of us accomplished their task…. But…

CONTROL SHEET FOR SEALED ACTIVITIES