Sebastian C.

1/28/26: Today with a speaker, amplifier, and frequency generator I wanted to see how a lit match would react to infrasound. Although some frequencies actually worked quite well, I could still hear them which meant it wasn’t a true infrasound. Next class I will research why that is, and try to get a subwoofer that I know can play the right frequency

This week I spent most of time researching and thinking about what I want to do in the next semester. While I want my work on the Aerospike project to continue, I also want to look into a project of my own that I can say I am absolutely passionate about. After Bob showed me a video of people being able to put out fire with sound, I was fascinated, causing me to look into it’s effectiveness and realize there was many flaws, and previous ways it has been applied were quite frankly useless and inapplicable to human problems. If I do end up starting this project, it would already mean taking peer feedback, as Megan once read to the class that a peer’s feedback was to be engaged and passionate about the work I do, and that’s definitely something I want to see in all of the work I do in this second semester. As of right now i’m researching how widespread and effective my plans could be for a public environment, as it is obvious that hearable sound would be far to loud for public application, leading me towards infrasound, but infrasound especially in consideration of high intensity, may not be much better. Although I don’t know specific values and how I may able to keep my experiments useful and safe while still also being effective. There is a company called Sonic Fire Tech that uses infrasound for home defense against wild fire, although they admit it can only put out small fires, and it is not coming in contact with humans, just creating a protective shield around the house.

A goal for this new semester is to find and explore another project that I can work on that specifically targets my interests. Some peer advice I want to incorporate for this semester is to use my time wisely and be passionate about the work I do.

12/12/25: We just recieved the metal 3d rocket nozzle package, and I made a realization that one of them can’t actually be classified as a aerospike nozzle, which also means the altitude efficient properties an aerospike has can’t be carried over for the other rocket. Since I don’t want to waste the rocket nozzles I realized we could test the altitude efficiency of the two different nozzles by putting them in a vacuum chamber, and see how much fuel they are using compared to the thrust they are producing. I’m not certain about the specific ways we can do this, and therefore I have a lot to think about, but I’ve developed some good ideas for the future of the project.

11/21/25: I just discovered the pressure transducer I want to implement into the project, although I also realized that each nozzle may require a different diameter pipe to test in. Therefore the design must be easy enough to make multiple of or disassemble easily. I also discovered with Bob that we could use a Raspberry Pi to make the calculations we want to ultimately get the flow rate of our designs. Meghan said she would 3d print and sinter some nozzles, so overall I am happy with this weeks work and excited for the hopefully quick start in 2 weeks as a result of our earlier efforts.

11/14/25: For a substantial period of time, much thought has gone into how the flow test would be executed. There are many ways to do it, although the aim was for the most accurate test while still being feasible. Although the whole picture is incomplete, the nozzle of the aerospike would fit into something like a plumbers pipe which would eventually lead to an orifice plate constricting the amount of water fitting through, increasing velocity, and according to Bernoulli’s Equation creating a pressure drop, and as a result and increase in pressure on the opposing side. Two pressure readers would be drilled into the pipe so that we could get a differential pressure reading. Which is directly proportional to the square of the flow rate, which just means we have to take the square root of the value. Although this math can be done with a pen and piece of paper, it would be interesting and beneficial to the rest of WISRD if we created a differential pressure reader that could also calculate flow rate. That is the part that is undecided, and to my knowledge the most difficult. For now I just know we need to convert the analog pressure reading into information that something like an Arduino can read. Further brainstorming on how that may be possible and at a reasonable price needs to be done, which will start at the beginning of next week with my partner.

10/30/25: I have been on a little wait from the Aerospike project after the new 3d printer was ordered, although still thinking about how to test how the different characteristics of the various Aerospike designs would effect the rocket in action. I also want to try and find a new project that I could possibly start, although I honestly don’t know where to start, I just want to do something that I genuinely feel connected and passionate about. For both dilemmas, much brainstorming will be required, so I think I should take opportunity of this time to develop some helpful brainstorming skills.

10/15/25: With a priority on creating the metal nozzles we have ran into some issues, the metal filament did not work well with the printer meaning we need a new one specifically for metal printing, which was purchased. I saw an opportunity connecting the Cosmic Ray Rocket project with our Aerospike project, specifically the nozzles. Although more thought needs to go into how it will be done.

9/22/25: For the past two weeks I have tried to deepen my understanding of the physics and reactions going on in the Aerospike project, I learned what I believe is crucial although in the process I wanted to know more than what was necessarily feasible or necessary. One thing i’m proud of is how I now have a good understanding of NASA’s General Thrust Equation which will later become useful, also how I believe the project is on a good track with some necessary adjustments prioritizing what we want to test.

9/5/25: This week I aspired to put my desires for the Aerospike engine into a physical form, wanting the nozzle and the metal 3D printing filament. I learned how the Wind tunnel works for the Fall Poster Session, and towards the end of the week I sadly realized that the Aerospike engine project was much more technical than I thought. The metal tube and carbon fiber filament were things that I already believed were solved and that we could move on from, but I was wrong. Realizing that I would have dig deeper into what would work for the project, after discussing with Bob, we both agreed that next week I would have to begin with a drawing or writeup of the physical Aerospike to give me some clarity and provide organization on the project.

8/29/25: This week I focused much of my attention towards understanding the Aerospike Project that I want to be involved in. After I felt that I had achieved a good and well rounded understanding I wanted to see if me and Mateo were on the same page, as he was out when I developed my understanding with my own findings, mostly on Youtube. Towards the end of the week I wanted nothing more than to just get to work, figuring out the fillaments and nozzle for the 3D printer that would allow making a steel Aeropsike nozzle possible. After sending them to Megan and checking the compatibility with the 3D printer, I think it’s safe to say I ended the week off strong.

8/22/25: Today I began with talking to Mateo about the Aerospike, and after building interest in that I continued my conversation with Bob from last class about The Radio telescope Project. Even making a possible connection between projects, measuring light from the flame coming from the Aerospike. With that, from what I remember from conversations with Bob about waves, we could kind of create our own little project with that. Of course some more thinking needs to be done, but overall I believe I took off pretty well this week.

I want to outline my plan for this project, and part of the reason for this is so I can present it to acoustic companies in hopes that they’ll allow me to use expensive equipment of theirs. My overarching researching question is what are the most optimal sound frequencies, intensities, and speaker designs in order to put out fires in urban environments. In order to gain enough knowledge to write a white paper in which I will present to acoustic companies I am going to be doing research. Even if no one will be able to provide equipment or refer me to someone else, I would still have an outline of my lab, so nevertheless the outcome will be possible.-2/2/2026

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This article introduced me to the fact that there was various ways acoustic waves could be used to put out fire, acoustic streaming and acoustic particle displacement. It specifically talked about using Time Reversal Acoustics to direct sound at a specific part of the room at a high intensity, the main way this method put out fire was with acoustic streaming. I am very interested in Time Reversal Techniques to put fire after reading this article. However there are things that can’t be applied to urban environments.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-81041-6#:~:text=Low%2Dfrequency%20sound%20waves%20have,they%20maximize%20acoustic%20particle%20velocity.