Weekly journal entries from 2025-2026:

Week of Dec 8th-Dec 12th: One of the boards arrived, but I don’t have the pH sensor I need to set it up. Also, the Arduino is supposed to come today, but not while I'm in class. Also want to start my review of posters and labs over the weekend. Also I had to design and print a new ebd cap for the hydroponics unit. It should lower the chance of leaks.

Week of Nov 30th-Dec 6th: Focused on upcoming poster session. The poster session went pretty well. I did not have many people come up to my poster. Also, the majority of people don’t really know what’s going on when I explain it. Nevertheless, I still feel that I have a better understanding of my project.

Week of Nov 17th- 21st: found more sensors and boards for the hydroponics unit. looked at resistors and started mapping out my circuit. now we will be able to measure the pH, temperature, humidity, pressure, light, and UV levels. Now everything is ordered.

Week of Nov 10th-14th: Monday, took notes of changes on PI guidelines. Also helped Viggo create a hypothesis and research question so he can present to the board next week. Started today by researching sensors. Made a lot of progress, found some temperature probes we can use and threw away a bunch of sensors that were stored improperly. Researched new sensors. found a cheap analog pH probe that needs to be hooked up to Arduino and coded. I realized I need a new, faster board to be able to create a web interface on the device. This would allow us to have a webpage on the WISRD wifi that has all the data collected at intervals of our choice. we should order a few because they have limited GPIO pins, but they are also super cheap, so it’s fine. Friday researched the code needed, along with how to set up a web interface locally on WISRD wifi.

Week of Nov 3rd-7th: System is up and running. Have to plant new seeds. Focused on restructuring my journal. Basing it off of Marley’s old journal. Looks neater more readible. Brainstorming posters for hydroponics.

Week of Oct 27th-30th: adedd the finish touches on the hydro ponics system. Drilled holes in the lid for the pipes put the hinges onI assembled and ran a very quick test. Both sides are working and I re-irrigated the pipes on the old tank to allow both lids to function. Put new pump in. Short week this week so limited classes but got some good work done.

Oct 22nd: Dark Matter was a blast! chemical reaction went great and so did the TLC experminet. the kids struggled to understand polarity but my schpeel got better as the night went on. Great night overall no complaints.

Week of Oct 20th-22nd: week of Dark matter day. Doing final preperations. Also a conference week so there is limited classes. on the brightside my experiments are practically ready to go. Therefore I assisted viggo with tesla coils for a class and overall excited for the big day.

Week of Oct 13th to 17th: Practiced the TLC experiment as well as researched how I might go about explaining it. Even the idea of Polarity was tricky for me! Also made a lot of progress building the second tank for hydroponics. This week I was able to finally cut out both pieces of the lid with the laser cutter. Also was able to drill the holes in the lid and get some paint on both pieces.

Week of Sep 28th-Oct 4th: Since the first tank is complete I began making the second. Cleaned out the tank and started to measure out where I needed holes. Drilled all the holes and began tracing the lid on acrylic. also found some bolts that are useable and some hinges, which I set aside. Updated some of the chem docs. Next week is college visit week so there will be no class time.

Week of Sep 22nd-26th: Only two classes this week due to Holiday! Monday-Researched into the cloumn chromatogprahy. Friday class didnt do much work feeling burnt out from apps…

Week of Sep 15th-19th: Bolted on the hinges to the two lids and then the lid to the tank. The new tank looks good painted black. I plan on making a new tank somewhat soon, but we are waiting on a new pump for the other side of the system. To my surprise Jake set up the tank backwards. This negates the lid accsess but it should be fine once I make the other tank.

Week of Sep 8th-13th: Drilled holes into the tank for the lid. The acrylic is too short for the tank so I came up with the idea of making a flap that opens for easy nutrient/algecide additions. I began tracing the acrylic pieces for lazer cutting but class ended. Got the lid cut in the laser cutter instructed rhône to paint the lid to avoid algae growth.

Week of Aug 31- Sep 5th: This week I have really been struggling with the cross-block communication. We have been planning the future of hydroponics. I fixed a leak I found. We got a new pump and we decided we need new tanks of some kind. Jake wants to buy them but I think I can build new ones. Talked to Noam looking into column chromatography.

Week of Aug 24th-30th: Outlined some saftey officer docs for the biard meeting. I have been mainly talking to Noam about chem. Doing research for our OChem doc.