Here you will find information about a totally
innovative way that the students at North Penn High School
are being introduced to engineering research.
There are links to the left
that will take you to the individual team research websites.
Many are password protected at this time because their
research is not yet completed.
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What is 'The Future is N.E.A.R.'? |
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The
Future is N.E.A.R. program
offers its students an
opportunity to gain
21st century skills that will
help prepare them to become
successful leaders in the new,
technological global society.
The program
introduces the
fundamentals of
nanotechnology,
engineering
research, and higher
level thinking and
application of
knowledge to high
school students
while cultivating
their interest in
engineering, problem
solving and
life-long learning.
The Future Is
N.E.A.R. is a custom
program offered as a
part of the senior
capstone course of
Engineering Academy
at North Penn High
School.
Click here to visit
the North Penn High
School Engineering
Academy
Nanotechnology Course
Outline
(Click for more
Information)
This link has an outline of the
activities that the students will be following throughout
the course. The bulk of the time will be spent by the
students researching and designing their experiments.
Research Focus
The students primary
focus will be on the electrospinning process. They
will be researching variables such as polymer properties
(weight percentage, molecular weight), field strength
(voltage and distance), Station apparatus (polymer syringe
angle, collection plate material), environmental factors
(temperature, humidity, etc.) fiber alignment, and many other factors.
What is
Electrospinning?
Electrospinning is a
process by which
fibers
are drawn out from a viscous
polymer solution or melt by applying an
electric
field to a droplet of
the
solution
(most often at a metallic needle
tip). The electric field draws
this droplet into a structure
called a Taylor cone. If the
viscosity
and surface tension of the solution
are appropriately tuned, a stable jet is formed. A
bending
instability results
in a whipping process which
stretches and elongates this
fiber until it has a diameter of
micrometers or nanometers. The
fiber is then deposited on a
grounded collector.
Reference
Click here for more
information about
The Future Is
N.E.A.R.
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