Ralph J. Coppola --- r_j_coppola<at>hotmail.com

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Feature

Every once and a while I come across a project that really peaks my interest, and the following item is one of them.

A number of years ago, I came across Sean Johnston’s presentation “A High School Student Builds a Recording Spectrophotometer” in Scientific American’s “The Amateur Scientist” column from January 1975. At the time, I thought that a simpler device could be made based on a PC and ADC instead of Sean’s analog methods. But a “mental design” was about as far as I got.

As I was looking for some interesting links for the current “Wanderings,” I came across Citizen Science/The Urinomics Project which is a project application for a LED based spectrophotometer. Two of the principals, Tuur Van Balen and Vincent Rouilly, told me that their first experiments with the Arduino/LED spectrometer were based on: Eric Rosenthal’s Liquid ID Spectrometer. It should be noted that this design can be adapted for either transmissive or reflective modes.

Eric Rosenthal hopes that this project becomes the starting point to spark the imagination to develop different applications based on spectrometry. With some further development and calibration this instrument could prove to be a valuable tool for environmental monitoring and perhaps medical diagnosis in emerging countries.

As I was doing some research on Eric Rosenthal I found out that his spectrometer appeared in Issue #14 of Make Magazine. Also, see the Flicker entry on the spectrometer.

Royal Society of Chemistry shows how to Build Your Own Spectrophotometer.

MiniSpectroscopy displays a visual representation (a "spectroscope view") of a sample spectrum simultaneously with a graphical (intensity vs. wavelength) representation.

A LED Color Chart

LED Information

Notes on LED’s

Interfacing to the IBM-PC Parallel Printer Port

Use of a PC Printer Port for Control and Data Acquisition

Wanderings

Agnes Pockels --- Amateur Scientist --- Making History at the Kitchen Sink

Amateur Science ---- “Amateurs are typically motivated by the sincerest of motivations, a thirst for knowledge and understanding.”

Can Amateur Scientists Do Theoretical Science? --- Philip Dorrell.

Amateur Science --- by Jonah Lehrer.

“Who are the scientists of today? Where do they work? What motivates them? As science increasingly shapes our cultural moment, the identity of its practitioners is also evolving” ---- An essay by Steven Shapin.

Geospatial Technology and the Citizen Scientist

ImageJ is a public domain Java image processing program that can display, edit, analyze, process, save and print 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit images including TIFF, GIF, JPEG, BMP, DICOM, FITS and "raw" formats. See Forrest Mims’ Country Scientist article “How to Analyze Scientific Images” in Make: Magazine #18. In Issue #19, Forrest will demonstrate how he is using ImageJ to analyze tree rings.

Roger Marin sends us this interesting link to a site dedicated to “hacking” the Canon Power Shot Camera’s firmware. Here are some examples of pictures that were taken with the modified cameras. Amazing! Thanks, Roger.

microObservatory Image is simple to use, yet powerful astronomical image processing program that works with FITS and GIF files.

Ely Silk Web site, Views From Science, shows his extensive interests in amateur science.

Forrest Mims gave me a “heads up” to this interesting NOAA site that documents their use of GPS satellite signals to measure atmospheric water vapor ---- NOAA’s GPS-Met Observing Systems

As they say --- “Great minds think alike” ;-)

In the June 2009 issue of TCS we can find Allan Rydberg’s article on Wrapping, and, if you slide on over to Wanderings, you will find that I described my recent use of the technique.

Allan Rydberg’s Maverick Experiments is a collection of articles dedicated to understanding the principles behind science.

Do you need some Ballistic Gel? Why not make your own?

Amateur Astronomy --- Getting Started in Photometry

The Micro Observatory allows you to explore the Universe with telescopes that you can control over the Internet.

Build your own digital microscope

The Microscope on a Budget --- Here is a complete guide to the low cost light microscope for the laboratory, photographers, and hobbyists by M. Brian Stevens.

Zach’s Cool Stuff --- Making holograms with an inexpensive laser pointer

The Digital Dragonfly --- How to use a flat bed scanner to produce images of living dragonflies.

Introduction to Interferometric Optical Testing

The Scientific Toolbox is a clearinghouse of ideas to make science more accessible to everyday people.

Among other things on Terrie Miller’s Citizen Science Projects Site is a nice video titled Chemistry Sets, Past and Present containing a clip of “guess who?”

Terrie’s site also has a collection of Web Tools for Citizen Science Organizations

Why water freezes faster after heating

The U.S. Naval Observatory has a page that allows you to obtain the times of sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, etc., for any location on earth.

The Naked Scientists are a group of researchers from Cambridge University who use radio, live lectures, and the Internet to strip science down to its bare essentials, and promote it to the general public.

Nikola Tesla and his patents

The Acme Mapper is another way of looking at Google Maps.

OpenStreetMap is a free editable map, of the whole world, that allows you to view, edit and use geographical data in a collaborative way from anywhere on Earth.

The Galileo Project contains information on the life and work of Galileo Galilei.

Marbling --- Topological Computer Graphics.

The International Space Station comes together!

The Kids Room

Sea Perch is an innovative underwater robotics program that trains teachers - who then train their students - to build an ROV, or remotely operated vehicle. The program, started by MIT Sea Grant (MITSG) in 2003, is aimed at igniting children's enthusiasm for science, technology, and engineering.

What time is it? Build a LEGO clock and find out.

How to Collect Spider Webs

Learn Physics Using Java

The Science Explorer is a collection of family experiments from the Exploratorium.

Microscope fun for kids

Measure the Diameter of the Earth

The Physics Toys web site will help teachers learn how to use easily made toys to teach physics concepts in a more concrete way. 

Suppliers and Stuff

Being listed here does not constitute an endorsement by SAS or me of any information, product or service.

Sparkfun is a source of the Arduino plus other useful stuff.

Arduino accessories from The Maker SHED

The Propeller microprocessor chip contains eight 32 bit processors that can operate simultaneously, either independently or cooperatively, sharing common resources through a central hub.

g.90 USB is a ‘plug & play” GPS Receiver that is designed, primarily, for use with laptops in field applications.

BBC BASIC for Windows is a version of BASIC for PCs running Windows 95, 98, Me, NT4, 2000, XP or Vista). BBC BASIC provides the programmer with a modern interface combining the simplicity of BASIC with the sophistication of a structured language, allowing you to write utilities and games, use sound and graphics, perform calculations and create complete Windows applications. See the User Manual. Price --- about $50 US.

On The Lighter Side

10 weird experiments from the Mad Science Book

From The Far Side

The Hyper Cube and The Fourth Dimension --- The Fourth Dimension is the next step in the series: "Length, Height, and Width...." But what is it?

Here is some information on the US Navy’s work with Cold Fusion --- Vol 1 and Vol 2

The Sailing Stones of Death Valley

Has the mystery of Death Valley’s Sailing Stones has been solved?

Mystery - SOLVED!