Team: 64
School: MELROSE HIGH
Area of Science: Communication
Abstract: Our project in the Super Computing Challenge is in the area of communication due to its great need for mankind. Since the technology of cellular and satellite communication is so recent, we decided to go back to the time of the Apaches, and the era of the British Colonial Wars, when the only type of long distance communication was written and carried by horse to it's recipient. Yet, even in this time period we have found evidence of technology that "if" it would have been used, messages could have been transmitted quicker and more efficiently than on horseback. Heliographs are devices using the reflection of the sun off a mirror to send messages by Morse code to a distant location. This simple contraption was much faster than a horse. We plan to act as if we were living in the 1840's before there were telegraphs, cell phones, and the Internet. We plan to assemble our own heliograph and get the hands on experience of how it performs. We also plan to develop a communication route across the U.S. by using the highest mountain peaks within a certain radius. We want to have alternate routes for weather variations and an alternative source of light for nighttime emergencies as well. Though we cannot go back in time, we can use the things that have developed over the centuries to help us achieve smarter, more excellent advancements for our future.
Team Members:
Zanessa Dodd
Richard Rush
Elizabeth Green
Sponsoring Teacher: Rebecca Raulie