Electrical Innovation Project By Raihan Chung
What is the problem?/ How did you think of it?
According to HealthLine.com, “todays society is eating much more food then ever before.” Most of this is because of quarantine, and people decide to snack on little things throughout the day. This can lead to obesity of not contained. Many people eat way more then they need during common meal times, piling their plate with things that look good, but never get eaten. This is a worldwide problem and can be solved if people are willing to play their part. This also affects the environment from large agriculture usage and overfishing. Meat producers like Tyson Foods use extremely large areas to grow and raise their beef. This results in greenhouse gases from the animals and deforestation to provide the space needed to grow these animals. Did you know an acre of the Amazon rainforest is cut down every minute to provide space for nearby meat producers?
We thought of this problem for our project because it is not common and many people don’t realize it. Also, it may make the world a better place and make people more aware of their food portions and what they are eating. In short, our idea is to help people balance their meals so they can stay healthy and happy as they grow older.
How does our idea work?
Our idea is a food scale with a simple, series circuit underneath that makes a light turn on when the scale passes a certain weight point. The light is triggered by a battery off to the side that provides power to the light when the metal bottom of the scale touches the negative terminal on the battery. This signals that your portion is exactly 1.2 pounds, which is the average serving size for adults. After the light turns on, you simply remove your plate and the scale will reset back to its original state. This design helps people manage their serving sizes and its also quick and easy to do.
Here is a drawing of our idea:
How does our idea solve our problem?
Our idea is meant to solve overeating for adults. It will help them balance their intake of food daily and should become part of their routine. In restaurants, food will be brought to you, already weighted and ready to eat. But in all, our idea is a home utensil and will keep people from overeating because of habit, or because of temptation.
Why is our solution better then other options?
Our solution is better then other options because of its reliability and its quick and easy to use. It is also quite small and light to carry around. It is a good solution for overeating because it is very reliable as well.
How does our circuit work?
Our circuit is a circuit that turns on a lightbulb. We used one battery to provide the energy and wires to funnel the energy to the lightbulb.
Here is a photo of our circuit:
How does our circuit work using terminology?
Firstly, the batteries create electrical energy from chemical energy to produce the current flowing through the wires. Then, using the voltage from the battery, the current passes through the load (lightbulb) and the load converts the electric current into light energy which makes the lightbulb light up.
Define:
Our challenge for this project was to decide on one world problem and find a unique solution to it using circuits and electricity. It was a way interact with other classmates and use our imagination while learning about science. I think this project was a great way to mix science with ADL. Lastly, this project was a way to express our own ideas while having fun and talking to one another.
Discover:
The problem of overeating has been addressed before in some Netflix documentaries and some news channels. But it has never been a big problem that needs to be fixed immediately. Some people have thought of many different ideas to stop overeating. Here are a few: No distractions, try volumetric, eat fiber-rich foods. Some of these work, but people forget overtime if it does not become part of their routine.
Dream:
The only solutions that we thought about while doing this challenge project were:
Weightier- (final results)
Deliver:
Our final result was a food scale with a simple series circuit underneath. This helps weight your food so you know how much you are eating and what is the average meal weight. When you place your plate on the scale, it goes down and if it hits the battery and the current starts and the light turns on, then you know your plate is the average meal weight. After, you simply remove your plate and the scale will return to its original state.
By Raihan Chung
Citations:
https://www.pexels.com/search/discover/
https://www.pexels.com/search/discover/
https://www.pexels.com/search/eating/
https://www.pexels.com/search/eating/
https://www.pexels.com/search/eating/