Science Experiment Day
Today we were accompanied by Dr. Larry Forsley and his really cool gadgets and equipment out to the lighthouse. Despite that linked video, I actually understood what he was saying (usually) in person! He brought a laptop (Toughbook, just in case) and these little data collector pods that transmit their data to the laptop as well as record it internally for downloading later. The only problem, which I have already experienced and occurred to me when he was having problems “talking” to one pod we located out on the deck, was that the lighthouse serves as something akin to lead encasing kryptonite for Superman. Nothing really transmits through. I’ve experienced that with my VHF radio, regular AM/FM radio, cell phone, etc. So the pods couldn’t acquire GPS data because they couldn’t “see” the satellites from inside the lighthouse, and the one we placed outside so it could get a GPS fix, couldn’t transmit to the laptop inside. Interesting! We may have to try this again another day.
The coolest part was that Dr. Forsley got my kids involved. He had them assemble the pods before we began and disassemble them at the end. He also instructed them on setting them up and leveling them and then let the kids do that on their own. They really had a blast. These little pods measure movement and vibration. He wanted to see how much the lighthouse vibrates or moves based on tides, ships passing by, etc. I’m curious to know that as well as it feels pretty solid with all that concrete sunk so far down. The database is somewhat intelligent as it can pinpoint if vibrations are a person walking, an animal, a car, etc. Although, it incorrectly tabbed one of us walking as a car driving by. Umm, 2 miles off shore? Don’t think so! I don’t think they were programmed for lighthouse motion datapoints! I can’t wait to see his results - should be interesting.
I’ll be posting a full article once he sends me the results, as well as a video of everything we did after I edit it. In the meantime, here are some photos from today.
P.S. Boat ran great today. I even throttled it up and we flew back to the marina, if a little wet. Whew!