What is this Engineers Without Borders?

For over a year (since my first trip to Haiti) I have been involved with the group Engineers Without Borders. I have never been quiet about my enjoyment about all (well most) thing engineering. I truly think that engineers can make a big difference in the world and there are several organizations that are forming for that purpose.

One of these groups is Engineers Without Borders. It was formed in 2000 by a man in Colorado and this video gives the background.

When you think of how lives can be changed by simple tools of engineering such as water delivery, I believe that engineers morally obligated to move out of our comfort zones and from behind our computers.

How to make Charcoal Briquettes

Seriously this post is how to make charcoal briquettes, and no charcoal briquettes is not euphemism for anything else. (At least I don't think so, wink wink, you know what I mean.)

In Haiti, there is an excess of peanut shells. There is also a shortage of fuel for cooking. Therefore several people have been working to be able to turn peanut shells into clean burning charcoal for cooking. After a bit of research with my good friend google, I found recipes and video describing the process.

I also found this amazing (and horrific) statistic.

More children die from poor indoor air caused from smoky fires than from malnutrition.

Can you believe that?

Before I go to Haiti and help train people, I wanted to be sure I understood how it was done. So Mr. Geek and I made charcoal this weekend. Oh yes we did!! I know you wish you were us.

So go ahead and ask: AbFab, how do you make charcoal briquettes from peanut shells? We have to know!!

Sit down kids! I will explain all!

First you need some peanut shells.

Mr. Geek and I decided we should have lunch at one of those restaurants that serve buckets of peanuts. Then we could take home our peanut shells (and those of the surrounding tables) as well as have a nice lunch out. Oh the will the sacrifices we make ever end?

But (gasp) the restaurant was closed!

So we ate at Chevy's, I had a quesedilla and a Sante Fe Salad, thanks for asking. It was very nice and oh where was I? The peanuts! Oh the peanuts. No success!

So I went to the grocery store and bought two bags of peanuts. However now I did not have tables of people to help me crack the peanuts out of the shell. So I took the peanuts with me to band practice. After practice, I made the group circle around and shell both bags of peanuts. Thanks everyone! You are the best!

Then we gathered our high tech equipment. In Haiti we will use 50 gallon drums, so for the Geek trial we will use empty cans. Mr. Geek used a nail to make several hole in the can to allow for air flow.

We put the peanut shells in the can and lit them on fire. (Okay can I be honest here, I mean we are all friends right? The first try was not successful. We tried chopping up the shells first before burning. The chopped peanut shells were too closely packed to catch on fire, even though we used ten to twenty matches... in the cold wind...brrr) The trick was to use whole peanut shells and they burned much more easily.

The peanuts burn until they are very hot and the smoke begins to die down. At this point, air is restricted. Our high tech equipment was a spaghetti sauce can and dirt.

It worked great.

After the peanut shells carbonize and the cans cooled, we gathered the resulting carbon fines and crunched them into small uniform pieces using our hands and a plastic ziplock bag. (The Geek household is all about high tech.)

Now to make the final briquette. A binder was made with tapioca flour and water. (The Geek household happens to have these supplies in the pantry.) When the mixture is cooked it makes a delightfully slimey gooey substance. I mixed the goo with the carbon and voila it formed a beautiful briquette! I dried it in the food dehydrator.

All that is left is the burning to see how successful we were!

Happy Engineer Week!!!

Surely you all had this on your calender!

In honor of Engineer's Week I am reposting this list from last year....

Top Ten Reasons Why Engineers are the Most Important People in the World

(They are too and I can prove it.)

1. Sanitary Sewers - Maybe you can remember outhouses and ditches for sanitary waste. If that memory is not gross enough, consider open ditches in the cities flowing with bodily fluids. Makes you want to hug an engineer right now huh?

2. Clean drinking water, in your house right now. Even if the water in your house is not as pure as you would like, compare that to traveling to town, pumping a gallon of water, carrying it back home, boiling and filtering the water to make it “mostly” safe to drink

3. Clothes, a lot of clothes. We may think living in Little House on the Prairie is romantic, but how many of us want to return to owning only two articles of clothing, one for everyday, one for nice occasions? Engineers have been instrumental in industries that allow clothes to be made cheaply enough that most of us own a closetful.

4. Central Heating or Air Conditioning. Depending on your weather outside, this needs no further explanation.

5. Music. While music is based on math, engineers really can't take credit for it BUT engineers deserve credit for making music available on demand, starting with Thomas Edison’s phonograph and ending so far with your IPOD.

6. Food. Okay again engineers can’t take credit for food, but think to yourself, “How much of the food that I ate yesterday, did I grow myself?” You can be sure that engineers have been involved in the irrigation, farming, harvesting and most importantly the shipping of this food to you. Ask yourself, on what kind of plant do Coco Puffs grow? Yes this is an engineered food that you may love or feel is the cause of the decline of civilization, I am sorry I can’t be responsible for engineers.

7. Bridges. This is something that engineers do routinely get credit for. However it takes a horrible tragedy like the bridge disaster in Minnesota, for people to realize the work and expertise needed to design and build a safe bridge.

8. Books. From the first printing presses to cheap paperback Harlequin romances to electronic books, engineers have made it possible for the printed word to be accessible to almost everyone.

9. Communication. We have come a long, long way from pony express to instant messaging all over the globe. Who do you thank? Engineers. Who do you blame when your boss can find you 24/7? Computer scientists and Physicists.

10. Sex. Hah, now I have your attention. Engineers have brought about the necessary items for both safe sex (i.e. condoms) and for adventurous sex (i.e. Ask someone else).

Bicycling

Sometimes I run across an invention that makes me proud to be and engineer. (Yes, Ian always a bit proud to be an engineer. It's okay that you are a little jealous.) Please visit the website at Lose the Training Wheels . Dr. Richard E. Klein at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and his wife, Marjorie Klein began working on making a bicycle that would teach children and adults that have had difficulty moving to a conventional two-wheeled bike due to mental or physical handicap. Their goal is to teach riding a bike without scary crashes and to increase the number of people that can learn and enjoy riding a two- wheeler.

This is the first Roller-Bike that the children begin on.

The next phase is a bike with the roller in the back. The rollers allow the rider to get the feel of balance without the fear of falling down.

Mr. Geek and our Middle Geek had the privilege of volunteering at one of the camps last week. It was such a rewarding experience, that Mr. Geek moved his schedule around to be able to return for another day. Middle Geek worked with the younger kids in the gym and bonded with a few boys close to his age. One boy insisted that MG ride on a bike right next to him and there were lots of hugs that day.

Any parent of a child will tell you that watching your child ride independently on two wheels is a big big day. Now think about if you had tried in some cases for years without success, or perhaps you thought that riding a bike was just one more activity that would be unachievable for your child, and then one day you see them riding free. Imagine the joy of these parents and kids!

Thirteen GROSS Things

The ThursdayThirteen subject today is GROSS. I can’t think of anything more gross and disgusting than an industrial accident that could have be prevented. At the end of each semester that I teach, I require the students to choose an accident to write a paper on and present in class. There is always much wailing and gnashing of teeth when I announce this, but after the presentations most of the students realize that it was the best part of the semester (and then they throw roses and cash at my feet.)

Here are thirteen of the presentations this semester.

Minamata – It is difficult to call this an accident. This is a case of a corporation dumping untreated chemical waste(knowingly and mostly legal) that was loaded with heavy metals most notably mercury into the Minamata Bay. The company continued this dumping for decades and only stopped when the chemical process no longer required mercury. The result was the mercury poisoning of generations of Japanese fishermen and their families.

DeBruce Grain Elevator Explosion – Grain Elevators are all over rural US and don’t appear to be dangerous, but grain dust explosion are powerful and deadly.

Praxair – This accident happened in St. Louis a few hot summers ago. The scene of compressed gas cylinders flying though the air made for memorable television news coverage.

Mexico City Explosion – In 1985, horribly large LPG (propane and butane) explosions incinerated hundreds of nearby residents in their sleep.

Texas City Disaster - This is the Granddaddy of all US disasters. It happened just after WWII when a large ship containing ammonium nitrate (used in the OK City bombing) exploded killing the crew, the firefighters and several hundred onlookers

BP America Refinery Explosion - A much more recent explosion in Texas City in 2005, that proves that the need for safety education is needed more than ever. The list of things that had to go wrong for this accident to occur is astounding and yet it happened.

Boston Molasses Flood – Although this incident that happened nearly 90 years ago, there are some scary similarities to recent accidents. It starts off sounding like a joke, what is slower than molasses in January. Well this molasses wave traveled 35 miles per hour and was responsible for 21 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

Exxon Valdez – THE environmental disaster of this generation.

Ixtoc Oil Spill – The largest (no scratch that) second largest oil spill in the world after the Gulf War release, it lasted months.

Mayak Nuclear Disaster – The world’s second largest nuclear disaster after Chernobyl, it occurred during the cold war and information is only now being released.

Three Mile Island – This accident is considered to have stopped the nuclear power industry in the US.

Seveso – This was a large release of Dioxin in Italy.

Jilin Chemical Plant Explosion - The details of this explosion have never been released. The spill of toxic chemicals that flowed down river and into neighboring countries was hard to hide.

How to make a geek cry

My last post did not amuse everyone as much as it amused me (Fellow Geeks, where are your comments). Yet it still makes me giggle.

This video is more an example of how geeks shock and horrify each other. Here's a warning -- the contents are kind of graphic. Come back tommorrow if that sort of thing bothers you.

You should know that I am preparing a new safety presentation and have been immersing myself into this sort of stuff 24/7.



Not enough? Here's five more. Don't say I didn't warn you....

Back Story on Engineering Week Activity

My favorite part of any story is the behind the scene action. So here it is, an up close and personal look at the "real" story behind the pictures.

There are two important facts you have to know: One - Although I have led many groups in scientific exploration, my own children are not often among them. Yes, just as the shoe maker's children have no shoes, the engineer's children have no concept of the scientific principle (I am so ashamed!)

and Two - Friday was the second snow day IN A ROW, Thurday being more of an ice day, which meant NO playing outside and no driving to any sort of activity. Just lots of fun togetherness. I let the boys celebrate by playing electronic games, watching TV, then playing more electronic games, with the expected result that they ended up being both catatonic and hyper. Yes you can be both, if you don't believe me, come for a visit.

So morning of the SECOND snow day, I made an announcement, "No electronics, this means (and you have to be specific here), no TV, no Computer, no Cameras, no playstation, no Wii and no gameboy, nothing that plugs into a wall or runs on batteries." At this point they began to thank me for taking an interest in their lives and ran to get the board games, paper and crayons for crafts and we had an old fashioned morning. It was blissful. NO wait, that was when the wailing began, if it bothered you in your part of the world, let me apologize now.

And to make my children's lives even worse, I made a list of things we were going to have to accomplish before we could even consider electronics. Terrible, horrible things like Make Bed, Eat Breakfast and (please don't report me) Read twenty minutes. Yes that was the second set of screams you heard. I also included Do Science Experiment. (Why do I have to do a science experiment, it's not in my homework, I won't do it, why can't I just watch tv, etc....)

After expending enough energy complaining, energy that could have used to complete the list twice over, the boys resigned themselves to the horrible fate before them. We proceded to move through our list, checking off clean room, practice piano/ drums, etc until I began bringing out the items for our experiment and the camera to document the procedure and results. When we got to the part of the procedure where you had to wait for five minutes, things began to unravel a bit.

Luckily (or unluckily depending on your view) we had vinegar and baking soda on the table. My boys were aware that the combination of these would do something, they weren't sure what, maybe explode. Finally they were showing some genuine interest. Like any good mother and engineer (both problem solving professions) I sensed the need to change directions.

That is were the mixing of baking soda and vinegar, and a study of acid and bases began. We progressed to mixing lemon juice and baking soda (to discover that lemon juice was also an acid), we then mixed date vinegar and baking soda to discover some acids are stronger than others and give a much better reaction. We mixed vinegar and baking soda in a closed container and watched the increased pressure within blow off the top of the container. (Full disclosure means I have to tell that the boys went screaming into the other room, diving behind the couch, waiting for the explosion!)

Here are the videos of the "explosion". I am holding the two ingredients separate, the vinegar in the container and the baking soda on the lid. The plan is to close the lid, combining both ingredients, as the reaction occurs, carbon dioxide is formed, increasing the pressure inside the container until the container "explodes".

Note to self: Find a steady camera man with nerves of steel.

But all is well that ends well and the boys were so excited, they decided to produce their own science show. Oh and the boys told anyone that they talked to that day, we did a cool experiment today. SUCCESS!!

Our Engineeering Week Activity

Combine Engineer's Week activities and ZOOM (Z- double O -M).

We choose the activity Polishing Pennies .

We used four different liquids to polish our pennies:

Vinegar


Baking Soda


Lemon Juice

Rice Milk



While were waiting patiently (yeah right!) for the pennies to soak, we decided to see what happens when you mix Baking Soda (a base) with Vinegar (an Acid).


Mom moved the lab to the Kitchen Sink for this part.


The foam felt funny!




We returned to cleaning the pennies.



And the winning Penny Polisher was ---- LEMON JUICE!!

Today is INTRODUCE A GIRL TO ENGINEERING DAY

Seriously, I did not just make that up!

So to make it easy for you, I am going to give you the link to a wonderful site full of videos and games. All you have to do is find a girl and send her the link. It's fun I swear.


So click right here and get started!!!

When I grow up, I want to become an engineer just like my Mom!

Why don't more girls become engineers?

I think the number one reason is because most girls have not met a woman engineer. Because of that mostly the career of engineer does not even occur to them. Instead girls are drawn to fields that they have experienced either in life or on television such as medicine or law or teaching. I am involved in several organizations that bring women engineers and middle school girls together to experience engineering and expand their options.

But interaction with women engineers is not all of the answer.

There are plenty of bright girls, with all the requisite math, maybe even the daughters of women engineers, that say, "Engineeering? No way!" Why?


If you google reasons why, you will find reports such as: Many girls lack encouragement to pursue math and science, some parents and other influential adults unwittingly discourage girls with such remarks as "I never could do math" or "I always hated math when I was a child."

And even the dated (in my opinion) report that: Girls good in math may also worry about stereotypes that portray them as oddballs. One of the top ten reasons there aren't more women engineers, aeronautical engineer and former Secretary of the Air Force Sheila Widnall once remarked, is because of concern "that they won't get a date to the prom if they get the highest math score."

I have a hard time believing these reports. The number of girls in higher level math is equal to the number of boys. And the high school girls I meet seem confident enough not to throw a math grade to get a date. So what is it about engineering or engineers that cause girls and young women to turn their backs? If anyone out there reading this has access to a middle school or high school girl mind and can get a candid answer I would love to discuss it.

Happy Engineer's Week!!

Wait just because you are not an Engineer, don't go away. This week is especially for you!

Yes you, the non-engineer, who is not really sure what those geeks do all day anyway.

And even more importantly for the mothers of children who may become the future engineers of the World.

Why are mothers important?

When asked “How much have you spoken to the following people about careers?” more than 2/3 of high school girls and boys indicated they had “spoken a lot” to their mothers, more than any other source including teachers, guidance counselors, or adults in that career field. Fathers were cited by 62 percent of the girls, but by only 32 percent of the boys.

Top Ten Reasons Why Engineers are the Most Important People in the World

1. Sanitary Sewers - Maybe you can remember outhouses and ditches for sanitary waste. If that memory is not gross enough, consider open ditches in the cities flowing with bodily fluids. Makes you want to hug an engineer right now huh?

2. Clean drinking water, in your house right now. Even if the water in your house is not as pure as you would like, compare that to traveling to town, pumping a gallon of water, carrying it back home, boiling and filtering the water to make it “mostly” safe to drink

3. Clothes, a lot of clothes. We may think living in Little House on the Prairie is romantic, but how many of us want to return to owning only two articles of clothing, one for everyday, one for nice occasions? Engineers have been instrumental in industries that allow clothes to be made cheaply enough that most of us own a closetful.

4. Central Heating or Air Conditioning. Depending on your weather outside (it is blowing snow where I am) this needs no further explanation.

5. Music. While music is based on math, engineers really can't take credit for it BUT engineers deserve credit for making music available on demand, starting with Thomas Edison’s phonograph and ending so far with your IPOD.

6. Food. Okay again engineers can’t take credit for food, but think to yourself, “How much of the food that I ate yesterday, did I grow myself?” You can be sure that engineers have been involved in the irrigation, farming, harvesting and most importantly the shipping of this food to you.

On what kind of plant do Coco Puffs grow? Yes this is an engineered food that you may love or feel is the cause of the decline of civilization, I am sorry I can’t be responsible for all of us engineers.

7. Bridges. This is something that engineers do routinely get credit for. However it takes a horrible tragedy like the bridge disaster in Minnesota, for people to realize the work and expertise needed to design and build a safe bridge.

8. Books. From the first printing presses to cheap paperback Harlequin romances to electronic books, engineers have made it possible for the printed word to be accessible to almost everyone.

9. Communication. We have come a long, long way from pony express to instant messaging all over the globe. Who do you thank? Engineers. Who do you blame when your boss can find you 24/7? Computer scientists and Physicists.

10. Sex. Hah, now I have your attention. Engineers have brought about the necessary items for both safe sex (i.e. condoms) and for adventurous sex (i.e. Ask someone else).