Networked Learning Project

This is my introductory post to my networked learning project.  The purpose of this project is to learn something new through online resources/tools and document the process.  My topic was chosen because frankly it sounds fun to do and will probably be interesting for my readers.  I also liked this topic because as an english candidate I don't get to work with math or science/ physics too often.  This topic is very much outside my field as a teacher but right in line with what I do for enjoyment in my personal time.

For this project I will be learning how to build a tennis ball launcher for my dogs. I really enjoy building contraptions and odd devices in my spare time, even more so when they have some type of purpose. Now I understand that throwing a tennis ball by hand is by far the easiest and simplest way to play fetch but that isn't nearly as fun.

  I first got this idea several months ago when I passed a "K-9 Kannon" in a store.  It's essentially a big plastic tube with an elastic band powered plunger and is intended to launch tennis balls when playing fetch.  I thought "Hey that's neat but it's kind of expensive" so I did some youtube research and quickly found out that it isn't nearly as cool as it sounds.

The first step to building a better tennis ball launcher is to understand why the k-9 kannon is so disappointing.  There are actually several issues with this design. The most obvious is that it doesn't send tennis balls flying very far.  A gentle underhand toss would be more effective than this thing.  The second issue is that it's powered by elastic bands, which have a tendency to dry out break down after a few months. The third issue is that it ejects the ball pretty efficiently for its design, which leads me to believe that it can't really be tweaked to perform better.  I first thought it used air pressure but it actually uses the elastic powered plunger to kick the ball out of the tube.  That means that the only way to make it shoot farther is to increase the strength of the rubber bands, which would probably end up breaking the plunger and not being very safe. The individual in the video above tried to reduce the friction holding the ball in place but this impaired his range because the k-9 kannon relies on the ridges to hold the ball while the plunger contacts it and momentarily compresses its rubber.  The resulting rebound of the rubber ball helps it to eject farther. In short, the ball needs to be held in place for the plunger to transfer all of its kinetic energy.

The short and sweet, and most exciting part, is that I don't think the k-9 kannon can be modified to work better.  This means that I have to design and build a new launcher from the ground up. This will require research and online communities to help me overcome various hurdles so I think it will serve as an excellent display of how one can learn online.