Sophmore Research Proposal

[alexrusek]

well for my reseach project this year i wrote this proposal and am doin this test

what do u think?

any advice?

i have a peak motus machine available..any good uses?

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heres the proposal in the required format
1. A R, T P, J E, J J (names changed)

2. 9-10-03

3. Tenth Grade

4. Pneumatics-Ballistics

5. Effects of turbulence reducing venturi bolt in pneumatically fired paintball marker

6. The problem to be studied is whether a venturi (a star shaped piece in a bolt) actually will create higher velocities in a paintball marker.

7. What gave our group an interest in this topic was playing paintball together. Eventually we decided to upgrade our equipment and started to learn about certain principles in their operation. Many companies have claimed that a venturi in a bolt will create better shots. Contradictorily to this, many people believe that the venturi only hurts performance, and hinders performance. This is why many people remove their venturi to increase performance and air flow. We are intrigued to see which side is actually correct.

8. Materials include:
Paintball Marker- Already Purchased
Different Bolts- Already Purchased
Nitrogen Tank- Able to Purchase for $80, or obtain for lesser amount
Chronograph- Able to purchase for $80, or obtain for lesser amount
Paintballs-2000 Count-$60
Air Source Fill-$5
9. PROCEDURE:
1. Obtain Necessary Materials
2. Put Venturi bolt (polished) into paintball marker
3. Screw in Nitrogen Tank
4. Fire 500 Shots over chronograph, record each
5. Place non-venturi bolt (polished) into paintball marker
6. Fire 500 Shots over chronograph, record each
7. CHANGED
8. CHANGED
9. CHANGED
10. CHANGED

Hypothesis:
The hypothesis is that the non-venturi bolt will perform the best by producing the most consistant shots and fastest shots.

Independent Variables:
Type of bolt used in paintball marker

Dependant Variable:
Speed of paintball

Constants:
The constants are the air supply, the base paintball marker (stays same except for bolt) and the chronograph.

Control:
The control is the type of bolt that is changed.

Sample Size:
Preferably 2000 data points

10.
The experiment will be done at home. With our time to work at school we will be analyzing data, and doing lots of literary resource, there is a abundance of material on the subject. Literary resource will be one of our biggest obstacles, with the limited work done by scientific journals, it will be extremely hard to find lots of sources.

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Also can someone explain what an

eddy is

and what

venturi theory is

and

fluid flows as applied to paintball and bolt

thank you for any help u can provide

[Redkey]

A couple of ideas...

Instead of firing 500 shots in a row from one bolt and then 500 in a row from another. Alternate them in groups of 25 or so. The reason you want to do this is to eliminate any chance that other conditions you have not controlled might skew your data. You definately don't need to take 500 readings at with each bolt. I would think 100 of each woul be more than enough, just make sure you alternate them in groups of 25 or so.

You should also measure the output pressure of the HPA tank and if possible put a gauge after the guns primary reg... if it has one. If the pressure starts drifting make a note of it in your records. Although this is of limited use since most gauges sold for paintball use are junk.

Make note of the rate of fire... although this will be limited by the recording of the velocities.

Since I have just saved you 1800 shots... these can be used for other interesting measurements. How about trying different length barrels? Barrels with different bore diameters? What about changing the input pressure to the gun?

If you are interested, I could help with the statistical analysis of your results.

what the heck is a peak motus machine?

[alexrusek]

we are firing so many shots cause we need data collecion for 5 weeks...200 shots a week..100 shots from each bolt each day


the spyder has a palmer reg on it.




your idea for input pressure is great...i am definetly goin to use that...


barrels..hmm...they cost money which is VERY limited(we have to buy our own chrono ) we have a 14" SP AA, a 14" SP big daddy, a 14" SP Progressive, and a few stock barrels..also might have 2 different length progressive barrels...but i dont think we do.



peak motus is like what u use when u see althletes with the little bulbs on em and it records their movements...only high school with one in the nation...just wonderin if i could use it for anyting

[Xyxyll]

Seems to me that there are almost two independent variables in place here... venturi or not, and the different bolts. The ideal situation would be the SAME bolt (stock bolt perhaps) first fired with the venturi, then without. Start each test with a fresh fill, and make sure it's not a flash fill. I would actually also give the tanks some time to cool down to room temperature after the fill. Make sure when exchanging the bolts that you do not twist the velocity adjuster (assuming you are using a Spyder or Spyder clone). My suggestion here is to use a velocity adjuster that requires an allen wrench to adjust (Spyder 2000s have it). Also see if you can use one of the red chronographs from a field. Always position the barrel at the same spot on every shot. Mark the bottom of the barrel as to where it sits on the chronograph. The paintballs also may be a problem factor in the test. Try and get high quality paint that has the least variances in size and shape. That is going to be a variable that you cannot control, thus your repeated trials will come in to play.

That's about all I can think of right now. Sounds like a great project, good luck and have fun with it!