Phonograph+Record+Player

=Phonograph Record Player= bblanchetoc

Purpose
//What is the fundamental purpose of the device?//
 * The phonograph record player was used to play music that was already recorded from the late 1800's all the way up to the 1980's. The reason it was very important in the late 1800's through the 1980's is because that was the only main way to listen to the music you loved so much and music was (and still is) very popular.**

Energy
//What energy transformations are seen in its operation?//
 * Noticing how the energy gets to the record player and how it makes the record play is not easy. Some might even say that there isn't any, but there is. A phonograph record player doesn't plug up into any outlet which means all it needs to work is right inside of the phonograph. In the bottom of the phonograph there is a container like box which holds the motor. When you place the record on the motor-driven turntable and crank the handle the turntable rotates the record at a constant speed. At one end of the tone arm there is a pickup placed on the record. When the tone arm touches the grove of the record with the needle (stylus), the record vibrates. The stylus is part of the pickup which also contains a transducer. The transducer converts the mechanical vibrations into corresponding electrical signals. The signals increase in size by an amplifier. Once it leaves the amplifier it passes to a loud speaker and converts to sound.**

Controls
//What sensors/controls are designed into the device?//
 * The phonograph record player only has a few controls that are required for it to work. One is the crank handle that makes the motor go to spin the record and the other is the needle that moves n and out of the grooves to make the music play out of the speaker.**

Materials
//What material(s) are essential to the device?//
 * When it comes to actually listening to a record, the only things needed are the player itself and what ever record(s) you want to listen to.**

Science
//What is scientific principle is central to its operation?//
 * The phonograph record player has a little arm with a needle on it that when placed on the record is able to read the grooves and convert it into sound that plays the song that is on the record.**

Design
//What does a typical device look like?//
 * The player looks like a box on the bottom with a spot on the top for the record itself. There is a crank handle and a cone shaped funnel that is the speaker. The record player also has a tone arm that is placed on the record and moves in and out of the grooves that plays the music on the record.**

Evolution
//What changes have there been (or could there be) in this device?//
 * Since the record player was used a long time ago, there have been a lot of improvements to it. There was the cassette player which was more compact, the CD player which was even more portable, and now the iPod/MP3 Player are all ways in which it has been improved. Most of these ways made it so that you could listen to your favorite music where ever you go.**

Competitors
//What other devices serve a similar purpose?// CD Player Eight-Track Tape Player Ipod Mini Ipod Nano Ipod Nano-Chromatic Ipod Touch
 * Since there aren't really many record players around anymore, there aren't any competitors of it. The companies that make the iPods and MP3 Players don't have to worry about people not buying their products and buying the record players because they aren't made anymore and they also aren't very convient.**

Partners
//What other devices work in conjunction with this device?//
 * The only thing that really works together with the record player is the record itself.**

Siblings
//What other devices use the same scientific principle?//