Science Week 29

Monday or March 23, 2015 A.D.:

Today we finished collecting data for our mechanical energy lab. We dropped the rest of the items and we measured their times. We also started a new section being Unit 3 Section 3 and we cleared out our binders of paper of previous units. We talked about conservation of momentum. Momentum is the amount umph (inertia) an object in change (dynamic) has. The direction of momentum is always the same as the direction of the vector of the velocity. Momentum is calculated by multiplying the kg of the object by its velocity in m/s.

Tuesday or March 24, 2015 A.D.:

We started the lab we have all been waiting for... We started the Egg Drop Lab. In this lab the goal is to create a protective shell of less than 8x8x8 inches to keep an egg from breaking after being dropped from various heights. We devised a plan today and everyone is very excited. My group consists of Ben T, John Stewart, and Andrei. We think that we will use helium and foam to make the impact shock the least. We will put foam on the outside of the box and put the balloon and the egg inside.


Wednesday or March 25, 2015 A.D.:

Today I had no science class because I was at the National History Day competition.

Thursday or March 26, 2015 A.D.:

We thought about our helium design and we figured that the egg would be too heavy for an 8 by 8 by 8 inch balloon so we made a new design. In this design we plan to take a 7 by 7 by 7 box and put in several foam slabs. The foam should fit snugly and we will put the egg in the middle of all the foam in a little container so it is not squished by the foam. Today we cut 1/2 of the foam that will go into the box. I cannot wait until it is done. We will put the egg in an big Easter egg and line the inside with foam. This will give it more protection.

Friday or March 27, 2015 A.D.:

Today we put in the last slabs in place and inserted the egg for testing on Monday. We closed the box with zip ties and put some foam on the outside to increase air resistance and give it more protection.We are going to drop the device at 1 meter height first so we will not start very high yet. We are hoping to throw the devices from a helicopter, but we do not yet have government permission.


Summary: This week was a very productive hands-on week. We had to use our imagination to create a box to keep our egg alive. I still need to work on efficiently and focusing on the goal.

Science Week 28

Monday or March 16, 2015 A.D.:

Today we reviewed for our test by playing a very fun game. We were divided into 5 groups and we were asked questions about the unit. If we got about three questions right in a row (depending on how hard they were), we would be able to take a little ball and try to shoot a basket in a mini hoop. If you missed you would get 2 points and if we scored we would get 4 points. For every point we got, we would cross off one of another team's X. Each team had 10 X's so the X's were quickly gone. Two teams were quickly eliminated because they ran out of X's. In the end there was a three way tie and we got candy.

Tuesday or March 17, 2015 A.D.:

Today was Saint Patrick's Day! But there was a test :(. I think I did good on the test though because I studied a lot. The test was rather easy, although I am glad that I found my calculator just in time. :) The test was on the things we did recently like work, power, and how to find the weight of an object if you only know the mass (on earth).


Wednesday or March 18, 2015 A.D.: 

Today we received our test, and I was thrilled to receive a 100%. Mrs. Giacomelli then introduced us to Unit 3 Section. In this new unit we learn about energy. Energy is the ability for a system to do work. It is also diluted mass, but read a quantum physics book about that because that topic makes my brain hurt. We learned about the different types of potential energy and what Kinetic energy is. We learned that all collisions of objects are called inelastic collision meaning that not all of their Kinetic energy is conserved. This is true for all collisions because when objects collide there is always friction.

Thursday or March 19, 2015 A.D.:

Today we started our mechanical energy lab. Mechanical energy is the sum of the kinetic and the potential energy of a system. We took the mass of a couple of different balls and dropped them from different heights. We found out their gravitational potential energy because we knew their height and their mass. We will drop the objects and we will calculate their kinetic energy. We are hoping that the kinetic energy and the potential energy are the same. This number is the mechanical energy of the entire system (ball we dropped.)

Science Week 27

Monday or March 9, 2015 A.D.:

 In celebration of WAAS Science Olympiad Team's crushing victory against all other schools in the Regional's Competitions we had a party. By the way they our school received 10 gold medals out of 23 events. We watched the replays of our school winning and we did minimal amounts of science.

Tuesday or March 10,  2015 A.D.:

Today we finished the Circular Motion lab and we adjusted the radius and the velocity of the object in circular motion. We decreased the radius of the object in circular motion and we found out that it had more centripetal force. When we increased the velocity of the object the force was also greater. I really liked this lab, although it was sort of scary when Evan swung the string around so fast that we were sure that the nut on the end would fly and break one of the windows. We finished our lab questions and made our calculations.

Wednesday or March 11, 2015 A.D.:

Today we started a new lab called Powerful Workout Lab. The focus on this lab is to learn about Power and Work and to be able to apply it. Work is the amount of change of an object's kinetic energy because of a force that is being applied on it. Power is the amount of work done in a given amount of time, so the more work you do in a smaller amount of time the more power you deliver. Both power (Watts) and work (Joules) are scalar quantities. Anyway, back to the lab... We only prepared for tomorrow by weighing an object in Newtons that we are going to be applying a force to. I cannot wait to see how much power I can deliver.

Here we are weighing the weight.

Thursday or March 12, 2015 A.D.:

In class we did one experiment for the Powerful Workout lab. We took the weight we weighed yesterday in Newtons and attached that to a string and that to a stick. We then recorded the time we took to wrap the weight to get it to the top of the string. We found out what distance this was and we got ready to make the calculations for tomorrow. When we got at home we also did an experiment. We measured the vertical height of a staircase and timed how long we took to get to the top. I cannot wait to know how many watts I generated.

My group...

Friday or March 13, 2015 A.D.:

Today we did the calculations in class for our lab. We first calculated the force so we could find our work. My work for the first experiment was miniscule. We then did the calculations for power and I found out, not surprisingly, that I generated less than a Watt. For the other one (stairs) I generated over 300 Watts or over 0.6* horse power in vertical gain. I was thrilled at my power although one person in the class delivered 0.7 horse power. I really liked this lab because I got to find out how much power I can deliver.

*Note the "horse power" unit we used was the equivalent of 750 Watts. It is not the same unit as the Imperial Horse power of 735.5 Watts or the Common Horse Power of 746 Watts.

Summary: As always I need to improve one efficiently while doing work in this class. I also need to work on time management to finish my work faster.

Science Week 26

Monday or March 2, 2015 A.D.:

Today we got ready for the quiz on Unit 2 Section 1. We reviewed and took a practice quiz to do this. We also finished the graph for the coffee filter lab.The graph was a drop height vs. average velocity. After entering our data we saw how the line tapered off at the top. We were then able to estimate the approximate terminal velocity of the coffee filter. I really liked finally finishing the graph so I could find the terminal velocity of the filter. The terminal velocity of the filter was around 0.85 m/s.

Tuesday or March 3, 2015 A.D.: 

Today we took our Unit 2 Section 1 quiz. The quiz was about Gravity, projectile motion, free fall, and terminal velocity. Most of the quiz was multiple choice or match the answers so it did not take very long. I think I did pretty decent on my quiz and I cannot wait to find out what grade I received. The test was short so I was able to start on my homework. 

Wednesday or March 4, 2015 A.D.: 

We started unit 1 section 2, but we only skimmed the section.We also played Angry Birds!!!!! Mrs. Giacomelli made a big tower of boxes and she put little green balloons in them. The Balloons had Angry Bird pig faces on them. She also made a slingshot out of elastic cords and fabric that we put little red foam balls into to knock over the tower. We divided ourselves into teams and we shot at the tower. We hit the tower 3 times and we knocked it over once. One of the pigs was orange because another one popped. We called that one the sunburned pig and we put him on the top of the tower.We did this in celebration of the end of the projectile motion unit.


Thursday or March 5, 2015 A.D.:

Today we started the Circular Motion lab. We cut some rope and tried to make it just over 1 meter long.We then tied one hexagonal nut on the end of the string hoping it would be 100 centimeters. The string was only about 92 centimeters, though. We then picked Evan who was in my group to swing the rope. Once he swung the rope at a constant rate we timed the time he took to make 20 rotations. We also collected data with more hexagonal nuts as we went to see what happens when you add more mass to something in circular motion.


Friday or March 6, 2015 A.D.:

Today we only watched Bill Nye the Science Guy as he blows up foam Sharks with dynamite. :P

Summary: Today was a very productive week. I learned a lot. I still need to work on completing things efficiently.

Science Week 25

Monday or February 23, 2015 A.D.:

Today was the first day that we tested our catapult  and received data for the competition. We were the last catapult to start testing, though, so it will take us a while to finish testing. Our slow reload time may cause us to take an even longer time to finish. We did relatively good on accuracy because the amount of force the spring has is almost constant. I enjoyed seeing all the catapults in action and the different ways they worked.
Today we started a new lab called the terminal velocity coffee filter lab. We also had a substitute because Mrs. Giacomelli was coaching the Sci Oly team.



Tuesday or February 24, 2015 A.D.:

No class!Snowday :-)))

Wednesday or February 25, 2015 A.D.:

Today we started school 2 hours late because the roads were still icy. We had a very short day today and very short class. Today was the last day of testing. We didn't get done testing because of our long reload time, we had to test outside in the wind, and it was a short class. We had to put zeros in some of our tests where we could have done much better. Also in the tower test (You have to knock over a tower) we didn't have enough time to aim in the right direction so we couldn't knock it over. It was fun though because at the end of class I jumped into the puddle of ice.

Thursday or February 26, 2015 A.D.:

Today we had a substitute because Mrs. Giacomelli was working with the Science Olympiad team. Today we also started a new lab called the terminal velocity coffee filter lab. To collect data we dropped a coffee filter from a height of 25 cm to 200 cm in 25 cm intervals. We then timed the flight time to the bottom for three times each and then calculated the average of the times. We then found the average velocity by dividing the flight height over the average time. The goal is to make a graph of the average velocity and to estimate the terminal velocity of the coffee filter. There was a lot of room for human error though so we probably were not very accurate.

Friday or February 27, 2015 A.D.:

Today we started to make the graphs for the Coffee filter lab. We did the average speed graph first so we could get to the real one yet. (the one where we can estimate the terminal velocity) We also finished the catapult lab questions and we found out which groups were the winners, which we were not, obviously. The teams who I thought would win won. Next time I make a catapult I would make a huge tower with a large arm on the end. Powering the arm would be a plethora of rubber bands that would as a result shoot the projectile an easy 10 meters.


Summary: This week was a good week because of our good teamwork with working with our catapult. I can still improve on homework efficiency and efficiency in class.

Science Week 24

Monday or February 16, 2015 A.D.:

Today we started out the week with a new unit. We started Unit 2 and did Section 1. In it we talked about gravity and the equation for weight. This is Weight = mass x acceleration of gravity (W=mg). We also learned what a projectile is and what they do. We then did a unique experiment about center of gravity. We experimented to find out how much water we needed to balance a soda can on its side. We found out that you need at least 38 milligrams, but you can use more than 150 milligrams of water. The soda can could balance on its side because we changed it's center of gravity so it could do this.


Tuesday or February 17, 2015 A.D.:

Today we started the lab we have all been waiting for!!! We started the catapult lab. We were sorted into groups and I was sorted with Varun and Maisie. Varun had a plan to begin with, which was essentially a compressed spring that when released would shoot out a projectile. We had to bring in an item each so we could start to build. I am responsible for taking the pvc pipe for the spring to reside in. I am also responsible for taking the cardboard to build the platform that ideally, will point the spring out at a 45 degree angle.

Wednesday or February 18, 2015 A.D.:
 
Today we started on our catapult. We were constantly trying to get our spring's ramp to have a 45 degree angle which was really hard. Varun brought in the spring which was very strong and big. He demonstrated how the spring would work in which he took a tube, pushed the spring inside and held it in place with a screwdriver. We tested our catapult and it went really far. We are very hopeful and optimistic for the competition next week. Next week we are going to try and aim our projectiles into a bowl and as far as we can.We think we could easily get it very far, although we will have to work on accuracy.

Thursday or February 19, 2015 A.D.:

Today was the first day of intense testing.and in the second test our spring got lost in a tree.We didn't know until Varun saw it and we had to get Mrs. Giacomelli to get it down. She got it down and we started to reassemble for test 3 when a vital cap was gone. We searched for many minutes in the freezing cold when finally we found the cap at the end of the period. The other designs look way cooler than ours because we weighed down our design with bricks which makes it look very weird. We are still optimistic about winning this.

Friday or February 20, 2015 A.D.:

Today we made further improvements while our catapult's performance has gone down. In the meantime other catapults have become better and bigger. Our angle is too shallow at about 30 degrees and our projectiles are getting as far as when you flick them with spoon. We are extremely pessemistic and have little hope of winning anything not even the "how far can you get it" competition.


Summary: Today was a week where I had to go above and beyond with creativity to build our catapult. It is also a good week to learn and to improve. I think I should improve on working more efficiently on homework.

Science Week 23

Monday or February 2, 2015 A.D.:

Today we started our bowling forces lab. In this lab Lauren, Keira, and I rolled around various round sports equipment and timed how long it went 8 meters. We rolled each ball slow one time and fast the next time. Lauren rolled every time so we could try to get the same amount of force. I was the timer and Keira was the reckless roll catcher. She made sure that we wouldn't crush the door because we got really close to doing that. Also, every time we rolled a ball we wrote down the weight in Kg of the ball and the time it rolled into a data table.

Tuesday or February 3, 2015 A.D.:

Today we finished up our rolling. We rolled a bowling ball, a softball, and a big red exercise ball. The bowling ball was extremely heavy so I am expecting to find a lot of N of force that we need to push it 8 meters when we make our calculations. We also started calculating the velocity and acceleration of the balls we rolled so we could start finding the force we needed to roll each ball. I really liked this lab. 

Wednesday or February 4, 2015 A.D.:

Today we did something I am not going to forget. Mrs. Giacomelli said she was going to smash a cinder block on Mr. Simon's belly. She was asking us how to lay the cinder block on Mr. Simon so we hurt him the least. We decided to lay the cinder block on its flat side because it must be sturdiest with its holes on top. We assumed this because when people build with cinder blocks they build the holes on top. Mrs. G then took a sledgehammer and smashed the cinder block on Mr. Simon's belly. We then had to list reasons why Mr. Simon did not have a big hole in his stomach. Three of the reasons include: The force was distributed on his body. The force was partially used to break the cinder blocks. The force wasn't even that great because cinder blocks break easily as they are not built to withstand sudden shock. We also finished our lab after this.

Mr. Simon after the experiment... HE IS ALIVE!!!!!

Thursday or February 5, 2015 A.D.:

Today we had to turn in our lab. We also talked about the different types of forces that affect an object's motion. These forces are air resistance, friction, gravity, applied force, and normal force. I learned that an example of normal force is when a pencil is on a table the table pushes up. We also used free-body diagrams and diagrammed all of the forces acting on the object. We then had to find out the net force or where and with how much force an object is moving. 

Friday or February 6, 2015 A.D.:

Today we finished our study guide for the test on Unit 1 that is coming up soon. We were able to get help from Mrs. Giacomelli which made me feel very relieved because some of the questions where pretty hard. Did you know that static friction is the force that acts upon an object that is not moving? An example of this can be seen when you cannot move a box that is on a rough surface.

Summary: This week was better week than last week, but I still need to work on making my things neater and more organized. I can do this by making my notes neater by always bringing a good, sharpened pencil. I can make my labs neater by writing on a separate sheet of paper if there is not enough room on the lab sheet itself.