Grace - Science Methods Blog

  1. How can we design a safe and durable playground surface? When thinking of this big question, we decided to take a mixture of playground surfaces to add to our bowl. We used sand, rubber chips, straw, and added saran wrap on top of it. We then took a measuring tape and measured out one meter from the top of our bowl and marked it on the whiteboard. We dropped our egg from that mark, and successfully saved it from breaking when it hit our playground surface. We were confident in our surface that we made so we did not change anything for the second round. In the second round, we dropped it from two meters. Our egg did not bounce off of the surface like some other eggs did. But, it did crack from hitting the surface at two meters high.  2. I learned that our design did not work from the two meter drop because the egg had more time to accelerate, making the force of the impact stronger than the one from the one meter drop. I learned that the surface and the egg were both affec...

  1. What affects how long it takes a swing to go back and forth? In this lab, we tested if the weight of the rider affects how long it takes for a swing to go back and forth. To measure this, we decided to time it for the swing going back and forth 10 times. We used different weighted balls: brass, cork, and aluminum. We tested each ball three times, timing the 10 swings in seconds. We initially thought that the weight would affect how long it took to swing back and forth 10 times. We found that each different weighted ball still swung 10 times at around the same amount of seconds.  2. In lecture this week, I learned that gravity pulls harder on objects that have more mass, which makes it harder to accelerate. I learned that these forces cancel each other out. I learned that the longer the swing rope is, the more gravitational energy it has. The longer swing travels farther, but they have the same speed. I also learned that swings stop when you don't push them because of the ...

  1. What affects a rider's speed down a slide? In this lab, I used a slide at a park that measured 10 feet long with an angle of about 30 degrees. I was testing if weight affected how fast someone slides down a slide. I took three different sports balls, ranging in different weights. A ping pong ball, which was the lightest, a baseball, which was in the middle, and a football, which was the heaviest. I dropped each ball three different times down the slide, timing how fast it went in seconds. I recorded the times for each ball three times. I found that the weight difference does not affect the speed of sliding. I thought it was interesting because I originally thought the heavier the ball, the faster it will go.  2. In lecture this week, I learned about the other variables that were tested for affecting a rider's speed such as steepness and surface/clothing. I learned that steepness does affect speed because the force of the surface pushes on the rider and the steepness cance...

 I do not have any visuals or pictures for this week, as I investigated the big question by thinking since I was not in lab.  1. How can we ensure that a race is exciting? How do we make a race exciting between people who run at different speeds?  While thinking about this big question, I brainstormed a few ideas as to how we could make a race exciting if people run at different speeds. Some ideas I thought of were making the races team centered instead of individual racing, such as relay racing, playing fun racing games, and making it more challenging for those who run faster. After putting more thought into it, having each individual racer run a certain distance and timing it would help. For example, having one racer run one lap around the track and time it, then have the other racer run one lap around the track and time it. After getting the times, find the difference between the times and that difference can be the amount of time that the slower runner gets a head sta...