Pink is the Color of Victory

On Tuesday we worked on our lab. this lab taught us about centripetal force. Centripetal force is force moving in a circular motion. Centripetal means center seeking.  We tested the force by swinging nuts on a string. For each part of the lab we tested something different by simply adjusting the radius or weight. To adjust the radius you would make the part where you hold it in the center smaller or bigger. To adjust the weight you would add more or less nuts tied to the end of the string.

On Wednesday we started a new lab. This lab dealt with work, force,and power. We started on part one which was to calculate the newtons of a fishing weight. We had to get the mass of an object in newtons two ways  by calculating it with an equation and weighing it with a spring scale. Both of our weights were the same so that means there was no error in our procedure. The goal of this was to get the most accurate weight in newtons and the ultimate goal is having them be the same which is what our group did.

On Thursday we worked on the other half of our lab. We tested the power, force and horsepower of our arm. We did this by timing someone from our group as they wounda weight tied to the end of the string of a stick. We then used that data to determine things like power, force and horsepower. This part helped me learn how to calculate things like power and force and also learn some of the equations.

On Friday we worked on finishing our lab. For homework the previous night we tested our leg power. We calculated the distance of our stairs by measuring one step and multiplying that number by the number of stairs. We then timed how long it took us to walk from the first step to the last. No ones horsepower was very high so that means our legs aren't as powerful as I thought they were. We also finished lab questions. These lab questions helped us prepare for our next test and helped us learn how to use the equations.

One thing I can improve on this week is not forgetting my glasses at home. Ever since science Olympiad  they have been in my room and I cant seem to remember to take them out. I still cant believe states are just a few weeks away. I cant wait to win again.

For this week's link it is the footage of WAAS science olympiad team on the news.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1fifczDCbA&feature=youtu.be

One week away from VICTORY!!!!!

On Monday we finally tested our catapults. I had been waiting to test our catapult all weekend so the suspense was high. We did three events that tested power,accuracy,and distance. Our catapult did the best in the accuracy round. We got four out of five cotton balls in the bucket every time. We did okay in the other tests but not as well as the accuracy round. After we tested our catapult we worked on our data sheet. One way our group could have improved on the catapult was by changing our design completely. Our design had too many flaws because we had to replace the spoon twice and cut out the back panel of the bow for it to even work.

On Tuesday we had a"snow day" I put snow day in quotes because it was more ice than snow. I don't really care if we had snow or not I am glad we didn't have to go to school.

On Wednesday we worked on finishing our lab. One thing I learned from this lab is projectile motion. I learned that a projectile has both horizontal and vertical velocity. We also reviewed our unit two notes. We reviewed terms such as terminal velocity, free fall, and weightlessness. Aside from what you may think free fall is, free fall is when the only force acting on you is gravity. You can only be in free fall when in a vacuum or space. Weightlessness is when you have no force of support on your body. Have you ever been on a roller coaster and you feel like your stomach is jumping for a split second? This feeling is considered being weightless.

On Thursday we worked on a new lab. In this lab we tested terminal velocity by dropping a coffee filter from different heights. We dropped it in intervals of 25 cm. For each different height we had to calculate average speed and velocity. After we had our data we did two graphs. I think two things we could have improved on this lab is keeping the coffee filter steady and keeping the meter stick straight.

On Friday we  worked on finishing our coffee filter lab. I had a hard time with the graph because it was different than some of the graphs I had done before. In this lab we learned about terminal velocity. Terminal velocity is when the net force on an object is zero so it stops accelerating. I think this lab helped me see visually what terminal velocity is.

For Science Olympiad this week we all worked extra hard because we we are only a week away. We took another trip to Panera Bread to make sure we were prepared. I worked on Picture This for almost all of the time we were there. I worked on Picture This for about 2 hours. I worked for bout an hour redesigning some features of my rocket and then met on Sunday at the park to shoot off the bottle rockets. We met for about an hour launching rockets.

For this week's link it is all about SO. http://www.sciencenc.com/

Catapults and more

On Monday we had time in class to print notes and finish vocab. After that we reviewed notes. At our tables we then did an activity where we tried to balance a soda can on its side by pouring just the right amount of water into it. It took some groups longer than others. It took our group very long but when it worked it felt so good.

On Tuesday we learned about projectile motion. We watched a video on the punkin chunkin event. The punkin chunkin event is an event where teams launch pumpkins from their highly engineered catapults across a field. I am glad I am not a pumpkin being launched a mile across a field. We then went over our  next lab. This week we will be building a catapult to learn about projectile motion. We were put into groups and began to brainstorm ideas on building a catapult. Our group found an idea online that looked like it would work. It was a fairly simple design made out of pencils and a tissue box.  

On Wednesday we actually started constructing our catapult.  To build our catapult we used our box and pencils to act as the base. We used rubber bands to bond the pencils together. Then we glued a cap to the top of the pencils. We poked holes in the sides of the box so we could slide the pencils through. We need to create tension so we used a rubber band to pull the pencils back. We needed something for the rubber band to latch on to. At first we tried gluing a wooden stick to the middle of the box but it proved no match to the rubber band. After that we tried  gluing a wooden spool in the center to hold the rubber band. Once again the rubber band won. We finally came to the conclusion to use a clothes pin to pull back the rubber band and create tension.

On Thursday we worked on our catapults. By this point our catapults were almost done. While working on our catapult we found that the pencil design was not working. The rubber bands that held together the pencils were very flimsy and very inaccurate. We replaced the pencils with a spoon and it worked a lot better. We still used the rubber bands to pull back the spoon and create tension which created a very powerful catapult. This worked a lot better but we needed to use more glue for the spoon because every time we launched it it would break off. We also had to cut out a panel off the box because it was limiting the catapult's movement.

On Friday we did the last finishing touches on our catapult. We made sure that everything was working well. After that we started to test our catapult. I thought our catapult had distance but not accuracy. To help make our catapult have more accuracy we took off the rubber band. This allowed us to have more control on to where it was going to land. When we needed distance we put the rubber band on. We fired marker caps, wooden spools, and marshmallows to test our catapult. I hope our catapult does well in the competition.

This week I learned that group work is possible if work is distributed evenly among the group and if you have a good team.
One thing I can improve on is being a better listener when my coach is instructing me. It is very hard when the coach is my dad! I will definitely try to do better.
For Science Olympiad this week I spent about 2 hours on the bottle rocket, picture this, and the bridge.

For this weeks link it is a video and website. of what punkin chunkin really is.
         http://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/punkin-chunkin/

                                                                       

Bowling for Forces

On Monday we started our bowling for forces lab. This lab taught us about Newton's Second Law. Newton's Second Law talks about how acceleration of an object depends on the net force. We tested this by rolling different size balls.  For each ball we rolled, we rolled it fast for one turn then slow for another turn. We rolled each ball eight meters. We weighed each ball in kilograms so we could figure out the force by multiplying mass times acceleration. After we got our results we recorded them in our data table. Some controlled variables that we kept the same in this experiment were the timer and person who throws the ball. If we did not keep these variables the same, then the results would be less reliable. After we collected our data we filled out our data table.

On Tuesday we worked on finishing our lab. We had to use what we recorded in our experiment to find force and acceleration. To calculate acceleration you have to divide velocity by time and to find velocity you would do distance divided by time. We had to calculate both of these things plus force for all of the balls on our data table.

On Wednesday we did something very different in science class. We broke a very heavy cinder block on Mr. Adam's chest with a sledge hammer.  I know you are probably thinking how does this relate to physics. This experiment relates to physics because the force is spread out instead of the force being concentrated in one area so it didn't hurt him when it broke. I thought watching the cinder block break was a great way of teaching us physics. At first I thought he was going to get hurt and I thought this could possibly never work. So I was very happy that it did work out.

On Thursday we learned about free body diagrams. Before today i did not know what they were were. When I first heard of them I thought they would be a lot like Lewis dot structures. A free body diagram helps you visualize the different forces being applied to an object. After practicing the free body diagrams they became a lot easier.

On Friday we had time in class to work on our study guides.  I am glad that we had time in class to prepare for the test on Tuesday. I think from doing the study guide in class and checking my answers I have a better understanding of the material on the test.  I think one thing I need to improve on this week is  remembering to print the chapter notes to help me in class. I always write it on my hand to remember but it always washes off and I forget. For Science Olympiad this week I spent about 15 minutes on Wednesday after school breaking the  bridge. Also on Thursday I worked on picture this for around 10 minutes in guided study.
 For this week's link it is a better explanation from Harvard of how Mr.Adams didn't die.
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~scdiroff/lds/NewtonianMechanics/FakirPhysics/FakirPhysics.html

It's getting complicated....Physics here I come!

On Monday we finished our worm lab for about 10 minutes and reviewed notes, then we started our bubble gum lab.  For this lab we were not tied down to a lab sheet with questions and an exact procedure which was my favorite part. We had free reign to make whatever experiment we wanted to test time and speed with gum. Our group tested if time would affect Nicholas's chewing speed.  We tested it in 30 second intervals. After each interval we recorded the number of chews in that time period. Our hypothesis was that the more time would result in a lower percentage of chews.

On Tuesday we actually got to test the experiment. I thought constructing our own experiment helped me to better understand and learn the scientific method. Before doing this lab we had to follow a lab procedure but in this we didn't because we got to make up our own experiment.  In our experiment we found that it did not affect his chewing speed but it increased over time .

On Wednesday  we had our first quiz in physics. For this quiz we had to study basic physics terms such as velocity, acceleration, distance and displacement. I often got these terms confused a lot. One thing I had trouble on during the quiz was applying what I knew to the questions. I knew what the terms meant I just didn't know how to apply them. I feel like if I had read the questions more carefully then I would have been more clear of what the question was asking a lot better. I can definitely improve on this for the next quiz.

On Thursday since it was our first quiz in physics we reviewed for most of the class on Thursday. Most of the topics I missed on the quiz were scalar and vector related. One thing I can improve on this week is learning the vector and scalar definitions and relearning the units so I can do better on my next test.

On Friday we did an activity where we went around the room to each table and did a different activity regarding physics. Before that activity we tried to balance a penny on a card that sat on our finger and if you pulled the card out from under the penny at just the right time the penny would sit on your finger. This works because you are moving the card not the penny. I know it's hard to believe but try it you will be surprised.

Next week we will start Newton's laws so the activities we did were mostly based around that. I didn't get to do all of the activities but I got to do most of them.  For Science Olympiad this week I spent about an hour building and testing  two more bridges.  We learned from breaking the bridges that the "new" design we had tried out had not been working because it broke almost instantly when the sand was being poured.
This week I can definitely say there is a lot of things I need to improve on but I have also learned a lot.

For this week's link it is all about Newton's Laws https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn34mnnDnKU

Physics and so much more...

On Monday it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day so we didn't have school. The fact that we had a four day week instead of a five day week made the week go so much faster.

On Tuesday we started a new unit which was Physics. When reviewing notes we learned basic vocabulary terms used in Physics. I learned the difference between scalar and vector quantities.While reviewing  my notes, I learned that vector quantities cannot be added to scalar quantities and can be abbreviated with an arrow over  the first letter. For example -> for acceleration.
                                                             a

On Wednesday we started a new lab. This lab taught us about distance and displacement; two terms we also learned on Tuesday. In this lab we used something living that was very squirmy and slimy. Can you guess what it was? It was a SUPER WORM!!! The super worm wasn't really a worm it was beetle larva. To begin the lab we separated our large sheet of paper into three parts. Two parts for the graph and one part to track the worms course. We set our timer for one minute and every ten seconds we marked the  spot where the worm was. We drew a dot in the center of the page to track the distance and displacement from that point. Then we put our super worm on the dot and then started the timer. Our worm squirmed around a lot making it hard to figure out where he was going. I thought watching a worm move around was a lot more fun way of learning distance and displacement.

On Thursday we worked on our lab questions. The rest of the day, the entire Science Olympiad team went to Panera Bread to have lunch and study for our events. I can definitely say I got a a lot done on Picture This. I think I spent around three hours practicing and drawing scientific terms. We got more words in four minutes than we had in the past. We got about ten words in the past but after we practiced for a while we got about twelve words per minute which is not a lot but shows progression.

On Friday we finished our lab. This lab helped me understand some terms I did not understand such as, acceleration and velocity.  On thing I can improve on this week is remembering to print out the notes and remembering to tweet. I hope next week feels as short as this week did.

For Science Olympiad I not only worked on Picture This, but on Sunday afternoon Emma and I met at school with our coaches.  We both broke two of our bridges each and spent about an hour working on Science Olympiad.



For this week's link is all about caring for super worms. https://www.wardsci.com/www.wardsci.com/images/Superworms.pdf

Review Week

On Monday we reviewed for our midterms that we will take next week. This week we reviewed each section day by day. On Monday we reviewed chapter one, the scientific method. We did this by reading cards that were placed around the room. We were then given a worksheet to put the answers to the questions that were on the cards. This was definitely a review for me it helped me remember some things I had forgotten overtime such as independent and dependent variables.

On Tuesday we did another activity to help us review for our midterms. With a partner we answered questions on flash cards about Unit 2. Doing this with a partner really helped because the material I didn't know they helped me understand and I helped them understand what they didn't know as well. After we completed the questions we compared our answers as a class.

On Wednesday we played a "minute to win it" science review game. It was all fun and games until I got cookie dust in my eye. There were two teams. Each team had to answer science review questions to get the chance for one team mate to try a minute to win game. My question was, "what is the top number in an element box?". I guessed atomic mass but the correct answer was atomic number. Now I know what questions I should study for the midterm. My favorite minute to win it game we played was where you had to put a cookie on your face and get it to your mouth without touching it. Unfortunately, my cookie rolled on the floor.

On Thursday we played a review game where we had to answer a series of questions in groups. We answered questions on the periodic table and atoms and elements. The questions were on slides and each slide had a different question This review game definitely helped me remember some of the material I had forgotten over winter break. The questions were put into categories. Each category corresponded with the material that we had covered. I think our team did well we got second place and got only one or two questions wrong. My favorite round was the bonus round. We had to guess characters from movies and our team got everyone right!

On Friday we did the same review game but with a different topic. We reviewed chemical bonding. I had some trouble with some material but after I knew the answers,  it all came back to me. Labeling what type of bond it was by looking at a diagram was also kind of hard. I did not do as well as I hoped but that just leaves lots of room for improvement.

For Science Olympiad this week I met for Picture This for about an  hour. We reviewed Life and Earth science in guided study. I think we are getting a lot faster and interpreting each others drawings allot better.

One thing I can improve on this week is writing down the questions or topics I don't understand and reviewing them for homework. This will make it allot easier when it is time to take the test.
The following link provides very useful tips on how to properly prepare for a chemistry exam.

http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/examtips.shtml

Answering Questions with Partners

 

Doing Review Questions