Week 5: Playground Surfaces



Lab: 
This week in the lab, we conducted an experiment testing the differing surfaces that are present in playgrounds. Our goal was to keep an egg from cracking when dropped from 1m into a bowl filled with various materials common in playgrounds. Our first trial was not as successful because it had too much bounce. The egg would just bounce right out of the bowl and crack on the floor. We deduced that the rubber was causing the bouncing rather than absorbing the shock as we had previously predicted. To try and alleviate this problem, we then put woodchips on the bottom, a little bit of rubber, and then placed the straw around the sides and had a thin layer on the bottom of the bowl. That combination allowed our egg to drop safely, without bouncing from the bowl onto the floor. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 10: Rocks and the Rock Cycle

Image
Lab:  Sedimentary / Metamorphic/ Igneous Rocks This week, we learned more about convection and how the inside of the earth heats and cools, causing the movement of the tectonic plates. The movement of the plates can cause different natural formations, such as mountains, ridges, volcanoes, and more.  Rocks:  Igneous: Cooled Magma Metamorphic: Heat and Pressure Sedimentary: Compaction and Cementation (includes water)  Through an investigation, we created our own kinds of rocks by using starburst candies. Igneous rocks were created from melting one or more flavors of candy, and metamorphic rocks were crafted by sightly heating up the candy so that it could be molded and formed with another. Lastly, the sedimentary rocks were created by just simply shoving the starburst candies into one another, creating layers within the formation. It was a really fun experience to see how different rocks are created in nature while also getting a delicious treat afterward! ◡̈ Lecture:...
Read more

Week 9: Geologic Time

Image
Lab:  Earth viewer Activity:  Earth and Moon formed ~4500 Mya The oldest minerals show evidence of liquid water on Earth (~4400 Mya) About 2.4 billion years ago, oxygen began to persist in the atmosphere. Before then, life did not necessitate oxygen.  Snowball earth -- earth was covered in ice (2200-2000 Mya)  Cambrian explosion (540 Mya) -- diversification of life First land plants: (470 Mya)  First land vertebrates (375 Mya)  Permian-Triassic Extinction (~251 Mya) referred to as "The Great Dying" or the largest extinction event in history Genus Homo (2 Mya)  Homosapiens appeared much later -- 0.2 Mya With young students, it is helpful to use a timeline to illustrate the concepts of earth's conception and beyond. With the students, it could be easiest to create a timeline that details the last billion years to be more specific with a smaller span of time. Pressbook:  - The first life on Earth was simple, prokaryotic bacteria. - At least three tim...
Read more

Week 11: Earth's Structure

Image
 Lab:  First, we discussed the law of superposition. This law states that the deeper layers of rock in or outside of the earth are the oldest, and as they get closer to the surface, they are younger. We then determined the order in which different formations occurred based on the principle of superposition using a handout. We found that if there are rivers or other movements (earthquakes, etc) then that movement must have occurred before material filled it in.  st Sand Sample Classifications:       1: Beach Sand (Ocean) -- Bigger pieces with irregular shapes      2. Dune -- fine, opaque       3: Beach (Ocean) -- Huge pieces irregular in size, pitted, dark in color       4. Beach (Ocean) -- Very irregular in size, random bits, rough, not polished       5. River -- Polished, smooth, similar in size       6. Dune -- very fine, frosted, similar in size, slightly ...
Read more