Today in class, I was the heat lab with Taryn and Lucy. We had to make a heat shield to protect our 'rocket' from the flame of a porpane torch. The 'rocket' was a screw attached to a stick with some glue. The stick was then attached to the worktable with some sort of device. I don't know what it is called. The point of the project was to keep the glue from getting hard for a long time. When the glue heated up enough, the 'rocket' would fall on the table, and then we would write down how long the 'rocket' stayed on the stick.
So our first trial had foil, a nut, some mesh, and then the rocket. It last 11.94 seconds. We hadn't thought of a camera yet, so we didn't take any pictures. Our second trial had a nut, foil, folded mesh, washer, then the rocket. It lasted 33.13 seconds, and we took two pictures. On the third trail, we had crinkled foil, washer, mesh, a nut, then the rocket It lasted 52.09 seconds, and we took three pictures. The fourth trial had wrapped foil, flat foil, mesh, a washer, then the rocket. It lasted 19.6 seconds, and we took three pictures. The fifth trail had foil wrapped around mesh like a flower bud, washer, then glue. It lasted 25 seconds, and we got one picture. The sixth trial had a nut w/ foil wrapped around it, mesh, and then glue. It lasted 38.9 seconds, and we got one picture. Our seventh and last trial had foil and mesh wrapped like a package, then a nut, then the rocket. It lasted 21.28 seconds, and we got two pictures.
We tried an eighth trail after we closed the computer camera and the word document that we were taking notes on. It didn't stay up as long as the strongest heat shield did (52.09 seconds) but it did stay up for at least 20 seconds.
I am going to put up pictures of the three longest lasting heat shields Friday.

Impact Craters Lab Picture

Impact Craters Lab

Today in class my lab was impact craters. My partners were Taryn and Amalia.
For our lab, we had to record the width and depth of craters that we made with a small compass ball and flour in a tin pan.
Then, we had to make 2 hypothesis. The 1st question was; how do you think GPE will affect crater depth- directly, inversly or not at all? Why? We said directly, becaue the higher up the ball is and the faster it goes, the deeper the crater would be, because there would be a lot of force coming down. Same goes for the lower the ball is, and the slower it is going.
The 2nd question was; how do you think GPE will affect crater width- directly, inversly or not at all? Why? We said directly and not at all both, because if the ball is droped from an extremely high height, then the crater would most likely have a larger width, because the force of the drop would impacted the flour, and then it would most likely change the space around it to make room for the ball and the air coming down with it. We said not at all, because if the ball was droped from not a very high height (like 10 cm then the GPE would probably not impact the width of the crater as much.
We had to pick 5 different spots on a meter stick, and drop the ball from those spots. We picked: 10 cm, 20 cm, 40 cm, 60 cm, and 80 cm. Then, we used the measurements in 5 GPE = mgh equations.. That gave us the measurement of energy. Then, we plugged that into a KE = 1/2m v2 problem.
This was to figure out the velocity. The velocities and heights were:
height = velocity
10 cm = .626099034
20 cm = .885437745
40 cm = 1.25219807
60 cm = 1.53362316
80 cm = 1.77087549
We took the data 2 times, because the 1st time we got the same depth and width for each height. Then, we talked to Mary Margaret, and she told us to loosen up the flour. So we did, and then the results were a bit different for each height.

Motors Lab

In class today, I did a motors lab. My lab partners were Anna and Lena. The 1st thing that we had to do, was wind a copper wire around a straw. We then had to hold the straw horizanatlly and put a needle into it.
The 2nd thing we had to do, was wind a copper wire around a battery 3 times, and then attache it to two paper clips, which we then taped onto the battery. And we also had to put a ceramic magnet underneath the copper wire circle. What was supposed to happen, was the battery sides, the paper clips, and the wire were supposed to get warm, and the wire circle was suppoesd to turn.
I did the 2nd expiriment with Anna, but then Anna went and helped Lena. We split up the expiriments so that our group could do both in the time we were given.
Although the contraption didn't work properly (the wire only spun 1/2 way then stopped). It did on the other hand heat up. In fact, it heated up so much, that I burned my cheek on it.

Body Power Lab

In class today, I was the body power lab. My partner was Em.
My BEE= 744.86
My RHR= 87
My MHR= 120
My WHR= 120
My calories burned per minute= 1.5
My EE= 10800
My DEE= 11544.86
My work= 15778
My power= 2954.68
My horsepower= 3.960

Mini Culminations

So, I'm not sure if I was supposed to post about our mini culminations, I'll do it anyway:
Mini Culmination Try1:
We had this two Fridays ago. I was the robotics person on the Earth base (the lab), and I helped Clara with communications and Alice with the launch. On our 1st try, the launch broke, so we replaced it with the spare launch, but by the time we had got it set up again, our time was up, so we never finished. Over all, our group worked really well, and I thought that everyone did a really great job, because even though the 6th graders were being a little noisy, and we didn't figure out the mission until a little towards the end, and we were having a really hard time. I know that we did a good job, put our best foot forward, and I'm really proud of the effort we put forth.
Mini Culmination Try 2:
We had this last Friday. It was just as fun as the last one, and we had more time to touch up before the day came. This time, I was communications, because one of the girls in our group was going to get braces on that day, and also because I switched with Maddy. I worked with Maddy and Kimmy at the Earth base (the lab) to launch the pieces needed into space. We had to launch the pieces into a little basket on a robot, and then Kimmy was supposed to go and turn the robot on, and send it to Taryn who was the Mars base (the hallway). I think our group did a pretty good job, because even though we couldn't get the pieces into the robot, our communication skills were pretty great, and we all tried really hard, and we were short two people, and everyone was a good sport. Even though we didn't finish (like last time) and I had been hoping that we could finish, the extra prep gave us more time, and we pulled it off far better then I expected we would.

Mini Culmination2

Okay. I totally forgot that we were supposed to be posting what we were doing in class on the blogs, so I'm going to do an update on what we've been doing since I last posted about this project.

The second class period we had, I worked on my parachute, and made the second sail for it, and I looked for some cardboard to tie at the bottom so that something could be attached to that. I needed help with testing it out, so after I worked on it, and it was ready to test out, Alice came out and helped me. It worked really well, and now the parachute is all ready. The parachute was made out of two sails, a piece of cardboard, and string. I taped two erasers onto it to practice tossing it down the stairs. The 1st sail (the one on top) is just a square that has a circle in the middle of it, and it is tied to the 2nd sail (the one on the bottom) which is basically a rectangle on it's side, so that when you look on it from a bird's eye view, it looks like a drawing of a 2-dimensional rectangle. The cardboard is just a rectangle with two holes in it, and is attached to the 2nd sail, and that's where the objects being thrown down will be attached to. After that, I went and helped her with her project. We got pretty far, so that I at least knew a little how it worked, and then the class ended.

So, the third time that we did this, since I was done with the parachute, and Emma needed help, I helped her with her project. I helped her to make a basket, and attach balloons to it, and make it run on the line. We had many trials and failures, but in the end it just wouldn't work out.

The fourth class time we had, I worked on Emma's thing with Kimmy, because Emma was sick. We changed the design a little bit, but the better half of the class was spent looking for the basket. Then I attached the basket to the string, and tried to make it go on the line. This time too, was a failure, as was the time after that, and the time after that. We just couldn't seem to make the basket go more than 3 feet.

The fifth class time (today) was spent trying to work on Alice's project which was neglected. I couldn't get that to work either, and I spent my whole time working really really really hard on it, but I just couldn't make it work. I'm going to try again in a little bit, during homework center, but the mini-culmination is this Friday, and I don't know if my team is prepared.

I'm going to have to work really hard today at homework center! Harder then I've ever worked before!

Science Video 2

1st Mini-Culmination

So today in class we decided on what jobs everyone was going to get. I was the Phobos Drop. I didn't get that far, but what I did get done, was making four holes on the bottom side of my parachute, then, I used hole reinforces so that the holes I made wouldn't rip when I tied the string to it. Next, I put four more holes on the top of my parachute, and hole reinforces on them too, so that when in my next class, I don't rip the parachute when I tie more string on. I'm planning to make bi-parachute.

Science Video 1

Launching to the Moon Lab

On Friday, I did launching to the moon with Alice and Taryn. At first, we put the tube on the string, and then we taped the ping pong ball on to it. We then taped the 1st balloon on the it. It wasn't that successful, because it didn't go that far, probably about 2 inches off the ground. So, we took the tape off, so we could blow the balloon up more, and add another one too it, but the balloon popped. We added two more objects to the tube (the two red Lego sticks) so it would be heavier, and so we wouldn't have to launch that many rockets. Just when I was going to blow the 2nd balloon up, (the 1st for that round, we only had 2 balloons total) I was called to the front desk for a soccer game, so I didn't get to finish the lab. I think that if we had two balloons to tape to the tube, then the tube would go up more, because more air would be pushing it upward. I don't know if adding more weight to the tube would work or not, but I think it would, because then the tube would be a little heavier, and we would make less trips, and it is most usually easier to throw a tennis ball in the air than a feather.

Africa Map Scores

These were my scores for the Africa Map test 2.

Lego Robotics- Challenge 2 Video

Lego Robotics- Challenge 2

Today, my lab partner was Louisa. We had to design a program that had our robot follow a black line. It was really hard at first, becasue we didn't know how to start it, but then, we asked Bert for help, and he showed us. Then, We tried to make it go, but our first program didn't work, so, we tried a new order of directions. We kept switching around the order, until we could get the robot to do what we wanted the robot to do. Our sequence is at left.

Soccer on the Moon

If I were going to play soccer on the moon, it would be very different then on the earth, because instead of a gravitational pull of 9.8 m/s 2, there is a 1.6 m/s 2 gravitational pull. It would great to be the goalie, because you could block almost every goal, because you could jump really far and high, so you could get the ball. But, you couldn't do a drop kick, because when you dropped the ball to kick it, it would sort of just float around the spot that you dropped it. Running would be faster, but it would take you longer to get back onto the ground after jumping up into the air. Because of Newtons' 3rd law, you might slightly bounce back after kicking the ball, but not that much, because your mass wouldn't change, and the ball still has less mass then you.

Remote Repairs

In class today, we did a lab called remote repairs. My partners were Emma S. and Anja. We had to go to different places in the lab, and IM to each other of what they had in their bags. My bag contained a bunch of different kinds of axels, some black Lego bricks, some thin long grey Lego pieces, a purple tube, and a couple other Legos. I can't remember what was in my other bag. Anja had the completed version of what was in my un-completed bag. But, before we could really get into what we were supposed to do, I was called to the front desk for a doctors appointment, and I don't know what happened after that.

Recovery Systems

Yesterday in class, I did a lab called Recovery Systems. My partners for this lab, were Kimmy and Em. In it, we had to make a parachute out of a plastic garbage bag, string, a hole puncher, hole punch reinforcement stickers, scissors, tape, and a hair dryer. Also, we had some balloons that were filled with sand. We started, by tying a sand bag to a big garbage bag, and blowing hot air from the hair dryer into it. That didn't work, because it was too flimsy, and it would fall down and crumple up really quickly. So, we cut the end of it off. Em worked with that, and made a parachute out of that the same way, but Kimmy and I wanted to make a smaller neater parachute, so we decided that Em would make a big one, I would make a small one, and Kimmy would write down what happened. Then, we would have two models (maybe more) and from that, we would decide which one worked better, and was a better model. The bigger one that Em made, fell just as easily as the one we had made original, so we tried out mine. That didn't work either, because it was too small, and the string was uneven, but it did work better. Then, Em came up with the idea of making a second parachute, and attach it to the top of my model, like a bi-plane. I'm not sure if they got a chance to make that version, because the soccer team was called to the front desk for early dismissal to go to the game, and I am on the soccer team.

Bernoulli's Law

For my Bernoulli's Law project, I chose to do something with a penny that my dad taught me. This is what you do:
1. find a penny
2. once you have your penny, place it on a flat space
3. blow as hard as you can on the top of one of the sides
What is supposed to happen:
Your penny is supposed to jump into the air, and flip over. It is really hard to make it actually flip, but making it jump is much easier.
Why this happens:
Well, when you blow hard on the penny, your breath is a fast moving fluid that blows over the top of your penny, causing it to jump into the air and hopefully flipping over. I'm not exactly sure where the low pressure point is, but I belive it's on the underside of the penny, because there is no fast moving fluid on that end of the penny, and nothing is really happening down there.
Why this works:
This works, because the force of your breath forces the penny up, and it then flips over, and you can see the other side of your penny. It is really hard to do, and most of the time, I cannot do it.

Hello!

Welcome to my blog. Hope you like it. See you all later, most likely at school! Bye!