Week 4: Methods 2

      Elementary Science II

Week 4: September 16th- 20th

In the lab this week we got to finish learning about friction and discuss some of the things we did in last week's lab.

A key point was that the big assumption is made when talking about what affects a rider's speed when going down a

slide. Many people say weight matters, the more weight the slower you go. However, a group in our class tested this

idea and proved that weight does not affect the speed on a slide. 

Our question this week was what affects how long it takes a swing to go back and forth? My group chose to

test the idea that a rider's position matters when swinging if the rider is sitting up straight or leaning back.

We estimated that if the rider moves their weight to the back when leaning, he can get more momentum and

swing faster. So to test this idea my group placed 2 washers in the middle of the “swing” and did two tests. We

did the same test but moved the two washers to the back of the “swing.” Based on the test we did we conclude that the position of the rider does not matter. 


Lecture:

When teaching let students use their own language to get them comfortable, then transition to proper vocabulary.

For example, the time for the swing goes back and forth once, which is called a period. I learned that energy in

the science aspect can be manifest in many ways, can be transferred from one system to another and energy is

never created nor destroyed. 


In this week's reading, chapter 10, begins with defining the pendulum. Which is a weight hung from a fixed

point that swings back and forth regularly. I learned that the speed of a pendulum’s swings is affected by the

length of the string. The shorter the string the faster it goes and the long the string the slower the swing. This

connects back to our question about the swings on a playground.

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