Proficiency #1
Experiment and explain how Newton's laws of motion apply to the physical world
Problem: Does adding mass increase how far a car can go down a ramp?
Hypothesis: I think that if you add more weight it will go farther because it is being pushed by the weight.
Experiment:
D.V: the car with the weights
I.V: how far the car will go
C.V: the board, person putting the car on the ramp, the weights
Control: the washers
Eliminating External variables: make sure you measure the front wheel, the car starts at the exact same place each time
Materials: ramp, car, washer weights, helper,
Procedure:
1. Gather all materials.
2. Set up a ramp that is 5 ft long and it is sitting 7 inches off the ground
3. Make sure you have something to hold the ramp up on.
4. Use your car and place it on the ramp.
5. See how many inches it went.
6. Make sure to measure the distance from the time it left the end of the board, to the front of the wheels
7. Then add 10 washers inside of the car
8. See how far it goes when the washer are in the car
9. Make sure to also measure the front wheels
10. Repeat steps 8-10 adding 20 washers and then 30 washers
11. Record and analyze
12. Clean up
Conclusion: In my hypothesis I stated that I thought the more weight that was in the car, the farther it would travel. My hypothesis was supported by the fact that we did the trials right and we got all the data. For a fact though my hypothesis was incorrect. I thought that the more weight, the farther it would go. But, it turns out that the number actually went down when you put more of the washers in. That is my experiment.
How I met the proficiencies: When I did this experiment it said that I had to experiment and explain how Newton's Laws of motion apply to the physical world. I did this experiment on Newton's second law of motion. Newton's Second Law of motion is, acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass.( from
"Newton's 3 Laws of Motion." CEEE GirlTECH Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2010.) In my experiment I made a ramp and put a car on the ramp. The car rolled down the ramp and I measured how far it went in inches. Then I added washers in the car to see if it would accelerate the car. The car did not actually accelerate but slowed down. When adding washers the numbers slowly decreased. This applies to Newton's Law because the acceleration of the car is when the washers are added. This is how I met the proficiencies.
Proficiency #2
Experiment and explain how friction and gravity apply to Newton's Laws of motion .
Problem: Does the size of the parachute affect how long it takes for the marble to hit the floor.
Hypothesis: I think the bigger the parachute the longer it would take to get to the ground. I think this because a bigger parachute would take longer to stretch out and get to the floor, therefore the impact would be less hard.
Experiment:
Variables: I.V: how big parachute is
D.V: the height of the drop
C.V: the person timing the parachute drop, the marble, the person timing
Eliminating External variables: make sure person is ready to time, make sure you do 4 trials for each length or parachute
Control: Parachute
Materials: 2 plastic garbage bags, 3 sandwich bags, 1 marble, partner, scissors, light string, timer
Procedure:
- Gather all materials
- Take 2 plastic garbage bags and cut a 8x8, 16 x 16, and 24 x 24 in. parachute.
- Tie a piece of string to each corner of the square, then attach the other ends of the plastic bags to the sandwich bags
- Make one 8x8, 16x16, and 24x24 also tying the strings and using sandwich bags.
- Place a marble in the sandwich bags
- Drop the parachute from 10 feet and time how long it takes to get to the bottom
- Repeat steps 5 and 6 4 more times.
- Then repeat steps 5 and 6 using the 16 x 16 and the 24 x 24 for 4 trials each
- You will drop the parachute from 10 feet each time
- Record and analyze
- Clean up
Conclusion: In my problem I stated that I wanted to know which parachute would take the longest to get to the ground. In my hypothesis I stated that I thought the 24x24 inch parachute would take the longest to get to the ground because it would take longer to stretch out and it would go slower. I knew this because the 8x8 inch is not big enough. The friction and the gravity would pull the marble down quicker because of that. The parachute was the friction that pulled the marble, and the marble was the gravity. My hypothesis was supported by the fact that I gave the facts and did all of my trials correctly.
How I met the proficiency: When I did this experiment it said that I had to explain the relationship between friction and gravity and Newton's Laws of motion. I met this by Newton's 3rd Law of Motion proficiency. For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. When I let the marble and the parachute drop that was Newton's Third Law. The marble would have fallen straight to the floor if there was no parachute, but the parachute held the marble in it's place and helped it to move gently to the floor. For the law the action was the marble in the bag and the reaction was the parachute holding the marble in and keeping it and bringing it gently to the floor.
Proficiency #3
Problem: Does the height of the ramp affect the speed and acceleration of the bouncy ball?
Hypothesis: I think that higher the ramp is to the floor, the more acceleration it will have.
Experiment:
Variables: I.V: the deceleration of the bouncy ball
D.V: angle of the ramp
C.V: the bouncy ball, the ramp (not the angle), the person timing
Materials: ramp, bouncy ball, two helpers, tape measure, tape, stopwatches
Procedure:
- Gather all materials
- Make a ramp
- Set the ramp 7 inches off the ground
- Put strips of tape every 4 inches ( 4 in, 8 in, 12 in )
- Put the bouncy ball on the ramp and time it
- Use the speed and acceleration formula
- Repeat steps 3-6 using different heights
- Record and analyze data
- Clean up
Conclusion: In my hypothesis I stated that I thought the higher the ramp was off the ground the time would be less. My hypothesis was supported by the fact that I used the formula of speed and acceleration to find the rate. First I put the ramp up 7 inches and rolled the ball down the ramp while timing it. In the end my result was correct and supported.
How I met the proficiencies: I met the proficiencies in many ways. It said that I had to demonstrate the relationship between speed and acceleration. I had found the speed and acceleration using Final Velocity minus the initial Velocity divided by the time. This is how you would calculate speed and acceleration. By putting the ramp up on different heights it meant that the experiment would be more accurate. This is how my experiment met the proficiencies.
Proficiency #4
Demonstrate and explain how simple machines utilize mechanical advantage to transfer energy ( potential energy, kinetic energy and various other forms of energy)
Problem: Is their a relationship between the potential energy of stretching the rubber band and the kinetic energy created by letting the rubber band go?
Hypothesis: I think the more potential energy I create while stretching the rubber band will make the rubber band go farther while using the kinetic energy
Experiment:
Variables:
Iv: how far the rubber band goes when flung at different lengths
Dv: the length
Cv: the ruler, the person flinging the rubber band, the length the ruler is set at
Control: rubber band
Eliminating External Variables: make sure the rubber band is the same, make sure that the person helping you is measuring right, the ruler is set at the right angle
Materials: inch ruler, 1 rubber band; 4 inches long and 1 quarter of an inch wide, a yard stick or tape measure, a person to help you, sidewalk chalk or tape
Procedure:
- Gather all materials
- If you do this outside, draw a line you will be standing behind to do the experiment.
- If you are doing this inside you tape and stand behind the line you made with tape.
- Put you ruler on the line
- Use a rubber band that is 4 inches long, and 1 quarter of an inch wide, and place it at different intervals. For example: 5 in, 7 in, 9 in, 11 in
- Start at your first interval and stretch it that many inches
- Make sure your partner is ready and let the rubber band go.
- Let your partner record the result on how far the rubber band flung
- Do this 5 times on each inch.
- After your first 5 trials at your first interval, find the average to make your result more accurate.
- Then repeat steps 6-10 five more times each.
- After you have finished doing all of you intervals make a graph.
- Record the data and analyze.
- Clean up
Conclusion: In my hypothesis I stated that I thought the more you pulled back the rubber band ( potential energy) the farther it would fly( kinetic energy). My hypothesis was supported. Although at times the rubber band flew less at 7 inches than 5, it was supported by the fact that I made sure to eliminate external variables. I eliminated external variables by making sure that all of my number were exact. I made sure I was exact by lining up the ruler in the same place and measuring. I used a tape measure to measure this but a yard stick would work too. I made my numbers into inches because that is how far the rubber band flew. Next time I would have a few more intervals and have more trials. But overall, I think that my lab was scientific and supported.
How it meets the proficiencies: I met the proficiencies in many ways. In the proficiency it said to utilize mechanical advantage using forms of energy. This meant we had to use different forms of energy to transfer energy such as potential energy and kinetic energy. I used these two energies in my experiment. In my experiment I pulled the rubber band back different amounts of inches ( potential energy) and let the rubber band go ( kinetic energy) I then measured it in the amount of inches. That is how I met the proficiencies of the simple machines.
Proficiency #5
Wind energy Persuasive Essay
Dear government and all other legal parties,
When most people think of alternative energy for America, they immediately think of solar powered energy. Why does it always have to be solar energy? There are many more types of energies we can use everyday. I would like to prove the point of wind energy but also include other energy's that apply. What most people don’t consider asking is, “what is wind energy?” Wind energy is a form of solar energy. Solar energy can heat different parts of the earth at different times. The hot air rises and cooler air is there to take its place which is a result of wind. To continue off what wind energy is we know that air has mass and when in motion we create kinetic energy. Then some of the energy can be converted into something we can use for everyday life. But, why have we not been able to use this to reduce gases that come into our environment? If we can use all of this energy, we can use it to change something over time.
When I think of using energy, I think of big things. I think of 24 hour stores that are lit all the time. I think of hospitals where they never sleep. What I have never really thought of before was wind energy. Wind energy is a type of solar energy, so it can be renewed. For us, we can use wind all the time and we do not need to produce it like gas and other harmful chemicals that come into our air each day.Though some may think of it as hard to achieve it is actually one of the easiest to maintain. My question would be why the government or anyone else has not tried to incorporate it into our real world yet. One way to incorporate it into America today would be to generate a generator which could run on air to fill homes with air conditioning during the summer and heat during the winter. Though can this benefit everyone?
Through America many people are poor. They can't find jobs, they can't even ensure that their family is going to be alright through the cold winter nights. What could they do? Well, what if we incorporated a system that could keep some of the homeless or families struggling to survive into a more affordable and safer home? We could incoperate a house that ran on wind energy. The heat and air conditioning could try and be powered by the wind and the bill would be lower in cost since we don't have to reproduce it again and again.
Wind energy is popular through the united states, though it just doesn't seem like we use it a lot.We have many wind turbines along our highway and oceans that produce much energy. There are many ways we can use these energies. We could use these energy sources to power cars. Though we already have solar power to help power smart cars, we could incorporate wind energy into that. Just imagine the possibilities which could be accomplished throughout the years.
Every year brings new things. Why can't we incorporate energy into our new years resolution? Why not incorporate more ways to use solar energy? In this paper I am trying to prove the point that the United States is in danger.We don't realize that most of the energy we use is going to waste. An idea would be to save some of that energy in a building or dome and use it when power outages or storms knock out some of the essentials of living. These are just some ways to use alternative energy.
When I used to think of alternative energy's I used to think of nothing more than what the government and science organizations thought of it. I used to think that I could just let the government work out everything for themselves. I was wrong in the fact that alternative energy use really is not our biggest problem in America. We have taxes and money issues. But, this is something that can be planned in the near future. Now when I think of alternative energy I think of millions of people coming together to create something magnificent.
That is all. Thank you for your time and I hope you consider this letter.
Your alternative energy writer,
Paityn Nelson
Proficiency #5
In class we were told to figure out a way to use alternative energy. I chose to write a persuasive paper to the government and all other legal parties who would support the evidence I gave. In my paper I expressed the difficulties of using alternative energy, but helping to incorporate them into real life. I met the proficiencies in this paper because of my facts and all of my research. I think that if I sent this paper the legal parties would consider of what I have just brought up. That is all.
Citations:
"Wind Energy Facts." Wind energy: how it works. N.p., 7 Nov. 2010. Web. 7 Nov. 2010. <"Wind Energy Facts." Alternative Energy. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2010. . >.
"Wind Energy – what is it and how we can use it
Alternative Energy HQ." Alternative Energy HQ - solar power for homes, alternative energy, solar power,wind fuel
Alternative Energy HQ. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2010. .
