Alli's Blog :): Science

Proficiency 1:
Experiment with and explain how Newton's Laws of motion apply to the physical world.

How I eliminated external variables:

To eliminate all of the external variables we will be testing in an open space on a flat surface. We will have the same person measuring, timing, and placing the dominoes. Also we will be using the same ruler throughout the whole experiment. Doing all of this will eliminate all external variables.

Problem: Does the amount of dominoes effect its over all speed and acceleration?

Hypothesis: I think that the more dominoes you add the faster it will go and you will see a increase in speed and acceleration. I think this because of Newton's second law of motion. I believe that the force will increase as you add more dominoes and therefore make the acceleration and speed higher.

Experiment:

Materials:

20 dominoes
large flat space
ruler
tape
scrap paper
timer
a calculator

Variables-

Independent: The amount of dominoes,

Dependent: The speed and acceleration

Constant : Space, ruler, person timing, person pushing and placing the dominoes, person measuring

Controlled: type of dominoes

Procedure-

Gather all Materials
Take 4 dominoes
Place them evenly on the floor two inches apart ( mark with tape)
Measure the distance from the very front of the first domino to the very end of the last one
Write this measurement down on your scrap paper
Grab the timer
Push the timer button at the same time lightly tip over the first domino
Push the timer button at the exact time the last domino falls
Write the time on you scrap paper
Now divide the distance by the time to get speed
Next subtract
you final velocity (speed) by the initial velocity (start speed 0)
Divide the number you get by the time to get acceleration
Repeat steps 2-12 adding 4 dominoes each for each trial ( each trial is 3 tries per set of dominoes.)
Do this until you get to 16 dominoes
Graph all information
Clean up all materials
Write about the relationship between the two

Observation:

Conclusion:

In our problem, does the amount of dominoes effect the over all speed and

acceleration? My hypothesis was proven true, because when you add more dominoes the speed increased. Along with the speed increasing so did the acceleration. Which answers the question yes the amount of dominoes effects the over all speed and acceleration. The more dominoes you add the force increases and therefore increases the acceleration and speed. This happens because of Newton's second law of motion, "The greater the force the greater the acceleration."

Explanation:

I was able to include this experiment into the other experiments I have done . Such as the first of Newton's laws, I incorporated them into my experiment for the 3rd proficiency, The law states that an object in rest will stay in rest unless acted upon by an outside force. In that experiment the dominoes remained at rest until I pushed it, the outside force is my finger. The law also stated that an object in motion will remain in motion until acted upon by an outside force. In the experiment the dominoes would always remain in moving forward until the ground stopped it, the outside force is the ground.

This same experiment can also be used to experiment with Newton's second law of motion. The second law Shows the relationship between force and acceleration: the greater the force the greater the acceleration. In the experiment the more dominoes you add the force increases, there for explaining the reason why the acceleration increased too.

The third and final law I was also able to incorporate into the 3rd proficiency, The law states the for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In the experiment my action of pushing the first domino had a reaction of it falling. This reaction was equal and also opposite of my initial action.

This explains all of Newton's laws, But how do the apply in the physical world? That’s just it any movement or action you such as doing a chain reaction with dominoes, will all follow Newton's laws. The dominoes move until you move them and they wont stop moving till the floor stops the last one, fist law. With each domino you add the force increases and with the force increasing so does the acceleration of the dominoes, second law. When you touch the first domino it will have an equal and opposite reaction by falling and hitting the next domino, 3rd law. See can't even have a chain reaction with dominoes without having Newton's laws being involved.

Proficiency 2: Experiment with and explain how friction and Gravity apply to Newton's laws.

How I eliminated external variables:
To eliminate all external variables I had the same person time the ball going down the ramp for the entire experiment. We also had the same person measure everything out, like the placement of the ramp and how long the ramp was. We used the same board in both experiments one just covered and ones not. To measure we used the same ruler throughout the whole experiment. And finally we used the same ball throughout the experiment.

Problem: Does the surface of the ramp effect the speed of the ball and how fast it falls?

Hypothesis: I think that the smooth ramp will cause the ball to fall faster because there is less friction.

Experiment:

Procedure-

Gather all materials
Place the plain wood board against the wall
Cover this board with a towel
Measure the length of the board
Grab your foam ball
And have your timer in hand
Place the ball at the top of the ramp
Start the timer as soon as you hand leaves the bal
When the ball touches the floor eminently stop the timer
Record you time on a scrap peace of paper
Divide the length/ distance of the board with the time on your timer
Record into excel
Do this 9 more times on the covered board
Once done with the covered board place the board to the side and grab your uncovered board
Do the same thing you did with the covered board ten times (repeat steps 2 skip 3 and 4 then do 5-12
After you finish this experiment clean up all materials

Materials-

2 four foot plain wood boards
One towel
One timer
One foam ball
A lap top
A scrap piece of paper
Pencil
Ruler

Variables-

Independent: Texture of the board

Dependent: speed the ball falls

Constant : same person timing, same person measuring, same type of boards, same length of boards, same ruler, same ball

Controlled: none

Observation:

Conclusion:

In my problem, does the surface of the ramp effect the speed of the ball and how fast it falls? My hypothesis was proven true, I thought that the smooth ramp would make the ball fall faster because there is less drag. Unlike the covered ramp there is nothing to slow down the ball, so that’s why it fell faster. The friction or resistance of the board is what determines the speed in which the ball falls. The covered ramp made the ball fall at an average speed of 4.69 feet per second compared to the uncovered ramp which made the ball fall at an average speed of 5.301 feet per second. That’s almost a whole second difference that’s a lot considering that we only changed the texture of the ramp. So over all this is exactly what I thought the turn out of this experiment would be.

Explanation:

Friction and gravity relate to gravity, like in Newton's first law "An object in motion will stay in motion until acted upon by an outside force, some of these other forces include gravity and friction, and will eventually make the object stop moving. The second law is an extension to the first law so basically the force applied to the object accelerates the stone in the same direction as the force, that force can be gravity. The third law simply states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If the force is great enough the object will have to over come friction and also gravity. So as you can see each law has something to do with friction and gravity.

Proficiency 3:
Experiment with and explain the relationship between speed and acceleration.

How I eliminated external variables:

To eliminate all of the external variables we will be testing in an open space on a flat surface. We will have the same person measuring, timing, placing the dominoes, and placing the dominoes. Also we will be using the same ruler throughout the whole experiment. Doing all of this will eliminate all external variables.

Problem: Does the amount of dominoes effect its over all speed and acceleration?

Experiment:

Materials:

20 dominoes
large flat space
ruler
tape
scrap paper
timer
a calculator

Variables-

Independent: The amount of dominoes,

Dependent: The speed and acceleration

Constant : Space, ruler, person timing, person pushing and placing the dominoes, person measuring

Controlled: type of dominoes

Procedure-

Gather all Materials
Take 4 dominoes
Place them evenly on the floor two inches apart ( mark with tape)
Measure the distance from the very front of the first domino to the very end of the last one
Write this measurement down on your scrap paper
Grab the timer
Push the timer button at the same time lightly tip over the first domino
Push the timer button at the exact time the last domino falls
Write the time on you scrap paper
Now divide the distance by the time to get speed
Next subtract
you final velocity (speed) by the initial velocity (start speed 0)
Divide the number you get by the time to get acceleration
Repeat steps 2-12 adding 4 dominoes each for each trial ( each trial is 3 tries per set of dominoes.)
Do this until you get to 16 dominoes
Graph all information
Clean up all materials
Write about the relationship between the two

Observation:

Conclusion:

In our problem, does the amount of dominoes effect the over all speed and

Explanation:

The relationship between speed and acceleration is whenever the speed increases the acceleration also increases. Acceleration is also the time rate of change of speed. Acceleration equals Speed divided by time. And as you can see by the graphs you can notice the time rate of speed of change is about twice the speed.

This experiment is also the first proficiency experiment, The dominoes move until you move them and they wont stop moving till the floor stops the last one, fist law. With each domino you add the force increases and with the force increasing so does the acceleration of the dominoes, second law. When you touch the first domino it will have an equal and opposite reaction by falling and hitting the next domino, 3rd law.

Proficiency 4:

Experiment with and Explain how simple machines utilize mechanical advantage to transfer energy. (Potential Energy, Kinetic energy, and other forms of energy.)

Experiment: Rube Goldberg

Pictures:

Explanation:

In my Rube Goldberg I used all 6 different types of simple machines, including a pulley, a screw, an incline plane, a wheel and axle, lever and a wedge. A machine is any device that provides a "mechanical advantage". Simple machines are all around us and help us accomplish work faster and easier many times each day the first simple machine in my Rube Goldberg is in fact a pulley to be specific it is a fixed pulley because it doesn't move, Its stays in the same place the whole time although it does change the direction of the force. A fixed pulley offers less resistance, because the wheel lightens the load, and there for has a mechanical advantage of 1. You use the pulley in the beginning to start the whole chain reaction, fist you pull on the string that is attached to the pulley on one side and a piece of track on the other. When you pull the string the track lifts up sending a small bouncy ball to the top of the screw.

The screw is the second simple machine in the Rube Goldberg, a screw is an incline plane wrapped around a cylinder. Which in this case it is a vacuum cleaner hose wrapped around a support pole in my basement. The longer the spiral on the screw is and the closer together the threads are, the greater the mechanical advantage is. This means that the mechanical advantage of my screw is large because of how long it is. This action creates potential energy, the reason it is potential energy is because it's gravitational. The gravity is pulling the bouncy ball down the screw.

Once the bouncy ball reaches the bottom of the screw it automatically goes into an incline plane. An incline plane in exactly what it sounds like a flat surface that is slanted. The greater the ratio of an incline plane's length to it's height is, greater the mechanical advantage is. My incline planes length to height ratio is, 21in.: 10in, that has an ok mechanical advantage it would have been a better mechanical advantage if I had the incline plane on more on an incline. In inline plane is also just like the screw uses mechanical advantage to transfer potential energy, because the incline plane operates using gravity.

At the base of the incline plane there is a car, this car is my wheel and axle. A wheel and axle is a simple machine consisting of two circular objects of different sizes. The axle is what the wheel rotates on, like a steering wheel. The mechanical advantage of a wheel and axle is greater than 1 because the radius of the wheel is larger than the radius of the axle. Even though the wheel and axle in my Rube Goldberg is small it still has a mechanical advantage of 1 because the wheel is larger than the axle. The wheel and axle utilizes mechanical advantage to create kinetic energy because it operates on movement.

Attached to the car is a small needle, this needle is my wedge in the Rube Goldberg. A wedge is a pair of incline planes that move, like an ax or a knife. The longer and thinner the wedge is the greater the mechanical advantage. Just like how a sharpened ax or knife cuts better when sharpened. So if my needle was longer it would have a really high mechanical advantage. Because a needle would just be a needle without movement it transfers mechanical advantage into kinetic energy.

The bouncy ball comes done the incline plane and hits the car with the needle attached to it. The car then get cent onto a lever. This lever is a 1st class lever, this means it operates like a scale. When one sides down the other is up. The fulcrum of the lever has the smallest surface area so the scale has minimum resistance when the force is applied. The mechanical advantage is 1. This simple machine operates using gravity so that’s why it transfers it's mechanical advantage of 1 into potential energy. After the car goes over the lever it is greeted with a balloon, and since the car has a needle attached to the front of it the balloon pops! And that’s the all the simple machines and how they utilize mechanical advantage into energy.

Proficiency 5:

Effectively explain how different forms of energy can be utilized in the United States energy needs.

Dear President Obamama,

The other day I had a soccer game in Appleton, Wisconsin. On the way up there we were driving down highway 41 and on the side of the highway there were some windmills. These windmills inspired me to write this to you and to do a little research on them. And I found out that wind energy is a huge part to eliminate fossil fuels.

Before we can eliminate them we need to know how they work. Wind energy is converted from solar energy, the sun heats different parts of the earth at different rates. This also includes land and water they also absorb the solar rays at different rates, this makes the atmosphere warm at different rates. Hot air rises, reducing the atmospheric pressure at the earth's surface, and cooler air is drawn in to replace it. The result is wind. We can then convert this wind into energy that we can use to perform tasks.

The air has mass, and when it's in motion or in its wind state, it contains the energy of that motion ("kinetic energy"). We can then gather the energy using the windmills and use the energy we collect to perform tasks. Did you know that modern wind turbines have an availability of more than 98% higher than most other types of power plant? After more than two decades of constant engineering refinement, today's wind machines are highly reliable. With that said if we use this idea of using wind energy along with solar power we can run most of our country off of it. There are already 80 countries around the world using wind energy as an energy source.

Windmills aren't new technology, in fact they have been around all throughout history. People have used windmills for things such as grinding wheat, but today they are manly uses for collecting energy. They collect energy using its blades. The blades gather the wind that travel over them, just like an airplane uses wings for lift, windmills use their blades for lift as well – in this case to turn the windmill. As the blades turn, this turns the drive shaft and creates electricity. Electricity is sent through wires and collected.

If we place these wonderful machines all over the country, it will make our country a greener country. And with the help of the other 80 countries we can make the whole world a greener place. You don't have to worry them being ugly, these tall, sleek structures are very sophisticated; they will make the country seem powerful. Maybe this will be the first step on the yellow brick road to a cleaner world. and once we take the first step into a cleaner world maybe they will inspire different countries just like they inspired me.

~Allison Quartaroli

Sources-
&. "Wind power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power>.

Layton, Julia. "HowStuffWorks "How Wind Power Works"." Howstuffworks "Science". N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/wind-power.htm>.

"RenewableUK - How Does Wind Energy Work?." RenewableUK - The UK's leading renewable energy association - (formerly named BWEA). N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://www.bwea.com/energy/how.html>.

asupport. "How Does Wind Energy Work." HubPages. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://hubpages.com/hub/How-Does-Wind-Energy-Work>.

Pakhare, Jayashree. "How Does Wind Energy Work?." Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-does-wind-energy-work.html>.

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