Week 3 Science Methods II

 

1. The big question addressed in the lab, and a description of what you did.
2. A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture.
3. Answer questions about the weekly textbook reading:
1. What did you learn?
2. What was most helpful?
3. What do you need more information on?
4. What questions/concerns/comments do you have? 

In the lab this week, we did an experiment about how certain variables affect how fast you go down a slide. You could choose from the clothing you wear, the steepness, rider weight, rider height, surface, and rain or sunshine. You were to work in your group and choose one variable to test. My group chose to test the steepness of the slide.  

    Our question to figure out was, "Does the steepness of a slide affect how fast a rider goes down the slide?" 

    We did five different tests all at different steepnesses. The tests were done at 0.55 meters, 0.75 meters, 1.0 meters, 1.7 meters, and 2.1 meters. We laid the "slide" on each part of the door with tape and measured from where it was laid to the floor. We then had a car go down the "slide" and used our phone stopwatch to time it. The times were 2.40 seconds, 1.41 seconds, 1.06 seconds, 0.95 seconds, 0.89 seconds. We then put all of this into Google Sheets to see a more accurate visual representation of our findings. We concluded that the more steep the slide the faster the car goes down.  

In lecture this week, we talked about more in-depth what affects you when you are going down the slides. We talked about steepness, surface/clothing, and rider's weight. We talked about how the steeper the slide, the faster the speed. We then talked about how gravity plays a part in the speed on the slide. Objects accelerate because of force. Surface/clothing affects the speed of the rider. This is because of friction. Groups found that the rider's weight does not affect the rider's speed.  

The reading this week was about The Force Lens on Motion. I learned more about Newton's Laws. One is that when objects are at rest remain at rest, while objects in motion unless acted on by an unbalanced external force. The second is the greater the mass of an object, the more force it will take to accelerate the object. The third is if Object A pushes on Object B, then Object B simultaneously pushes back on Object A with the same size force in the opposite direction. The most helpful were the videos. They helped explain more in-depth about the forces. I think maybe more information on the forces. I feel like we could talk more about it. I don't have any questions/concerns at this time.