Week 4 Science Methods 2

 

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?  

The big question that was addressed in the lab was "What affects how long it takes for a swing to go back and forth." We looked into this question by doing an experiment on whether a rider's position affects how fast a swing goes back and forth.  Our question was "Does the position of a rider affect how fast a swing goes back and forth in 10 swings."  Our hypothesis was "If a rider is leaning back they will swing faster, but they will not go back and forth as much as someone who is fitting straight up.  We used a string, washers, a small pencil lead container, and a binder clip. We tested our question by using the washer at different spots in the clip to represent leaning or not. We then tested how long each swing took in 10 swings. The straight position had times of 11.46 seconds and 11.85 seconds. The weights in the back(leaned) were 11.51 seconds and 11.33 seconds. Our claim is that position does not affect the speed.  

We talked about some of the different experiments done in the lab. We talked about just like the slides, weight does not matter when talking about swings.

One thing I learned in Thursday's lecture is about energy. Energy can be transferred from one system to another, and energy is never created and can never be destroyed. We want our students to think of light and movement with energy. Energy is useful in the scientific setting because we can understand how things behave the way they do.  

What I learned from the reading was that the speed of a pendulum's swing is affected by the length of the string. The longer string is swinging slower than the shorter string. The most helpful was comparing the pendulums to swings. It helped me relate the information about pendulums to the swings. I don't think I need any more information at the moment. My question at the moment is will we need to know about how swings/pendulums work for the test?