Cate+P+sp2013

=Two Types of Experiments Extension=

The purpose of this paper airplane experiment is to see which model of paper airplane flies the best. This was a comparison experiment because there is only one set of numbers and you are comparing things, in this case the paper airplane models. The control in this experiment is the standard model, and the independent variable is the model of airplane that we are testing. The dependent variable is how far the plane flies. To conduct this experiment we first made three models of paper airplanes, the Dart, the Standard Model, and the Arrow. Then we laid out four meter sticks on the ground and we flew the airplanes, measuring how far they flew in centimeters. The Arrow flew the best, at a travelling distance average of 780.5 cm, with the Arrow following behind at 611 cm. The standard model, to our surprise, came last, flying only 560 cm on average.

The purpose of the rubber band experiment was to test how the thickness of the rubber band might affect how far it goes when shot. This is a relationship experiment because we are testing how two different sets of data relate to each other. The control in this experiment was the rubber band that was ¼ cm think because its thickness was in the middle of the thicknesses of the rubber bands we were testing, the other two being ½ cm think and 1/8 cm thick. The independent variable for this experiment was the thickness of the rubber band and the dependent variable was how far the rubber band went when it was stretched 4 cm and shot. To conduct this experiment, we first laid out some meter sticks on the ground. Then we took three rubber bands of different thicknesses and shot them off two times each, measuring how far they went in cm, and then averaged them out. The 1/8 cm rubber band went the farthest, at 339 cm. The ¼ cm thick rubber band came next, at 336.5 cm. The ½ cm thick rubber band went the least far, at 233 cm.

For my independent science project I was determining whether a Diet Coke and Mentos geyser could be turned into a squirt gun, and if so, the best conditions in which to turn it into one. The answer was yes, the geyser could be turned into a squirt gun. The squirt gun worked the best when held at 120 degrees, if 90 degrees meant that the bottle was being held perpendicular to the body, and if you dropped the typical number of 7 Mentos into a 2 liter bottle of Diet Coke. Additionally, it was found that the Diet Coke could be poured into a new bottle. It would still work as a squirt gun, however it decreased the height of the geyser which meant that the Diet Coke should be kept in the original container. I felt that my experiment went very well. There are still many things that I would like to test, but I got all that I needed to get done finished and turned in a good project. I liked working on an independent science project. It really gave you the sense of what really being a scientist would be like, when you have to do everything and the teachers aren't telling you what to do and when. That kind of thing is what you do in real life, so it was fun to see how creative I could be with my experiments and what I could solve. All in all, I think that my project went very well and I learned a lot, about squirt guns and Mentos geysers and about what working as a real scientist is like.
 * ISP Reflection**

The job that would relate to my ISP project is that of a toy maker and inventor. This job relates to my ISP because I was testing to find out how to make a Diet Coke and Mentos geyser into a squirt gun. Someone in this career would experiment to find the best design for making a Diet Coke and Mentos squirt gun. They would find the best number of Mentos, best temperature, and various other facts about Diet Coke and Mentos geysers and include these things on an instruction manual. Then you would attempt to build a Diet Coke and Mentos specialized squirt gun. This would probably be made out of plastic. You would try to use different models of squirt guns to see which one worked the best and produced the best squirt, and allowed for the Diet Coke and Mentos to be added in. Then you would attempt to get the finished product into stores, and once you have, you would continue to make the products. A day on the job would mainly consist of making the actual product and calling various stores to get the squirt gun into them.
 * ISP Job Reflection **



The first model that I have posted here is how I initially thought a toaster oven worked. I thought that when the toast went down there must be a button that activated the toaster because on TV they rarely show the person turning the toaster on. I thought that this button would turn on a built-in heater, which would toast the bread. Some kind of heat sensor would be wired to the pull, or handle, which acted as some kind of springboard and popped the toast up when it was ready. Some parts of this model were actually correct. In a common toaster oven, infrared radiation is used to heat up the bread. An electromagnet is turned on by the circuit board. When the handle is pulled, a metal piece on the handle attracts to the electromagnet, holding the toast in the toaster, while the mica sheets and the nichrome wire heat the bread. A plastic bar on the handle presses into a pair of contacts on the circuit board, which gives power to the wires and therefore heating the toast. The circuit sending power to the wires and turning on the electromagnet also acts as a timer, and when the toaster reaches a certain voltage the circuit cuts off the power to the electromagnet, and the springboard immediately pushes the toast up. So my theory about there being some kind of heat sensor was correct, however it was just a little more complicated then I originally thought. I was wrong about there being a kind of typical heater at the bottom of the toaster oven since the toaster actually uses infrared radiation. I also didn't think that there was an electromagnet or circuit board, and I didn't realize that the handle was so complicated. However, I did get the idea of a springboard right. The main difference between my model and the real thing was that the real thing was just more complicated, and I just didn't realize all the complexity that went into the making of one of the most common household items, the toaster oven.
 * An Original Model of a Toaster Oven**


 * Proving that Rocks, Water and Air are Matter**

__Rocks__ For the first experiment we proved that a rock was matter by finding it's volume and mass. First we found the volume by taking a tube and filled it with 50 ml of water. Then we dropped a rock in and measured how much the water level went up. The water level went up to 53 ml and so the rock had a volume of 3 cubic centimeters. Next, we found the mass of the rock. For this experiment we used a triple beam balance. We took the balance and put the rock on it, using the weights to find the rock's mass. The rock's mass was 13.2 grams. This proved that the rock was matter.

__Water__ To prove that water is matter we found it's volume and mass. To find the volume we filled up the same tube that we used for the rocks experiment with water. We measured that once again, the water had a volume of 50 ml. We used the control of 50 ml of water to find the mass and we poured out the water in the tube. We measured the mass of the tube on the triple beam balance, filled the tube with 50 ml of water, and subtracted the second number from the first. The tube had a mass of 96.2 and with water it had a mass of 145.2, leaving the water itself with a mass of 49 milliliters. The fact that we were able to find the water's volume and mass poved that water is matter.

__Air__ To prove that air is matter we used a balloon. First we measured the mass of the balloon before blowing up using the triple beam balance. Next we blew up the balloon and measured it's mass using the triple beam balance. When the balloon was not blown up, it's mass was 2.4 grams. When it was blown up, it had a mass of 2.7 grams proving that air was, in fact matter, having in this case a mass of 0.3 grams. Next we used cubes with a volume equivalent to one cubic centimeter to estimate the balloon's volume. The estimated volume was around 3500 cubic centimeters. By finding the air's volume and mass we proved that it is matter.

Table salt is used worldwide as to season and prepare various foods. Table salt is a crystal, or a solid that forms a repeated pattern of connecting molecules to make symmetrically arranged planes. A crystal also has no set number of molecules. The chemical formula for table salt is NaCl, which tells us that it is made up of any amounts of sodium and chloride. When something is a salt it was the result of from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base, and in the case of table salt the base is sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and the acid is hydrogen chloride (HCl). The atoms in salt have an ionic bond, meaning that one atom has given an electron to the other. Salt is considered a compound because it is made up of two or more elements that have bonded. There are thousands of types of salt besides table salt, some of which are Kosher salt, which originates from the earth or sea and is used in the preparation of meat, sel gris, which is harvested from salt evaporation ponds and is used as a cooking and finishing salt for food, and Hawaiian Sea Salt, which can be either red or black. We built this model out of marshmallows and toothpicks to demonstrate the atomic structure of table salt.
 * Table Salt**

In this experiment we were given a beaker containing a sand and salt mixture. Our challenge was to separate these substances and find the weight of each one. First a coffee filter is put into a large beaker and secured with a rubber band. The salt and sand mixture is poured into the coffee filter. Next 75 ml of tap water is poured into the coffee filter and the salt bonds to the water. The water runs through the filter and into the beaker and the sand is left behind. Overnight the leftover water in the sand evaporates. The salt water is also evaporated, this time with the hot plate, so that the water leaves and the salt is left behind. Next the salt and sand are both poured onto separate sheets of weighing paper and they are weighed separately using the triple beam balance. The sand and salt were weighed in their beakers and the weight of the beaker was subtracted from the weight of the beaker and sand/salt. When weighed there was found to be more salt than sand. The weight of the beaker used was 167.2 g and the weight of the beaker with the salt in it weighed 174.0 g. When you subtract the weight of the beaker from the weight of the beaker with the salt you get the weight of the salt; the salt weighed 6.8 g. The sand was weighed in a beaker equal to 13.4 g. With the sand in it the beaker weighed 16.4 g, hence the weight of the sand was determined to be 3.0 g. When the water was evaporated from the beaker containing the salt the salt was shown as a crusty, white substance covering the bottom of the beaker. Large holes were also prominent in the substance, but it had a strong salty smell, determining that the experiment had worked. The sand looked much as real sand did when the water was evaporated from it as it had never bonded with the water. In the future we could measure the weight of the whole mixture to be sure that the numbers added up correctly, even if they seem right. We could also try using the same types of beakers to measure the weight of the sand and salt.
 * The Race to Separate Sand from Salt**