Gabriella De Feo Science Methods 2

1. What are your best understandings about the following: How the phases of the moon occur? As the moon orbits Earth, it changes the moon's shadows.  What causes the seasons? The seasons are caused depending on how far the sun is away from Earth.  What causes a lunar eclipse?  A lunar eclipse is caused when the Earth is lined up perfectly between the sun and moon.  2. What did you do in lab today?  How do the phases of the moon work?  Today in lab, we began to discuss all things Earth, Sun, and Moon. I have never taken any astrology-related classes, and I also do not really remember ever covering it extensively in my past schooling, so I had many takeaways from this lab that I found extremely interesting. Some of these facts are the following: the Earth is tipped 23.5 degrees, the Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year, and the Winter Equinox occurs when everywhere across the globe has an equal 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. All of this...

1. What affects a rider's speed down a slide?  To investigate this question, there are several variables that are important when conducting investigations: height, steepness, surface/clothing, weight. In conducting some research, we found that the higher the slide is, the greater the speed of the rider will be. Additionally, the steeper the slide, the greater the speed of the rider. The speed of a rider is affected by what they are wearing, through friction. Finally, we found that the weight of a rider does not affect their speed down a slide.  2. In Thursday's lecture, we spoke further about the many factors that affect the speed of a rider going down a slide. We spoke about what 'acceleration' is and how it equals the change in velocity over time. It is important to note that acceleration can include speeding up, slowing down, and even a change in direction. We also spoke about friction and how it is a force that opposes sliding across a surface.  3. Pressbook Chapter...

    1. How can we design a safe and durable playground surface?  To investigate the main question from lab, we were directed to construct a safe environment made out of many different surfaces to keep an egg safe being dropped from 1 meter high up. My group experimented with all of the materials that were provided, but ultimately decided on going with rubber chips, hay, and plastic wrap. When we initially began to drop the egg from 1 meter, we were successful in keeping it safe. When we were challenged to increase our length to 2 meters, we were not as successful as we have a few of our eggs crack.  2. Thursday's lecture consisted of taking our Physics module exam. 

 1. How can we support play that is exciting but not dangerous?       *What affects a rider's speed down a slide?        *What affects how long it takes a swing to go back and forth?  To investigate these questions, we took part in constructing a model as a group. As seen in the first photograph above, the procedure to set this investigation up was as follows: securing a wooden rod to the side of a table with a clamp, hanging a various length piece of thread from the rod, and swinging a metal washer back and forth. My group was testing to see if the period of a swing mattered depending on how long the chains were. To do this, we utilized three different lengths of string: 10 in, 15.5 in, and 24 in. In doing this, we ultimately found that the longer the rope length (or swing chain length), the longer period of the swing.  2. In Thursday's lecture, we dove in further on what kinds of things affect the period of swings. First, we spoke abo...