For A Spin

Since we are learning about light in science, we have used a cool little tool called a radiometer. The radiometer spins when you put it somewhere that receives sunlight. It has four little squares on the sides of it. These squares are black on one side, and white on the other. The reason it spins is that the black sides absorb light while the white sides reflect it. It is one of the coolest things we have. In our class, it never moves, but across the hall, where it isn't in the shade, it spins like crazy! See you next time on Science News!

Light Properties Lab

Translucent

Opaque

Transparent

  This blog about is about transparency and opacity (and translucency). Basically, these properties how much light can get through.Something opaque will not let light through, something transparent will let all light through, and something translucent will let some light through. We tested some objects by holding it up to the light and trying to see an outline/shadow or our knuckle ridges. Basically, if we saw nothing, it was opaque, a shadow was translucent, and if we can see the ridges of our knuckles its transparent.

Conductor or Insulator?

Conductor or insulator? In Mr. Matus's science class, we learned about electricity and what it can flow through. We tried many different things, including a paperclip, a pencil, and tape. Out of those, one of them worked, and the light bulb lighted up when we placed it on the battery. The others... not so much. We made predictions on what would light the light bulb up, and we were surprised when some of them were wrong. We learned a lot, and it was one of the best parts of science class in 5th grade.

chalk: insulator

Amazing Tools of Science!

One amazing tool of science is a graduated cylinder. We use the graduated cylinder in science to measure the amount of liquid. To use the graduated cylinder, you pour in the liquid and see at what mark the liquid stops at. Liquid is measured in mL (milliliters).

Another amazing tool of science is the triple beam balance. The triple beam balance is used in science to measure mass. To use the triple beam balance, first you need to make sure the pointer is pointing to the zero mark, then you put the object on the grey pan, then you start by measuring with 100 g and work your way down to the smallest mass 1g. Triple beam balances measure mass in g (grams).

Electromagnets

Electromagnet at work

Electromagnet Tools

An electromagnet is a thin coil of wire wrapped many times around a nail. There is left over wire attached to the nail that touches the positive and negative sides of a D battery. The nail becomes a magnet and will be able to pick up objects like paperclips, staples and the pointy part of a tack. The more times the wire wraps around the nail the more it attracts these objects. The class drew models of the electromagnets in their interactive science notebooks and labeled all of the parts like the nail wire and battery and finished their lab.

Switching It Up



This is the switch off.

You have just witnessed the pictures of a switch in action. Here is how it works, the battery supplies the electons that travels through the first wire, into and out the bulb, into the next wire and hits the switch. If the switch is closed, the electrons will continue on their journey to the next wire and beack to the batterey. This will make the indicator, the light bulb in this case, light up. We interveiwed John, and receved his thoughts, "I believe that it is amazing how all of this works."  This has been Switching It Up, join us next week for a surprise guest.

This is the switch on.

Path Finders

 Path finders was an electrifying lab! In path finders, we had to test out different circuits. If the light bulb lit up, it meant it was a complete circuit. In these test we had to find what circuits would work and what didn't work. The one to the right is the one that worked and the one on the left didn't. Only 4 of the nine circuits worked. In Path Finders, we also had to draw 2 examples of circuits that would light up.

The Periscopes of Science

One plastic bear, three paper tunnels, two mirrors, one mat, and you have a periscope. When you look down a corner, you can't really see around it. With a periscope, you can. This is how it works. 1: Fold three pieces of paper into 3 tunnels and put them in a Z shape. 2: Put a bear on either end of the tunnel. 3: Put mirrors on the open corners of the tunnel position the mirrors in the right angles and now you can see the bear. It was interesting to see the bear.

How Light Travels

Light shining through

Little dust particles

In this suspense filled demo, we tried to get light through holes in cardboard. It took a lot of teamwork to do. Some people were holding the card board while the other person held the flashlight. After a while, we managed to line all the card board things up, and we got the light to shine in a straight line. We also took chalk dust and put it in front of the beam as you can see in the picture on the right. It was so cool looking! We learned that light travels in a straight line. Well for now stay smart and join us on the science blog!

Making A Battery

Testing the battery

Energy is EPIC!

In Energy, (while we were at Live Oak) we learned how to make our own battery. It was made out of nickels, pennies, and cardboard disks. The disks were soaked in salt water, because salt water conducts electricity. This was called a voltaic pile, which was an early battery. You stacked it nickle, disk, penny, disk and so on, ending with a penny. The counselor there used a little device with two wires to measure the voltage. The battery was about a volt. That's all for today. Maybe you can make a battery like this! See you next time!

Science at Live Oak!!!

Static Electricity at Live Oak!

The guys using the static ball

The guys using the static ball

This ball is stored with electricity when turned on, and can store electricity in a tiny container which brings it to a tiny ball on top of it. That is called static electricity. If you put your hand on when it is on, nothing happens, but if you take it off when it is still on, that is gonna hurt a lot because you will get a little shock. Static electricity is what makes your hair stand up, but be very careful with static electricity. If you ever see anyone doing it, they might be a highly trained professional. This experiment was cool because you could see the little bolt connecting to the metal object and the ball.



An image of the static ball