Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Ready, Set, Drop!!!!!

Hi my name is Natalie.  Today we got to make parachutes out of different materials. We had to  test the suspension line length,the canopy material, and the canopy size.Me and my partner Marissa we were testing length.We had to  test 7in,13in,and 17in suspension lines.There was two other groups,one other group was testing material for the canopy (Jazyln, Darius, and Nicolas).The other group was testing different sizes for the canopy (Genesis and Krystal).Me and Marissa saw that each time we built the parachutes the strings got longer and the had gone slower each time we tested it.Genesis and Krystal had to test size of the parachutes, so it took them longer to finish their parachutes.  Jazyln, Darius, and Nicolas had to  test material so they were last to finish.we tested them and they had all different numbers.That is when we tested materials and made parachutes.       

Quacktastic!

Today we went on a duck tour through Austin and on Lake Austin.  How did someone engineer a vehicle that is able to drive on land and float in the water? It was like a tour around the park.  We learned about statues and different buildings around town. We went to Zilker Park. We went to play at the park. We went to the lake and put our feet in the water. It was so fun and funny because some people were slipping in the water.
   

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Designing Space Crafts

Hi this is Darius.  This is something that we did. We  picked our planet that we would like to travel to. So we had to do questions on it to see if you can land on it or not.  We had to make our own satellite. We also designed it.We would put something that we think something that could go on a satellite.We all talked about how we did this by thinking about the surface, temperature, and atmosphere of the planet.  Nicholas and I talked first about what type of atmosphere our planet has. The atmosphere on Saturn is gaseous so we wanted to send an unmanned satellite.  We designed, labeled, and colored it. We made sure to have a spot for cameras so we could study Saturn from the pictures from the satellite.  We also named it Mysterious Robot Satellite. We had a fun time on it because we are best friends for life.
By Darius Elijah Lee Johnson.

What a Drag!

 Drag is the resistance or pushing from the atmosphere. A mouse running on his wheel is an example. The mouse is trying to run up his wheel, but the air resistance is pushing against him.

We had a Mad Science demo today.  We saw a rocket launch.  The rocket had drag pushing against it as it was flying up in the air.  Thrust pulled it up. 

These pictures are of us making rockets with paper, plastic, and rubber bands.  After, we took turns shooting them off of the stage.  

Friday, June 17, 2011

MAKING HAND POLLINATOR

 Hi my name is Marissa.I am writing about making hand pollinators. It was fun. I want to do it again. It    was hard to figure out what would work the best. We used a pompom, a pipe cleaner, baking soda, eraser, marble, string, stick and a wire for our materials.  We then designed 2 different pollinators to create and test out.  We had model flowers of a Poppy, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Dutchman's Pipe, and a Bucket Orchid.  I tested out the Dutchman's Pipe.  At first my design did not work so I worked to improve my model.  My hand pollinator that worked the best used wire, pom pom, and a stick.   
 Here we are in the design and plan process of the engineering process.  We are planning which design we think will work the best with which materials.  The flower this group is working with is the Jack-in-the-Pulpit.   
  Here we are in the create process.  We are creating our designs to test if they work well.  Most of us had to improve our designs.  



 This is a group working with the Bucket Orchid flower.  The pipes acted like the flower and the pollen was put at the bottom of the pipe.  They had to design a hand pollinator that would work well for this flower.  What insect do you think likes to eat the nectar from this flower?  
 Here is one hand pollinator design.
This is the Dutchman's Pipe flower.  We used a test tube filled with baking soda to represent the flower and pollen.  We had to make sure and design a hand pollinator that would reach all the way down to the pollen.  

Our Field Trip

  Hi my name is Autumn. We had a field trip today to the Austin Children's Museum, and we had fun!  We  learned  about  gravity using golf balls, and we played with  tools and games.  We became engineers by building our own houses and making our imaginations come true.  We also went into the art room and got to make our own artwork.  Genesis made a little man.  We learned about parachutes and that you need to go slowly to pull it up.  You need to yank it really hard so the parachute can fall.  We found that the bigger the parachute the better because there was more air to trap it underneath.  We also went down a pitch  black slide. 

This is a man that was made out of toilet paper rolls, tape, and an empty yogurt container. 
Having fun engineering a building out of blocks.









Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Testing Materials for Hand Pollinators

Hi my name Is Krystal. We are going to make hand pollinators.  Today we drew flowers and used a 3 tap method to test what the best material is to transfer pollen.  I used a pompom, pipe cleaner, eraser, marble, tape, and foil to test which one picked up and dropped off the most pollen. 
We got a cup with a hole in the bottom and a cup with no hole, and my teacher flipped the cup with no hole and poured a little bit of baking soda on it.  This was like the pollen.  We tested out which material picked up the most pollen.  We then dropped off the pollen onto other flowers to see what made the most pollen.  I saw that the pompom got the most baking soda to give to the other flowers.  The pipe cleaner got some of it, so I am going to use the pompom to make my hand pollinator.  I will not use the foil because it hardly got any pollen.  It was fun and I am ready to make my hand pollinator!   

Thanks for Visiting!!

Thanks for Visiting!!