Thursday 8 December 2016

Oobleck and Slime in Clondalkin Library- 6th Class

We went to a Junior Einsteins Show in Clondalkin Library as part of Science Week. We  explored liquids and solids by making two different types of slime. We made Oobleck, Elephant's Toothpaste, Slime and experimented with a Plasma Ball. 

Making Oobleck
We made Oobleck by mixing cornflour, water and food colouring. When we touched it slowly it was a liquid, but when we touched it hard it felt like a solid. The reason was that on normal flour the grains have smooth edges, but cornflour's grains have jagged edges. When you mix it together really well the jagged edges go together and form a hard layer which your finger can't get through.



Making Slime
To make slime we used food colouring, borax, glue and water. When we added Borax to the glue it changes the glue to make slime. This happens because the Borax makes a chemical reaction. it changes the glue from lots of little separate molecules to long chains of molecules, so they look like slime.



Air Cannon

Making "Elephant's Toothpaste"
"Elephant's Toothpaste"


We used a plasma ball to explore the pathways that electricity takes to go into the ground. We learned that electricity will always try to go to the ground, and that it will always try to find the easiest path.






Friday 18 November 2016

LUNGS- How much air can my lungs hold? 6th Class

Experiment: How much air can my lungs hold?    By Isobel Doherty




Materials Needed
basin, 5l bottle, tubing, water, measuring jug, permanent marker.

Method:
  • Firstly, we started by using the measuring jig to mark the 5l bottle in 250ml measurements. We added 250ml each time to the bottle and marked the water line, repeating this until the bottle was full. This took a long time!
  • Next, we got a basin and filled it 2/3 of the way with water. Then we put the bottle in the basin upside down and screwed off the top without letting any of the water come out of the 5l bottle.
  • People in our class took turns blowing into the tubing. First, they took a big breath to fill up their lungs with air. Then they blew all of the air out of their lungs, through the tubing and into the 5l bottle. The air from the lungs pushed the water out of the 5l bottle, so we could see how much air each person’s lungs held.
  • We thought that taller people would have bigger lungs, so we tested it out. We were correct.


Results:
Emma C.   2.5l
Valentina 2.75l
Chloe: 2.5l
Precious: 1.75l
Sophie: 1.40l
Angela: 1.40l
Demi: 2.1l

Finally, we found the average of all the people who took part by adding together all of the results and divided by the number of results:
(2.5 + 2.75 + 2.5 + 1.75 + 1.40 + 1.40 + 2.1) / 7


The average was 2.05l. 






Marking the bottle














Friday 11 November 2016

LUNGS – The Diaphragm 6th Class

by Ayomikun  Ajibade

We have been learning about our respiratory system and investigating how our lungs work in 6th class. The diaphragm is a dome shaped muscle found underneath our lungs. It is a very important muscle and helps us breathe. We made a model of a lung and diaphragm in class. Check out our method, some pictures and a short video below.

Materials:  empty plastic bottle, two balloons and an elastic band, scissors.
Instructions to make your model:

Method:  
      1. 
      Get your bottle and remove the lid. Next, using a scissors cut the bottom off the bottle.
            2.  
      Then, put the opening of the balloon onto the mouth of the bottle. This will represent a the lung. (The balloon should be inside the bottle).
      3.
      After that cut the mouth of the other balloon and place the balloon over the bottom of the bottle. Wrap an elastic rubber band around the base of the bottle to keep the balloon in place. This balloon represents the diaphragm. Try not to make a hole in the balloon, if you do you can use a piece of a plastic bag instead.

How to use your model:  
When you pull the end of the balloon around the base of the bottle, air goes into the balloon on the top. After you let go of the balloon it contracts (tightens) and the air goes out of the balloon.

This shows when we breathe in (inhale), the diaphragm moves down making the chest expand. This causes air to be sucked into our lungs. The diaphragm then relaxes and moves up causing air to be pushed out of the lungs (exhale).