Energy and forces-Magnets

Magnificent Magnets

We were very busy scientists in Room One this week. We explored different types of magnets and their effects on different materials. We used large and small items i.e. toy car, small plastic bottle, metal spoons, bottle opener, variety of bottle tops, plastic bricks, selection of keys, jigsaw pieces, card/wood, soft toy, paper clips and a selection of coins etc. We classified objects by placing items into sets that the magnet picked up/did not pick up.

Have a look at us in action......

We drew our results in our copies....the smiley face indicating that the magnet picked up and the sad face indicating that the magnet did not pick up.

We carried out an investigation to see which of the four different types of magnet was the strongest. 

Teacher asked us for ideas on how we could find out which was the strongest magnet. We had lots of different ideas. We decided to test the four magnets by seeing which would hold the most paper clips.

First of all, we made our predictions.....

Then we started investigating. We linked paper clips together and stuck them to the different magnets. We made sure the test was fair as some magnets were bigger than others.

Here are our results......

It is clear that the paddle magnet is the strongest holding 11 paperclips clips.

 The horseshoe magnet is the least strongest holding just one paperclip.

Foam Rockets- 6th Class

We designed rockets made from ie insulation, pieces of foam, cardboard and other pieces of material. Teacher had a competition to see who could design the rocket that went furthest.

Each rocket had an elastic band attached to its nose. When our rockets were ready we used a ruler to launch them. We pulled the elastic using the ruler, this created stored energy in the elastic band. When we let go of our rockets the stored energy from the elastic launched them.

We used a trundle wheel to measure the distance each rocket travelled. We found that the angle the rockets were launched at was very important. Rockets launched at about 135 degrees went furthest.

Floating and Sinking First Class

We had some great fun experimenting with floating and sinking. We carried out a number of different experiments and we learned so much. 

First we explored floating and sinking informally. We tested materials around our classroom such as a rubber, pencil, pin. We predicted what we thought might float and what we thought would sink. After this we learned that whether something floats or sinks depends on a few factors; its shape, its weight and density. 

Our First investigation was designing and making a boat using Plasticine. We ensured it was a fair test for each group by measuring the amount of water in each container. We used a measuring jug and a litre container.  

Next we tested a ball of modelling clay in the water. We predicted that it would sink. We were right, it sank to the bottom. 

Then we modelled the Plasticine into a boat shape. We predicted that it would float. Some of our boats sank. We discussed why and came to the decision that perhaps some boats did not have enough air in them. We made them again and discovered that the boat  floats if it has enough air in the middle of the boat. 

We then added passengers to the boat using dried peas. We predicted that the boat would hold 30 peas before it sank. The result was very different to our prediction. The boat held 120 dried peas before it sank. This was really interesting and we had great fun counting too, we never thought it would take that many!!

Another experiment we investigated was dancing raisins. We placed raisins in still water and sparkling water. The raisins danced in the sparkling water and sank in the still water. This is because the bubbles cling to the raisins causing them to float to the top, then they lose the bubbles at the top and sink to the bottom, they continue to float and sink which makes it seem as though they are dancing!

We  also wrote up our experiment on designing and making a boat. 

We thought that learning about floating and sinking was so much fun that we decided to carry out a few more investigations in our groups....

Group 1: Sinking Orange. We learned that an orange floats with its skin on but sinks with the skin off. This is because there is air under the skin which makes it float. Really interesting!!

Group 2: Floating Fruit. We tested various fruits such as a lemon, lime, orange, blueberries and apple. The lemon and apple and orange floated due to the air under the skin of the lemon and orange and the air near the seeds of the apple. The lime eventually sank because there is not as much air under its skin.  The blueberries sank because they doe not have any air. 

Group 3: Floating egg. An egg will sink in plain still water however if you add salt to water the egg will float. 

We had so much fun investigating floating and sinking. We learned so much during our experiments We hope you try some of these experiments at home too!