Living/Non-Living, Air & Wind

Thank you so much to Anneliese for putting together this awesome lab!!!

This is just an old volunteer list, let me know what has changed?  We can also use more help if you are willing to hang out for more than just your child's class!

Friday April 11, 2014

Meghan Goodman 8:15
Station 1. Morton_____
Station 2. Amanda______
Station 3. Jack__ 
.
Kelly Johnson 8:15
Station 1. Pilar____
Station 2.  _____
Station 3._____ 

Can anyone from Duerringer's class come early?

Cheryl Kennedy 9:15
Station 1. Morton (Ross)______
Station 2. Melissa_______ 
Station 3.  ________ 
.
Emily Duerringer  9:15
Station 1. _Amanda & Teresa   ___
Station 2._Shannon & Jason_____
Station 3._Jack ___

Can anyone from Welch's class come early to help with Kennedy?.
.
Teresa Welch - 10:15-11:15 
Station 1.  Anneliese
Station 2._Emily -_____
Station 3._  Jack.

Rough draft, Check back the night before for any final touches!

The weather outside is beautiful, this lab will be outside :).  We'll walk out the door near Mrs. Welch's class, and use the tables and grassy area by the front BBE sign.


Station 1: Living/Non-living Nature walk 
Station 2: Wind (Making a Pinwheel)Station 
3: Air (Pressure)

Station 1: Living/Non-living Nature walk

Materials:

• Clipboard,
• pen/pencil,
• paper for recording living and non/living objects.

   

Start the activity by asking the students if they know how to tell if an object is living or not living.  Ask them for examples.

Some of the questions you can ask are:

•  Does it need air? 
• Does it move? 
• Does it grow and change? 
• Does it breathe? 
• Does it make more just like itself? 
• Does it need food and water to live?

Next tell the students we will walk around the school grounds and they are to look for living and non-living objects.  Record these on the sheet of paper under the living column or non-living column.  Return to the rest of the class and in the station walk through each object that was not classified correctly (i.e. if tree is listed as non-living, ask the students the questions above)

Station 2: Wind: Making a Pinwheel

Materials:

• Square pieces of pre-cut paper
• straight pin
• pencil 
• Blanket to sit on in the grass

Start the activity by asking the students about wind.
.

What is wind?
Wind is air in motion. It is produced by the uneven heating of the earth’s surface by the sun. Since the earth’s surface is made of various land and water formations, it absorbs the sun’s radiation unevenly. Two factors are necessary to specify wind: speed and direction
.

What causes the wind to blow?
As the sun warms the Earth's surface, the atmosphere warms too. Some parts of the Earth receive direct rays from the sun all year and are always warm. Other places receive indirect rays, so the climate is colder. Warm air, which weighs less than cold air, rises. Then cool air moves in and replaces the rising warm air. This movement of air is what makes the wind blow.
.

How is wind helpful to Earth?
Wind is the fastest growing source of electricity in the world. It's often one of the least expensive forms of renewable power available. Some experts say it can sometimes be the cheapest form of any kind of power. Generating power from the wind leaves no dangerous waste products behind. Best of all, its supply is unlimited.
.

How do windmills work?
Windmills work because they slow down the speed of the wind. The wind flows over the airfoil shaped blades causing lift, like the effect on airplane wings, causing them to turn. The blades are connected to a drive shaft that turns an electric generator to produce electricity.

Make a pinwheel!

Fold pre-cut pieces of paper as shown above, press pin into eraser of pencil.

Point the pin wheel in different directions, is there any wind today?  Which direction is the wind blowing from?  If there is no wind, have them blow on the pinwheel to make it spin.

Make a Paper airplane!

If there is enough time after making pinwheels, have them make paper airplanes, and experiment with what designs fly higher and farther.  Line them up, and have paper airplanes races!

How do airplanes work?
One important principle to remember is that wherever the air pressure is higher, there will be a stronger force or push against an object.
 

This principle is used in airplane wings to make planes fly. When a plane moves along the runway, the air above the wing speeds up more, lowering the pressure, so that the air below the wing can push the plane upward.  An important thing to remember is that higher pressure always pushes things around.

Station 3: Air (Pressure)We'll have this station at the tables in the front.

Start by asking the students if they know about air pressure:

Air pressure is the force exerted on you by the weight of tiny particles of air (air molecules). Although air molecules are invisible, they still have weight and take up space. Since there's a lot of "empty" space between air molecules, air can be compressed to fit in a smaller volume.
When it's compressed, air is said to be "under high pressure".
Air at sea level is what we're used to, in fact, we're so used to it that we forget we're actually feeling air pressure all the time!

Activity 1:
While holding your hand on your ribs, take a deep breath and observe what happens to your chest. Did you feel it expand? Did you see it expand?  Your chest expands because, like blowing up a balloon, you are increasing the number of air molecules inside your lungs. This causes your lungs to expand in order to provide space for the increased number of air molecules.

Activity 2: Fountain Bottle.

Materials:

• Water,
• 1 or 2 liter soda bottle,
• long straw,
• clay / play dough

Fill a 2-liter soda bottle half full of water. Take a long straw and insert it in the mouth. Wrap a lump of clay around the straw to form a seal. Blow hard into the straw—then stand back. Your blowing increases the air pressure inside the sealed bottle. This higher pressure pushes on the water and forces it up and out the straw. (Change straws after each student).

Blow Paper Ball into a bottle:

Materials:
Bottle
Paper ball

Take an empty water or soda bottle and lay it down horizontally on a table. Roll a piece of paper towel into a small ball about half the size of the opening. Tell a friend you’ll pay $1 million if he or she can blow the ball into the bottle. Don’t worry about losing money because this is impossible. No matter how hard someone blows to try to force more air into the bottle, there's no room for it, so it will flow right out, pushing away the paper ball.

Kissing Balloons:
Materials:
Balloons on strings
Blow up two balloons and attach a piece of string to each. Hold one balloon by the string in each hand and position the two balloons so that they are at your nose level and 6 inches apart. Blow hard into the space between the balloons. This lowers the air pressure. The pressure of the surrounding air is now higher and it will push the balloons together.



Water Glass trick:

Materials:
Use a clip board for a flat surface,
aluminum foil,
cup
Gallon of water

Fill a cup one-third with water. Cover the entire mouth with an index card. Holding the card in place, take the cup to the sink and turn it upside down. Remove your hand from underneath. Voilà! Because the water inside the cup is lighter than the air outside, the card is held in place by about 15 pounds of force from the air pushing up, while the force of the water pushing down is only about one pound of force.