AmberEmbrockScienceMethods2

What did you do in the lab? In lab this week we talked about an introduction to our solar system. We discussed how the phases of the moon occur, what causes the seasons, and what causes lunar eclipses. In class, we used visuals to help us understand how each of these things occurred. We had a globe, the sun, and the moon to help us determine how each phenomenon occurred.  What was the big question? The big question in the lab was how the moon, sun, and Earth all play a role in our daily lives. Also how much do you remember about the moon, sun, and Earth?  What did you learn in Thursday’s lecture? In the lecture on Thursday, I learned that the way Earth orbits the sun is almost a perfect circle, it is not elliptical. I also learned that the moon is considered a semi-fixed" object, or thinking of it as fixed helps make the phases easier to remember. When it is daytime outside, the moon is still visible, but it is only visible in a certain phase.  From the reading What did y...

  The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did. In lab this week we discussed why the surface and the falling object are affected during impact. We learned this through the egg experiment. We dropped an egg onto a surface that we designed using fake mulch and straw. We then dropped our egg at one meter. We noticed that when the egg fell it bounced off of the surface onto the hard floor. This is because of Newton's third law. Since the object exerts forces in an equal pair, it exerts it in the opposite direction.  In the lab, we also looked at the energy lens. This is energy transferred from the egg to the surface. The surface flattens then bounces back after the egg (or object) lands on it. When the deformation happens on the surface it is potential energy, then energy is transferred back into the egg as kinetic energy.  This lab showed us students how potential and kinetic energy work with each other. Gravity gives the egg potential energy when it...

  The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did. The big question that was addressed in the lab was, what affects how long it takes a swing to go back and forth? To solve this question we built our own pendulum using a pencil, tape, string, paper clip, and washers. We used the string at one length but increased the weight to see if the swing time would decrease, but it did not. We made the string shorter and then continued to increase the weight, the time of each swing till did not change.  A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. In lecture this week, I learned that weight does not affect the swing. This is because gravity pulls down on people who have more weight with more force, but that only affects the acceleration.  Answer questions about the weekly textbook reading: What did you learn? Weight does not affect a pendulum's time period.  What was most helpful? The most helpful part of this reading was the virtual pendulum la...