January 11, 2022 | Melissa McCallihan
Kinetic energy, potential energy, mass, velocity, and gravity are vocabulary words we are using in science right now. We started our study of physics with a few projects that gave us the idea of what kinetic energy and potential energy are and this month we took it a step further with the realization that mass, velocity and gravity influence these forms of energy.
Our next project is a play on an old school project that many of us may have done. Egg drop projects have been done for many years. The idea is to create a structure that would protect the egg from breaking when released from a certain height. Structures are built around the egg to keep it safe. The entire structure is released to the ground below.
Instead, students are creating structures that will cushion the landing of an egg when it is dropped from a certain height. There are some material constraints: no food products, no gels or pastes of any kind. Also, there are size constraints. Next week we will test our egg catchers.
Our physics study will then move to waves–light waves and sound waves.