A Trip Through Science
By Rachael, 7th grade computer class student
April 18, 2008
Sometimes science experiments do not turn out the way you want them to. You may have to do the experiments more than once. When the fifth grade class took a trip around the block they experimented with three forces: friction, graviton, and inertia. As they took this trip they tried the experiment in many different ways. First they tried it with a weight from the ceiling. When the bus moved forward, the weight moved back. Trying to get it to stay there was the trick. This is inertia. Then they tried the three forces with a bobber tied to a bottom of a pickle jar full of water. When the bus accelerated the bobber went forward. When the bus slowed down the bobber went backward. This was the opposite of what the weight did. When they came to a stop the bobber moved to the center. Next the 5th graders tried the balloon. When they accelerated the balloon moved forward, and when they slowed down it went backwards. They never predicted this.
That brings us to
the end of the journey. The bus returned to the school but they
didn’t leave the bus yet. Mr. Saffer, a science helper, asked them
the a question. The question was “Why did the balloon go forward
when the bus accelerated and backward when the bus slowed down?” No
one had the right answer. He said whoever handed in the best answer
to the teacher would get the balloon as a prize. Jazmyn Morrison
had the closet answer. What happened was when the bus accelerated,
the air in the bus moved to the back, because of inertia. This
pushed the air in the balloon forward, since the air in the bus was
heavier than the air in the balloon.
This information was provided by: Jazmyn Morrison and Nicholas Tkachuk
