Yikes! Thursday snuck up quickly on me this week!
Hope you're all having a wonderful week and have an even better weekend!
This week, let's consider the uses for a classic childhood toy.....
Marbles
And, don't forget to take a few seconds to vote in the poll!
4 comments:
Could use marbles for momentum, gravity, probabilities.
Momentum
Use a textbook and a ruler (the plastic kind, with the groove in the middle) to set up a ramp. Place a second ruler on the table at the base of the ramp, so the grooves on the two rulers line up (you might want to use a small amount of tape to keep things lined up). Place one marble at the point where the two rulers meet, in the groove. Release a second marble from the 15 cm mark (allow it to roll down the groove in the ruler)– measure how far each marble moves after contact is made. There are many variables you can test… release the marble from different heights, line up multiple marbles at the end of the ramp (you can create your own Newton’s cradle this way), release multiple marbles, use different sized marbles in each of the positions…
I've used marbles and pipe insulation for roller coasters. You;ll need to cut the pipe insulation in half to use as the "track" and the marbles act as the "cart". The pipe insulation is quite flexible and can be curved to make hills and such. I usually require students to create a coaster that has at least 2 hills and challenge them to build the fastest coaster. I've also challenged them to create a coaster with a specific time. You can also use the coaster to investigate a variety of physical science concepts, such as speed - measure the distance of the track and divide by the time it takes to complete.
Do a Google search for marble pipe insulation roller coaster to see coasters other have created.
I love marbles! I used them today for a crater making lab. Students dropped three impactors (marble, steel ball, and golf ball) from 30cm and from 1.5m and measured the resulting craters (used flour and cocoa to represent the surface of a planet).
I also do the roller coaster lab that Tracy mentioned using marbles to represent the coasters.
Laurie
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