5th Grade Winners!

1st placeJordan Elmore

Mr. Echols

What variables determine the strength of an electromagnet (numbers of wire wraps, wire gauge, diameter of nail)?

• Researched and built 3 electromagnets of varying strengths.

• Electromagnet strength determined by wire gauge and time charged by battery.

• Testing conducted by gauge size and charge time.

• Three trials were performed at 5, 3, and 1 minute per gauge size.

• Each electromagnet was charged and tested to see how many nails each could attract.

• The electromagnets that were charged the longest attracted the most nails.

I think that the bigger the gauge the more electricity will run though the wire.

1. Insulated copper wire: 14 (black), 12 (white) and 10 (hot pink) gauge

2. 3 Lag Screws: ¼” X 5 ½”3. 4-pack of D cell batteries (for alternating trials)4. Wire cutters5. 1 packet of 1” dry wall nails6. 1 roll electrical tape7. Hand towel (to pick up hot batteries)

1. Wrap the insulated wire around each nail.

2. Use the wire stripper to remove the insulation from each end of the wire.

3. Attached a battery to both ends of the wire.

4. Put one end of the electromagnet into the container of nails, then pull it out to see how many nails are picked up.

• After the experiment, I noticed that the batteries were a lot weaker than when I started. This might explain the drop in the number of nails attracted during each repeated trial.

• Of the three wires used, the 12 gauge (white) proved to be the strongest and attracted the most nails.

Average of Nails ** Gague of NailsTime (in minutes) 10 12 14Grand Total1 2 18 7 93 5 24 9 125 5 28 17 17Grand Total 4 23 11 13

The variables that determined the strength of an electromagnet are the time, the batteries that charge the electromagnet and the gauge of the wire used. My hypothesis was partially proved. The test results showed that the 12 gauge, and not the 14 gauge, proved to be the strongest electromagnet.

• Degenhart, Erin, and Drew Hanson. "Electromagnets: An Educator's Reference Desk Lesson Plan." University of Montana School of Education, 29 Mar. 2000. Web. <http://www.eduref.org/Virtual/Lessons/Science/Physics/PHS0070.html>

• Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility - Office of Science Education. "Questions and Answers." Weblog post. Questions and Answers. Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility - Office of Science Education. Web. <http://education.jlab.org/qa/electromagnet_02.html>.

• Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility - Office of Science Education. Weblog post. Electricity and Magnetism. Jefferson Lab. Web. <http://education.jlab.org/qa/electromagnet.html>.

2nd PlacePeri Johnson

Ms. Huff

Science Fair Project

• PROJECT:Does the different type of water effect plant growth?

• BY:Peri Johnson• CLASS: Ms. Huff• SCHOOL: Glenn Dale

Elementary

STATEMENT OF THIS PROBLEM

• Will there be a difference in which type of water affects how a plant grows with sugar, salt, lemon or plain water?

PROJECT OVERVIEW

• This project will show how different types of water can affect how plants grow. I did three trials for each group of plants. The water types that I used were plain, lemon, salt and sugar.

RESEARCH

• I found that the type of water you use to water a plant can affect how the plant grows.

• I found that lemon water helped plants to grow more than the other plants. I think this is because the lemon water gave the plant more nutrients.

• I found that seeds watered with salt water did not germinate.

VARIABLES

• Controlled variables: I have kept these things the same for each plant:– The type of containers – The amount of seeds – The amount of soil – The type of seeds The amount of light – The amount of water

• Independent variable: The one variable that I changed in my experiment is the type of water the plants are watered with.

• Dependent variable: I think my dependent variable is the sugar water because I predict that the plant with sugar water will grow faster.

HYPOTHESIS

• I predict that sugar water will make the plants grow faster because plants use energy from sugar to grow, so with more sugar it may grow faster.

MATERIALS– 1 pack of radish seeds– 12 sixteen ounce planting

containers– Salt- 4 table spoons– Sugar-4 table spoons– Lemon- 4 table spoons– 8 litters of water– 1 liter size measuring cup – 1 5 pound bag of potting soil – 4 clean one litter bottles– 4 20 ml dosing cups– 1 funnel– 1 12 inch ruler– 1 pencil

PROCEDURES

– Part 1: Setting up the plants• Set up work area by laying

newspaper on a table or other flat surface.

• Pour 1 cup of soil in each of the 12 containers. Be sure to level the soil off when measuring each cup. Use a ruler.

• Take a pencil and make a hole about a ½ inch deep in the soil for the seeds.

• Place two seeds in each hole in the soil.

• Label each container to show what type of water each plant gets.

PROCEDURES– Part Two: Setting up the waters

Measure two tablespoons of each substance (lemon, salt, sugar)

Pour each substance into a different bottle. Use a funnel if needed.

Add 1 liter (or 1,000 mls) of water to each bottle. Be sure to measure the water.

Make a fourth bottle with 1 liter of water only. This will be your control

Place the lids on each bottle and shake to mix in the substances.

Measure 20 mls of each type of water. Use a dosing cup. Water the plants with their designated water.

Repeat the watering process every other day for 21 days and record observations.

PROCEDURES– Part 3: Collecting your

data• On the last day of your

experiment gently remove the plants including the roots so you can measure them.

• Use a ruler to measure each plant and record your data.

• Find the average height of each type of plant.

• Record your results and find your conclusion

DATA

Height of each plant after 21 days

Trial 1A 1B 2A 2B 3A 3B Average Type of Water

Plain 18 15.5 19 17.5 17 18.5 17.5 Lemon 19 16 18.5 18.5 18 20.5 18.4 Salt 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sugar 5 6 5 4 6 15 7.5

OBSERVATIONS– Salt plants

• There was no growth in any of the 3 salt containers.• On top of the soil in each of the salt containers there are salt-like crystal• I did not observe any root system in the salt plant containers

– Sugar plants• The sugar plants grew for seven days.• Two of the sugar plants wilted after 9 day• The third sugar plant is alive, but stopped growing.

– Lemon• All three lemon plants are still growing after 21 days.• All of the lemon plants appear to have larger leaves than the other plants.• All of the lemon plants appear to be taller than the other plants.• All three lemon plants have dark red color on there stems.• All three lemon plants have stems that are standing.

– Water• All three water plants are alive after 21 days.• All three water plants have very light red stems.• All three stems of the lemon plants are leaning.• All three water plants appear to be shorter than the lemon plants.

CONCLUSION

– The type of water used to water a plant does affect how it grows. The type of water used can help a plant to grow, make the plant stop growing or make the plant not grow at all.

– My hypothesis was incorrect because the plant I watered with sugar water wilted and was shorter than the plant I watered with lemon water. That plant was the tallest. I predicted the plant watered with sugar water would grow the most.

WORKS CITED

• Ferry-Morse Cherry Belle Radish seed packet. I read about days to germination and other information about growing radishes.

3rd placeWellington Uzamere

Ms. Huff

Light vs. Heavy Objects

Wellington Uzamere

Ms . Huff

Glenn Dale Elementary School

Statement of the Problem• Do heavier objects fall faster than lighter

objects?

Project Overveiw• I wanted to see which would fall faster,

something lighter or heavier.

• I took two objects that were exactly the same size, but one was heavier than the other.

• I dropped these objects from the balcony and put it on video tape.

Research• Gravity is an invisible force that pulls objects

toward one another. This pull depends on the amount of matter an object has.

• If you drop a brick and a feather, the brick hits the ground first. That’s why Aristotle wrote that heavy objects fall faster than lighter objects. People believed him for two thousand years.

• Then Galileo proved that Aristotle was wrong. Galileo did an experiment by dropping a bullet and a heavy cannon ball from a tower. Both objects hit the ground at the same time.

Variables• Independent variable: I will change the weight of

the falling objects. The falling objects are both small earring boxes. One will be light because it will be empty. The other will be heavy because it will be full of twenty quarters.

• Dependent variable: I want to see if making one box heavier will make it fall faster.

• Controlled variables: I will keep these things the same: the height of the fall, the floor that the boxes will land on, the position of the video camera, the position from which the objects fall, the shape and size of the containers.

Hypothesis• I think heavier and lighter objects fall at the

same speed because gravity pulls them all at the same speed.

Materials

• Two earring boxes. Both of them will be 6 cm long, 3.5 cm tall and 5 cm wide.

• A balcony above my living room

• A video camera

• Twenty quarters to put in one box. This will make one box 113.4 grams heavier than the other.

Procedure•  Fill one box with 20 quarters to make it

113.4 grams heavier than the other box.• We will set up the video camera on the floor

below the balcony to record the experiment. • Stand on our balcony and drop the boxes

over the edge at the same time. • Replay video to see which box landed first.• Record the information in my journal.• Repeat dropping the boxes 10 times.

Data/ObservationsTrial # Heavy

objectLight object

Both objects

1 x2 X3 x4 x5 X6 X7 X8 X9 X10 x

Data/Observations

Data/Observations• Written Explanation of the results:

• In my experiment, I had ten trials. For each trial, I dropped both objects from a balcony at the same time. We used a video camera to capture which object fell first. When I reviewed the video, I saw that both objects landed at the same time for eight of the trials. The heavy object landed first 2 times and the light object landed first zero times. So, 80% of the time, both objects landed at the same time.

Conclusion• My hypothesis was that heavy and light objects would

fall at the same speed. My hypothesis is correct because when I dropped the heavy and light objects at the same time, they fell at the same speed.

• My question was “do heavier objects fall faster than lighter objects?” My answer was that heavy and lighter objects fall at the same time. The data said that 80% of the times I dropped the objects, they both landed at the same time. For 20% of the times that I dropped the objects, the heavy objects fell faster. The lighter object never fell faster. So, since both objects landed at the same time 80% of the trials, it proves that heavy and light objects fall at the same time.

Conclusion• One problem during the experiment was making sure that

both objects started to fall at exactly the same time. This was difficult because it was easy for one of the objects to slip out of my hand too early. For two out of the ten trials, I accidentally dropped the heavier object before the lighter object. I think this explains why the heavy object landed first 20% of the time. My family and I were working together to make sure both objects were dropped at the same time. We tried pushing both objects off the balcony with our fingers. Then we tried pushing both objects off the balcony with a ruler. Finally, we decided we would get the best results by holding both objects in one hand and dropping them at the same time. However, we can see from the data that this was not perfect.

Conclusion• I think that gravity is an interesting topic. This time I investigated if

heavy objects fall faster than lighter objects. As I worked on this experiment, I began to wonder if one of my objects lands harder than the other. How does the weight of an object affect the strength of the force of the fall? I was also wondering how the shape of something could affect how fast it falls. For example, two pieces of paper that weigh the same could be dropped. If one is crumpled up into a ball and the other stays in its original shape, would they fall at the same time?

• There are many ways that the topic of gravity applies to the real world. People who build buildings must understand gravity because they work high off the ground and need to stay safe. People who play sports also must understand gravity because they need to know that the harder they throw something, the longer it can fight gravity and stay in the air. People who fly airplanes must also understand gravity because air pushes against the wings, opposing gravity to make a plane stay in the air. All of these people need to know a lot about gravity. One piece of information they all would need is that gravity pulls two objects of the same shape at the same time, even if one is heavier than the other.

Works Cited• Bibliography • Ardley, Neil. The Science Book of Gravity. New York: Gulliver

Books, 1992. • Bender, Lionel. 101 Questions and Answers: The World of Science.

New York: Reed International Books, 1995.• “The Motion of Falling Objects”. Lectures in Physics. 2009. Online.

21 December 2009. Available: http://www.vias.org/physics/bk1_05_01.html

• “Why Do Some Objects Fall Faster Than Others?” Science Projects for Beginners. 2009. Online. 21 December 2009. Available: http://www.infoplease.com/cig/science-fair-projects/some-objects-fall-faster-others.html