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=**What's Being Done in General Science?**= Students participated in a an experiment to learn about friction. In the experiment, they used an incline plane, a pulley, and three different objects (small wooden block, large wooden block, and a metal block) with different masses and surface. Throughout the experiment they were adding masses to the carriage on the pulley to pull their object up the incline. They then recorded the masses used to break the friction before increasing the angle another five degrees and finding the new mass. The students continued to increase the angle until they reached 45˚ at which point they then change objects and repeated the process. After gathering their data, the groups began reading their data and producing a graph through the use of excel to aid them in answering questions and determining whether or not they proved their hypothesis.
 * Friction on an Incline Plane - September 13th and 14th**

Students participated in an experiment to learn about gravity. In the experiment, they used a Newton spring pulley, ring stand and base, buret clamp, assorted slotted masses. Students started by placing 100 grams on the spring scale and then reading their Newton Spring scale to determine how much force is supplied. They then moved to 200 grams, 300 grams, and so forth up to 1,000 grams. Once determined all the forces they then rearranged the formula //F=ma// so that they could use their masses and the force those masses had to calculate the acceleration due to the force of gravity. Once the students collected all their data and made their calculations, they entered their data into google docs to create a graph which showed how the force was affected by the mass. When the students completed all of the data collection, observation, and calculation, they were able to determine that no matter how much mass an object has on Earth, (big or small) gravity is going to supply the same amount of gravitational acceleration to it.
 * Gravity Lab - September 18th**

Students participated in this experiment to learn about projectiles, the motion of a projectile, and the role of gravity on a projectile. Students used an adjustable projectile launcher, a projectile, and a set of meter sticks. The started by setting their launcher a an angle of 5˚. Once they launched their projectile they measured the distance the projectile traveled. They then moved to the next angle 10˚ and again measured the distance the projectile traveled. They continued this process until they reached 90˚.
 * Projectile Motion Lab - October 5th, 6th, and 7th**

Students spent the past couple of days working in the lab in small groups in an effort to learn about momentum. They used a variety of skills from simple timingand observation all the way up to analyzing and calculating. They began by understanding that both mass and velocity of an object can effect the object's momentum. They first set up there lab equipment to see how increasing the velocity of and object would effect it's momentum. Once they were done determining velocity's effect on momentum they began changing the mass of their object while trying to keep the velocity as constant as possible. Once they had obtained all their data, they began to work with the computers in an effort to create lab reports as well as creating graphs on Microsoft Excel which allowed them to determine if their hypothesis was about how mass and velocity effect momentum.
 * Momentum Lab**

In this week's lab, the students were the pressure exerted on the desk top by cubes and cylinders. The students first used the triple beam balance in an effort to determine the mass of each object. Once they had the mass of the object they converted the mass into kilograms before multiplying it by the acceleration due to gravity. They continued with the lab by calculating the area of the cubes A=LW and cylinders A=π(radius squared). Once the students had the force and areas calculated for all the objects, they were able to divide the force by the area to determine the pressure exerted by the object on the desk top. After all the calculations, students used their computers to develop a lab report, on google docs, which included creating data tables as well as graphs (Microsoft Excel) showing how mass will effect the pressure exerted by an object. They also discussed with their lab partners the analysis questions before completing their lab report.
 * Measuring Pressure Lab**

In this lab, students used skills they have learned throughout the year so far and applied them in the lab to be able to calculate the density of different objects. They were faced with 16 different objects in which their groups had to determine how to accurately measure the mass of the object as well as the volume of the object. Some groups obtain the volume two different ways, using length x width x height as well as using the water displacement method. Once the student had both the mass and volume of the objects, they were able to divide the mass by the volume to obtain the density. Once they had the density they then compared it to the density of water and made predictions to which objects would float and which would sink based on their densities. Hopefully at the end of the lab, they had a better understanding for what density is and how it is affected by mass and volume.
 * Measuring Density Lab**

In this laboratory activity, students calculated the volume of different objects. Once they had the volume calculated, they then submerged different volumes of those objects in water. They then recovered the displaced water and compared the volume of that water with the volume of the object they submerged. According to Archimedes' principle, the volume of displaced water should have been equal to the of the object they submerged.
 * Archimedes Principle Lab**


 * Introduction to Bunsen Burners Lab - November 15th**





Today the students had an introductory course in using a bunsen burner. During this activity, the students learned not only how to set up their bunsen burner, but they learned how to adjust the amount of oxygen as well as gas which is required to work the burner. Each student had the chance to light a bunsen burner as well as adjust the size of the flame. Once they were able to successfully light their bunsen burner and control the size of the flame. Students then obtained glass rods and trying to locate the hottest part of the flame by noticing the pliability of the glass. This lab works as a great introduction to bunsen burners and the students on which part of the flame is the hottest will be confirmed tomorrow in the Tools of a Physical Scientist lab.


 * Bunsen Burner Lab - Tools of a Physical Scientist - January 19th and 20th**

In this lab, students used a variety of tools used by a physical scientist to determine which part of the flame is the hottest. We used this data and compared it to the data they obtained in the previous day with bending glass. The students learned how to light and adjust a burner flame. They then set up a ring stand and base and measured out 100ml of water which they placed in a beaker. They then recorded the temperature of the water every 15 seconds for two minutes while it was placed at the base of the flame. They repeated the process three more times, each time changing the location of the water to the tip of the inner blue flame, the top of the, and then finally two centimeters above the flame. They used their data to create a graph of the four sets of data and then interpreted that data to determine which part of the flame was the hottest by comparing the temperatures of the water.


 * Temperature Change in Water Lab - January 24th and 25th**



In today's lab, the students looked at how the addition of thermal energy can effect the temperature of a substance. They used bunsen burners to add the thermal energy to the substance (water). They developed their hypothesis before measuring out the water with a graduated cylinder. They then placed it over the bunsen burner (thermal energy) and began recording the temperature for 4 minutes. Once they reached the 4 minute mark, they cut off the thermal energy and continued to monitor the temperature every 30 seconds. Once they had all their data, they simply converted the temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit and Kelvin. They then proceed to answer analysis questions to determine their findings and used Microsoft Excel to create a graph for the three temperature scales that show how the addition of thermal energy effects the temperature of a substance.


 * Heat Transfer Lab - January 31st, February 1st, 2nd, and 3rd**

In this lab, the students were involved with comparing the conduction ability of different materials. The student used boiling water to heat different materials for the same amount of time. They then transferred the materials from the boiling water to a small volume of room temperature water. Once the transfer was complete they used a thermometer to measure the temperature change of the room temperature water the material was placed in. They were then able to use a triple beam balance to measure the mass of the material. Once they had obtained that information, they were able to calculate the specific heat of each of the substances we used in the lab. They also were able to compare their calculations with real world calculations made by physical scientists.


 * Thermal Energy and Phase Change Lab - February 7th, 8th, and 9th**

In this lab, the students tested how the addition of thermal energy will effect the state of matter of a substance. The students started by recording the temperature of ice to make an assumption of the average kinetic energy of the ice. They then began to add thermal energy to the ice by way of bunsen burners. They continued to record the temperature of the ice as it began melting. They also made observations of the amount of ice as compared to water. They continued heating the water up to four minutes past boiling while taking the temperature every thirty seconds. Once the students obtained and recorded all of their data, used microsoft excel to create a graph displaying how the addition of thermal energy effects the average kinetic energy of a substance. They also determined where the melting and boiling points where on the graph. They then analyzed their graph and data and pointed out which state of matter was located in each section of the graph.

According to the Law of Conservation of Mass, mass cannot be created nor destroyed in an ordinary reaction. The students put this law to the test. They measured out an exact amount of baking soda and then measured out an exact mass of 30ml of vinegar. At first they combined the two substances in an unseal container. They realized that there was a gas being created during the reaction and it was escaping out of the uncovered beaker. Then the students realized they needed to use a seal container to keep the gas trapped inside since it was being created from combining the baking soda and vinegar. Once the reaction had taken place, the students determined the mass of the products created by the reaction. Many students found that there was very little change in the mass of the reactants and the mass of the products, which would me that the Law of Conservation of Mass is definitely correct.
 * Law of Conservation of Matter Lab - February 15th and 16th**

In today's lab, the student looked at a variety of science related topics, but most of they looked and determining whether a chemical is endothermic or exothermic. Simply put, is the reaction giving off heat or is it taking in heat. Each lab group was given an empty film canister and lid. They then used a graduated cylinder to calculate the volume of the cylinder. Once they had the volume calculated, they determined the the volume for 1/4th, 1/2, and 3/4ths, of the canister. They then filled the canister 1/4 full of water and obtained a half tablet of alka-seltzer. Then they recorded the temperature of the water in the canister. Once the temperature was recorded, they added the half tablet of alka seltzer to water in the canister and immediately put the lid on. Eventually, a chemical reaction was taking place inside the canister between the alka seltzer and the water. Once the reaction occurred, the students then recorded the temperature of the water in the canister to see if it increased or decreased for the beginning temperature. They also repeated the process two other times by changing the volume of water in the canister to see how the empty space in the canister effected the the amount of time required for the pressure to build up in the canister to blow the lid off. media type="file" key="CIMG0380.MOV" width="300" height="300" media type="file" key="IMG_0871.mov" width="300" height="300"
 * Pop Your Top Lab - February 29th and March 1st**