Week 3 Blog

In the lab this week, we discussed the variables of what can make children move faster or slower down a slide. My group’s big question that we experimented on was- Does rider weight affect the speed of the rider down the slide? This experiment consisted of us using a wood panel as our slide and three different weighted marbles made of cork, aluminum, and brass. Brass was the heaviest (73.3 grams), while aluminum (22.7 grams)  was next, with cork (2.3 grams) being the lightest. What we found through three different trial runs was that brass went the fastest with an average of 1.44 seconds, aluminum with 1.48 seconds, and cork marble was the slowest with an average of 1.55 seconds. What we found from this experiment was the conclusion that the ride weight does affect the speed of the rider going down the slide because the average time was faster as the weight went up, but it was not as drastic of a difference as we believed it would be. 

On Thursday, we had a lecture and were discussing the experiments we did in the lab and what causes riders to accelerate as they go down a slide. The word that got mentioned was gravity! Gravity is the force that causes the acceleration of speed when going down a slide. After going over this and how force relates to motion, we started to go over a few variables that could affect how fast an object goes down a slide- steepness, surface/clothing, and rider weight. With steepness, comes the amount of gravity. The steeper the slide, the stronger the force of gravity. With surface/clothing, the amount of friction is a concept that could cause a rider to go faster or slower. Rider weight is contradicting because gravity pulls harder on larger weights, but larger weighted objects are a lot harder to get to move faster. 

    The textbook discussed a lot about Newton's First, Second, and Third Laws and the basics of motion and force. I learned about why objects stop moving, which is due to friction. When an object rubs against the floor while moving, this is the action of friction. I have never heard the word “inertia” before, and this was something I also learned from textbook reading. Inertia is a thing that heavier objects have, which causes them to need more force to change direction and to stop/start moving. What I feel was the most helpful in this textbook was that when they describe a new term or concept, there would be a simulation to show you exactly what the textbook is discussing in a legitimate, more hands-on manner. What I need more information on and the big question that I have about this week’s reading is- How do we conduct experiments that help our students see these big concepts in the classroom? I want to read more about the lesson plans that teachers have made to conduct lessons and experiments on Newton’s Laws and over force/motion. I feel it would be very helpful to view these ideas in a more teacher-approached manner.