Biology I Honors

Research 1

2012-13

Title: The Impacts of Inertia

**SPECIAL NOTE: - STUDENTS ARE TO FOLLOW FORMAT POSTED ONLINE FOR LAB NOTEBOOK.ALL SECTIONS SHOWN ONLINE MUST BE INCLUDED IN LAB NOTEBOOK WRITE-UP. PLEASE BE REMINDED, THERE WILL ONLY BE A NEED FOR ONE INTRODUCTION, DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION FOR THIS LAB EXERCISE DESPITE RUNNING FOUR EXPERIMENTS. ALL FOUR EXPERIMENTS ARE BASED ON THE TOPIC OF INERTIA.**

Purpose:

  • To demonstrate how inertia impacts the movement of objects
  • To organize and graph data
  • As students complete the lab exercise, students are to complete their lab notebooks and follow the correct Lab Notebook format found at the course website.

Research Question {Problem}

  • Students are to create a problem based on under-lined section in the purpose section above.
  • Remember the correct format of the problem.
  • MUST be written as an open-ended question.

Pre-Lab Questions

  • There are no pre-lab questions for this lab exercise

Introduction

  • Students should complete their introduction based background information (and more): -
  • The science of physics
  • Inertia
  • Newton’s three laws of motion
  • How inertia impacts everyday life
  • Etc.

Hypothesis:

  • Students must create a hypothesis using the if-then format. For EACH of the experiments of the lab exercise
  • Hence, students should establish an independent variable and a dependent variable for EACHof the experiments of the lab exercise.

Thesis Statement:

  • See how the thesis statement should be developed under the “lab notebook” tab on the course website.

Procedures: (For each experiment of this lab exercise, students must have it written in the correct format in their lab notebooks. See course website for details)

Experiment #1

Materials

  • Large drinking glass
  • Plastic plate or side from a cereal box
  • Empty matchbox
  • Small bar of soap

Procedures

  1. Set the glass on the table with its rim up.
  2. Make sure that the opening of the glass is bigger than the bar of soap
  3. Place a plastic plate on top of the glass. (If a plastic plate is not available, use an 8-inch square piece of cardboard or make a circle with a diameter of 8 inches.)
  4. Set the outside of a small matchbox on top of the plate. (If you do not have a matchbox, please follow instructions on how to make one.)
  5. Set the bar of soap on the matchbox.
  6. Get a firm grip on the glass with one hand.
  7. Strike the edge of the plate, or cardboard, with your other hand. (Strike the edge of the plate hard and fast.)
  8. The plate should fly into the air and the soap should fall into the glass.
  9. Students should run this experiment at least 40 times and record their data

Experiment #2

Materials

  1. 9 to 11 checkers/coins {the coin should be quarters}

Procedures

  1. Build a stack of eight or ten checkers/coins. (If you use coins, make sure that they are all the same size)
  2. Place another checker/coin beside the stack.
  3. Leave about an inch between this checker/coin and the stack.
  4. Flick the single checker hard with your forefinger or your middle finger. Give it a really hard snap.
  5. The bottom checker/coin should fly out from the stack and if all goes well, the rest of the pile wills stay neatly in place.
  6. Students should run this experiment at least 40 times and record their data

Experiment #3

Materials

  1. 9 to 11 checkers/coins {the coin should be quarters}

Procedures

  1. Use a pencil to hit one of the checkers/coins in the middle of the stack.
  2. Hit the checker/coin sharply and you are only to hit ONE checker/coin.
  3. With precision, you should be able to knock any checker/coin out without tipping the stack over.
  4. Students should run this experiment at least 40 times and record their data.

Experiment #4

Materials

  • 1 coin

Procedures

  1. Place the quarter on your elbow.
  2. Hold your arm parallel to the floor. (If you do not do this, the coin will fall off.)
  3. You are now going to catch the coin on your elbow WITH THE HAND ON THE SAME ARM THAT YOU ARE USING TO BALANCE THE COIN.
  4. In one sudden move, drop your arm, open your hand, and catch the coin.
  5. The palm of the hand should be FACING THE FLOOR when the catch is made.
  6. Students should run this experiment at least 40 times and record their data.

Results:

  • Data tables and charts for all four experiments.
  • Graphs (for all four experiments)
  • View course website under “Lab Notebook” tab for instructions how to complete results section.

Discussion:

  • View course website under “Lab Notebook” tab for instructions how to complete discussion section.
  • The discussion will cover all four experiments.

Conclusion:

  • View course website under “Lab Notebook” tab for instructions how to complete the conclusion section.
  • Include information the impacts of inertia

**STUDENTS ARE TO FOLLOW FORMAT POSTED ONLINE FOR LAB NOTEBOOK.ALL SECTIONS SHOWN ONLINE MUST BE INCLUDED IN LAB NOTEBOOK WRITE-UP. PLEASE BE REMINDED, THERE WILL ONLY BE A NEED FOR ONE INTRODUCTION, DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION FOR THIS LAB EXERCISE DESPITE RUNNING FOUR EXPERIMENTS. ALL FOUR EXPERIMENTS ARE BASED ON THE TOPIC OF INERTIA.**