Rocket Launch #1 Reflection

Posted on October 18, 2019 by kzhang27

I did a rocket launch today. I think it was pretty fun. I was nervous that my rocket might blow up, but I put six layers of tape to connect the nosecone with the body. In the beginning, we had to do research. I didn’t like it. It was boring to me. But I did like making the inspiration boards. My team made a logo with our team name, the New Newtons, on it. We put pictures and information that we thought would help us on the launch on our board. A few days before, we had to prepare and learn to use the tools that we’ll be using on the launch day. One of them was the clinometer. The clinometer looked like a protractor with an arrow, a button, and a handle. Mastering the clinometer was hard. I was afraid that I would fail to use the clinometer rightly when the launch day came. There was also another tool: the trundle wheel. The trundle wheel measured the distance between the clinometer readers and the rocket. It was very resourceful. The preparation was tricky, but fun. I had three jobs, but only one for my launch. I was the countdown person for my launch. I was really happy to have that job. But I also was a clinometer reader for the group 1,2,3 Blastoff! and was a data recorder for the group the 3 Engineers. After the launch, I really wanted to do it again. I never wanted to stop. My teacher said that it would take an hour minimum for all the rockets to launch, but instead, it took forty five minutes. I think my group worked really well. We didn’t fight. I had to keep on checking my clipboard to see when I was up. And after I did my first job, I almost forgot that my group’s rocket was going to launch, and nearly missed the launch. But good thing I checked my clipboard. It was very useful. We were allowed to bring our iPhones outside. Some people did. I recorded some of the launches for two people. I observed that even though our rocket was the smallest rocket, we went higher than a taller rocket. So I don’t think that the height of the rocket mattered. But we had eight fins, and I think that helped. I don’t think our rocket needs changes. Maybe more tape?

Plant Blog Post #2

Posted on June 6, 2018 by kzhang27

For our Controlled quad, our tallest plant is about 11 centimeters tall. The leaves and stem is green and the flower is yellow. The most flowers we have are 3. At the beginning, our tallest was probably 2 centimeters tall. Our plants grew about 9 centimeters tall throughout the weeks. I think that the yellow flower is a Buttercup or Sunflower. Some of our plants are going to snap soon.

For our Manipulated quad, cell 1, 2 and 4 is dead. Only cell 3 is surviving. I think this happened because we have really little soil in the Manipulated quad. The tallest measurement for that cell is 13 centimeters tall. It has a tiny flower that is yellow and the stem and leaves are green. In the beginning, the tallest was about 6 centimeters tall. Our plants grew about 7 centimeters tall throughout the weeks.

The outcome are a few yellow flowers. The yellow flowers bloomed from the buds. I think this outcome happened because of the seeds, water and sunlight. Also, photosynthesis.

Plant Blog Post #1

Posted on June 6, 2018 by kzhang27

My class and I are learning about plants in our science unit we’re doing right now. We learned a lot. I am with a group of three girls, including me. Our scientific question for this experiment is: What is the effect of having less soil on plant growth? Our hypothesis is: If we put less soil in the cells, then the plant won’t grow as high everyday because the plant doesn’t have enough soil. Our controlled quad is normal. We are manipulating the soil.

We have two quads. One quad is controlled and one quad is manipulated. Controlled means that everything is the same. Manipulated is where we change one thing in the process. We have four cells in each quad. Everytime we water the cells, we took note of what was happening. For our Controlled quad, the tallest plant is 2 centimeters tall. The color of the plant is green. Our Manipulated quad’s plants are 3 centimeters taller. What we changed in our Manipulated quad was the amount of soil. It turned out to be taller than I thought.

Maglev Post #2

Posted on May 4, 2018 by kzhang27

What we did today that worked was that we got the magnets on the track to line up with the magnets on the train. Before we figured out that we had to do that, our magnets on our track attracted with the magnets on the train. We needed like poles and since the magnets are not labeled, we needed to find a system. So we marked the tape on the magnets with stars so we would know which side would repel and which side would attract. We also got the train to levitate a little higher with some more strip magnets.

What we did today that failed was that we tried to put some magnets on the side the train was going to on the attract side and a few magnets on the beginning of the track on the repel side. We thought the magnets on the repel side would give a push to the train and the train would get attracted to the magnets on the attract side so the train would move there, but that didn’t work. I learned from my failure that we needed stronger magnetic forces.

My goals for the next session is to get the train to move to the other side with a slight push and for the train to not tip over.

This is my group with our maglev model.

Maglev Train Post #1

Posted on May 4, 2018 by kzhang27

A maglev train is a train that works on magnets. It levitates and goes really fast. The maglev train levitates because of magnets. The magnets on the track repels with the magnets on the train. My group’s idea was to put 4-6 strip magnets on the track and 1-2 disc magnets on the train.

Today, we made our train levitate. Before, we got it to levitate but then one of our group members wanted to tape the magnet on the train and after she did that, we couldn’t make it levitate again. But we couldn’t make the maglev train move with a slight push.

The challenging part was to make the train levitate, then it was making the train move with a slight push. What worked well was that my group got to make our train levitate on the train track. Also, we all worked together so that was the best part. I think this activity is really fun.

This is my group’s sketch for our maglev train. Mrs. Maglevs is our group name.

kzhang27

Just another Scarsdale Schools Blogs Sites site

Tag Archives: Science

Rocket Launch #1 Reflection

Plant Blog Post #2

Plant Blog Post #1

Maglev Post #2

Maglev Train Post #1