Friday, November 13, 2009

As a Matter of Fact...

Over the last couple of weeks we've been conducting matter experiments in order to understand the properties of solids, liquids and gases. We started out by pretending we were the molecules inside solids, then liquids, then gases. This helped us to understand what the matter is like and how the distance between molecules helps to determine the state of matter. We've also been pouring liquids and solids and observing the differences in the properties as they "pour". Yes, you can pour blocks, but they don't change like water does to fit the shape of the container. This past week, we've been exploring mass through matter. We've discussed the properties of solids and put them on the scale to see which one is heaver (marbles vs. rocks). We also compared our heavy rock with water, and in the end, water won the day, proving that both liquids and solids have mass. The boys were amazed that a container of water could have more mass than a rock that beat out a bag of marbles. Today, we tried to determine whether air has mass. The definitive answer was yes, but when we put a packing pouch without air on one side of the balance scale, and a packing pouch sealed with air on the other side, our predictions did not all come true. This was the perfect opportunity to illustrate that a good scientist isn't always right when they make their best guess. It's all about what we can learn when we check our guesses. We also blew up a balloon with hot air (which by the way, I am full of), and found that it had more mass than the balloon with the cooler air in it. Hmmm, we wondered. How can this be so? So we googled, and yes indeed, cold air should tip the scales more than hot air, but in our case it did not. "Maybe the internet is wrong, Mrs. de Hoog," one of the boys remarked. Well, this led us to a discussion about reliable sources of information, and we decided that the U.S. Department of Energy should be a reliable source. So, we began switching the variables up a bit, and will continue to do so to help us understand the mass of air. We decided that for now, our results are inconclusive, which in the world of science, means we have more guessing and checking to do. Ah, the beauty of science...

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