Flying Cake tins

 A demonstration of Electrostatic charges repelling like charges caused by a Van de Graaff Generator. This causes the aluminium cake tins to fly away from each other and from the van de Graaff generator.

Ionic Bonds

Ionic bonds with dot and cross diagrams are hard to visualise. Using these card models made with a Scan n cut machine, the students seem to grasp the idea better. The real problem is to sort out a better Sulfate and Nitrate groups.

Lego EV3 to determine acceleration due to gravity

We have been using this Lego technics setup to determine the acceleration due to gravity and getting 9.8 m/s/s consistently. The students had to do the programming themselves from the formula which made it a bit harder.

Gas Stoves leak Methane when not in use

It’s widely known that when methane is transported in pipes and it leaks the new study has found that cookers leak methane even when they’re not being used. But it is a worry because methane is 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Methane makes up about 90% of natural gas which is used in our homes for heating and cooking purposes. This recent study shows that even when heaters and cookers are turned off methane leaks. Considering the amount of time a cooker is used we can see that more than 75% of this leakage occurs when the cooker is turned off. Ventilation can help the kitchen but it doesn’t help the climate impacts of this Greenhouse gas and the results of burning methane. The only way to do this is to cook on electric from a renewable source.

Projectiles

Doing some Physics revision, and this naturally came up,  looking at how to determine g, projectiles, their range and time of flight. Some excellent ideas from the students on how to stop the shelling.

Using the Ultrasonic sensor to get displacement and velocity Time graphs

 Using the Pasco wireless motion sensor the students acted as a human trolley walking away from the sensor stopping and then returning. Then before we looked at the velocity time graph they had to draw what the graph would look like.

Centre of Mass

 Looking at a broom to find the centre of mass. Its a simple trick to do. Hold out the broom horizontally balanced on two fingers. Move the hands together slowly and often you find one hand moves and the other doesn't when the hands meet - that'
s the centre of mass.

We find the centre of mass to help balance things like getting a picture straight on a wall and we use this idea of centre of mass to stop things blowing over because they are "top heavy".