Materials 2012

"This week we started our materials topic. We investigated the properties of different materials to see if they were absorbent, elastic, electrical conductor, flexible, magnetic, hard, transparent and strong. We worked very well in our groups."
By Chrissie.

We also investigated irreversible change.

Our group challenge was to build a tower out of spaghetti and mashmallows. The tower must be able to hold a chocolate egg for 30 seconds.
I’m afraid this tower collapsed before it could be tested but maybe the next group will manage it. Its very difficult and this group tried very hard. Thanks to Donald, on work experience, who stepped into help.

We have been learning about solids, liquids and gases. The particles of solids are very close together. In liquids the particles are not so close which allows it to move around. The particles in gases move around very quickly and detach from each other.

After a lot of investigating with water, and a lot of spills, we discovered that water has no shape of its own. Water takes the shape of its container. We also discovered that air takes up space. If you put a tissue in a glass and turn it upside down into water, the tissue will stay dry.

We investigated the viscosity of liquid. We wanted an answer to the question – Does viscosity of liquid affect the speed of the liquid. We carried out an experiment to find out. We learned about variables which would affect our experiment and then wrote up the results.

Here, we are investigating whether sugar or salt reaches saturation point first.