- In this lab, you will cause steel wool to oxidize in a closed environment, and observe the change in volume due to the loss of oxygen.
Physical Science Labs
USING A GRAPH TO INTERPRET DATA
- USING DICE
- A graph is one of the tools used by scientists to interpret raw data. In this lab we will learn to draw the best line of fit to our data points, in order to obtain an accurate answer. Even though our raw data points contain experimental error.
USING A GRAPH TO INTERPRET DATA
- USING PENNIES
- This is the same lab as above, only using pennies instead of dice. Either lab is excelent for demonstrating best line of fit and experimental error.
- The density of a substance is defined as the mass divided by the volume: d=m / v. Density is a physical property of a substance that does not depend on the ammount of material present and is therefore called an intensive property. In this experiment, you will find the density of water for three different volumes.
- In this lab exercise you will calculate the density of lead (Pb).
- (Rust)
- When a metal oxidizes (rusts), it reacts with oxygen in the air. The oxygen combines chemically with atoms of the metal, and the "rust" you see is the oxide of that metal.
GRAPHING PENDULUM MEASUREMENTS
- An object swinging at the end of a string forms a pendulum. In this investigation you will let a lead ball swing from different lengths of string. For each length, you will count the number of swings the pendulum makes in one minute. This value represents the frequency of the pendulum's motion. You will then graph your data and use the graph to predict frequency values for pendulum lengths you did not actually measure.
- The rate at which a marble falls through corn syrup depends upon the viscosity, or thickness, of the syrup. In this investigation, you will allow a marble to fall through syrup solutions at three different concentrations (hence, three different viscosities). You will measure the speed at which the marble falls in each solution and pay particular attention to the question of whither the marble's speed is always changing as it falls or if its speed remains constant during part or all of the fall. You will graph your results to aid your analysis.
CHANGES IN THE FORCE OF FRICTION
- The force you need to pull something at a constant speed is the force required to balance the force of friction. The force of friction between two objects sliding past each other depends on the force pushing the objects together, and on the smoothness of the objects.
MEASURING THE HEIGHT OF A FLAGPOLE OR BUILDING
USING IT'S SHADOW AND TRIGONOMETRY
- Trigonometry is a powerful tool for science. We can use the basic trigonometric functions to calculate many things.
We will make use of the tangent function in this investigation. Values for the tangent of angles can be obtained from trig tables, or from your calculator.
