"Make an Impact" Lab

Guiding Question: What are the factors that affect the appearance of impact craters?

My Hypothesis: I think that this would depend on how fast the meteor/marble is going, how big it is, how heavy it is, and at what angle it is falling.

Materials:

• Safety goggles
• tray
• flour
• notebook
• spoon
• small and large marbles
• ruler (cm)
• Excel
• Word

I performed these tests with my lab partners, Brin, Ergi and Adrian, and here are our results:

And from that data Adrian produced these graphs:

Data Analysis: As you can easily see, all of our graphs show an increase. This means that the ejecta, the diameter, and the depth of the craters increased as the throwing height increased. It shows a bit less significantly with diameter, but the increase can be seen easily enough. 

Conclusion: My guiding question was "What are the factors that affect the appearance of impact craters?". I answered "I think that this would depend on how fast the meteor/marble is going, how big it is, how heavy it is, and at what angle it is falling." Was I correct? Well, as we dropped the marble from higher up, it had more potential energy, and therefore even more speed. We can easily see a gradual increase in our graphs, so I guess I was right. The size and mass of the marbles weren't a variable in this test so  I cannot confirm whether I was right with that. As for the angle, this cannot be seen in our data as we recorded only tests where we successfully dropped the marble, keeping only one variable, the angle has a large impact on the crater. When the marble is a bit slanted when falling, the crater tends to be more of an ellipse than a circle. 

"Waves All Around Us" Unit Reflection

At the beginning of the unit, we were all to draw pictures of waves. My drawing included mostly electromagnetic and sound waves. Later during the unit, I learned that there were many more than that. During this unit we covered many areas such as:

• seismic waves
• surface waves
• electromagnetic waves
• and many others...

We talked about the causes and effects of those waves, and actually, what waves even are.

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Irradiation of Foods

For this activity, I was assigned to look up the cons of food irradiation and then discuss it with others that had researched the pros.

The Cons:

• does not kill all pathogens at recommended doses
• can’t stop something like the Norwalk virus from seafood
• can’t stop viruses from fresh foods
• customers prefer authentically fresh food
• not all effects of irradiation are known
• breaks up molecules and creates free radicals
• possible trace amounts of radioactivity
• no long term effects are known
• gamma rays or x-rays have to be used for larger foods

After the debate, both sides agreed that some food can be irradiated, but not all. And even if it is irradiated, people should have the choice whether they will purchase these products or those that were naturally prepared.

Noise Pollution

Noise pollution has long been a problem that is so common that most people hardly notice it. Scientists estimate that about 25% of American citizens have hearing problems. It is everywhere around us: cars honking, dogs barking, machinery and many others. We hardly notice it, but it tends to slowly wear out our ears and causes malfunctioning to complete loss of hearing.

First of all, noise is the opposite of music. Music is a set of sounds put together to create sound that is pleasing to the ears. Noise is rather uncomfortable to listen to and most people try to avoid it. We “intake” this sound all of our lives, hardly noticing it. However, our ears are only “human”. Over time they get “worn out” and don’t work as properly. This can be a large problem as deafness is a serious handicap in an everyday life. The effects of noise pollution can usually be observed on laborers that spent their lives doing hard work in noisy environments. This causes a complication as it is therefore those that won’t be able to afford proper treatment that lose their hearing.

Another large cause of noise pollution actually comes from music. That is when it is played too loud. This used to be a common stereotype concerning fans of rock music but has become a common phenomenon in the modern society. Even as I write this paper, music is blasting in my ears.  The question is: Should I turn it on speaker not to concentrate the sound straight into my ears, and instead bother others with my bad taste in music? Like this I am only hurting my ears and no one else’s.

There are ways to prevent noise pollution. For example, many car companies are trying to make the sounds of their engines softer as they must have noticed that people are bothered by useless noise. Or even more obviously, vacuum cleaners. All the companies are competing to have the quietest vacuum cleaner because it is what customers look for. Nobody likes its loud and disruptive noise.

And then when it is too late, there are ways to help people with hearing problems. Modern instruments can easily enhance a person’s hearing. People have also learned to use trained dogs to lead them on their way. But any of the solutions that are currently available can fully restore a “normal” life.

In conclusion, noise pollution is something that can and should be prevented. You are exposed to it every day, which you cannot help, but you can do a bit yourself. Next time you listen your iPod, don’t crank the volume all the way up. And especially DO NOT try to block out outside noise by putting your music very loud. Also, when you know that you are going to be exposed to extreme noise, you can use earplugs to block out the worst noise. Or try to avoid it in general. No need to spend all your time at a disco where the music makes your bones vibrate. Because no one wants to be deaf, right?

Sources:

"How Bad Are IPods for Your Hearing? - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. .

Tuning Fork Lab

Jan Marek

7.A

Due: 4/4/11

Tuning Fork Lab

______________________________________________________________________________

Guiding Question:

How does density of various solids affect the way the sound waves travel from the tuning fork?


Hypothesis:

Jan: I believe that the denser the material is, the harder it will be for the sound to travel through and it will be partially blocked out, causing the sound to be softer and shorter-lasting.


Exploration:

Materials:

• “426.6 A” Tuning Fork
• “256 C” Tuning Fork
• A Locker
• A Whiteboard
• A Desk
• A Wall

Procedure:

1. Take a “426.6 A” Tuning Fork
2. Stroke it against the locker
3. Listen to the sounds
4. Repeat steps 1-3 using different tuning forks and materials

Record and Analyze:

Data Table:

Material	Density	Loudness with 426.6 A tuning fork	Length with 426.6 A tuning fork	Loudness with 256 C tuning fork	Length  with 256 C tuning fork
Locker	7.85 g/cm3	Really loud and very sharp, it hurts your ears	Lasts for about 30 seconds.	Not as loud as the other fork, doesn’t hurt your ears.	Lasts for about 24 seconds
Whiteboard	2.8 g/cm3	Loud same as locker	Lasts for about 17 seconds.	Also much quieter and lower.	Lasts for about 14 seconds.
Desk	0.75 g/cm3	Much louder and hallow song it is deeper. You can hear it without having to put your ear near the fork	Lasts for 15 seconds	You have to actually put your ear to the fork to hear the sound and listen intently	Lasts for about 11 seconds
Wall	3.12 g/cm3	Quieter than other materials you have to listen closely	Lasts 16 seconds	Much quieter you can almost not hear the sound but you can feel the vibrations.	Lasts 15 seconds

Data Analysis:

We have observed that in general as the density of the material increased, the length and the loudness of the sound increased too. I believe that this is because the denser materials have more particles for the sound to shake and for the waves to bounce off. This way they can travel more easily. The length of the sound could also be because the denser objects will hold the sound longer.


Conclusion:

My hypothesis was: “I believe that the denser the material is, the harder it will be for the sound to travel through and it will be partially blocked out, causing the sound to be softer and shorter-lasting.” But as I have mentioned in my data analysis above, it seems that in a denser material, the sound waves travel more efficiently. This means that my hypothesis was incorrect. There are some exceptions in our results such as the desk, which is not very dense but it’s sound was very long lasting.

Noise Pollution

Noise pollution has long been a problem that is so common that most people hardly notice it. Scientists estimate that about 25% of American citizens have hearing problems. It is everywhere around us: cars honking, dogs barking, machinery and many others. We hardly notice it, but it tends to slowly wear out our ears and causes malfunctioning to complete loss of hearing.

First of all, noise is the opposite of music. Music is a set of sounds put together to create sound that is pleasing to the ears. Noise is rather uncomfortable to listen to and most people try to avoid it. We “intake” this sound all of our lives, hardly noticing it. However, our ears are only “human”. Over time they get “worn out” and don’t work as properly. This can be a large problem as deafness is a serious handicap in an everyday life. The effects of noise pollution can usually be observed on laborers that spent their lives doing hard work in noisy environments. This causes a complication as it is therefore those that won’t be able to afford proper treatment that lose their hearing.

Another large cause of noise pollution actually comes from music. That is when it is played too loud. This used to be a common stereotype concerning fans of rock music but has become a common phenomenon in the modern society. Even as I write this paper, music is blasting in my ears.  The question is: Should I turn it on speaker not to concentrate the sound straight into my ears, and instead bother others with my bad taste in music? Like this I am only hurting my ears and no one else’s.

There are ways to prevent noise pollution. For example, many car companies are trying to make the sounds of their engines softer as they must have noticed that people are bothered by useless noise. Or even more obviously, vacuum cleaners. All the companies are competing to have the quietest vacuum cleaner because it is what customers look for. Nobody likes its loud and disruptive noise.

And then when it is too late, there are ways to help people with hearing problems. Modern instruments can easily enhance a person’s hearing. People have also learned to use trained dogs to lead them on their way. But any of the solutions that are currently available can fully restore a “normal” life.

In conclusion, noise pollution is something that can and should be prevented. You are exposed to it every day, which you cannot help, but you can do a bit yourself. Next time you listen your iPod, don’t crank the volume all the way up. And especially DO NOT try to block out outside noise by putting your music very loud. Also, when you know that you are going to be exposed to extreme noise, you can use earplugs to block out the worst noise. Or try to avoid it in general. No need to spend all your time at a disco where the music makes your bones vibrate. Because no one wants to be deaf, right?

Sources:

"How Bad Are IPods for Your Hearing? - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. .

               Geogise. "Noise Pollution." Geogise Environmental Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 28

Mar. 2011.

noise-pollution.php>.

                Noise Pollution Presentation. "Noise Presentation ." Presentation: n. pag.

Noise Pollution. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. .

               Wikipedia. "Noise Pollutuion." Wikipedia Article. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2011.