Watch the video of Dr. Derek Muller (Veratasium) do a physics based phenomena demonstration about being able to move a Cheerio in water, then do the tasks below. (YouTube: Veratasium 5 Fun Physics Phenomena #4)
Be sure to utilize the following headers:
- Based on the video – identify the phenomena and create a title for the experimental write up.
- Pose an investigational question.
- Formulate a possible explanation (aka – a hypothesis)
- Create a model that best explains the phenomena. Be sure to give it a title, and label any parts you feel are necessary for the general public to understand it.
- Develop the first of a series of experiments that would test a portion of your hypothesis. Be sure to include an expected outcome if your hypothesis is correct.
- Include a results & reflection section as if you ran your experiment. There is no need to conduct the experiment – just assume that you have at this point and write about it as if you have ran it. You make the decision if whether or not it worked.
Be sure to utilize the following headers:
- Phenomena
- Question
- Hypothesis
- Experimental Design
- Results and Reflection
Writing prompts and framework
Title the Series of Experiments based on the phenomena observed
- Phenomena Observed:
- “What we found peculiar was…” or “what we found interesting was…” or “we noticed that…”
- What was it that you observed that made you go “huh? That was interesting!”
- It’s also what piqued your curiosity that may have made you ask a question.
- “What we found peculiar was…” or “what we found interesting was…” or “we noticed that…”
- Question:
- What causes (some aspect of the phenomena you observed)
- What is the question that followed the “huh? That was interesting?”
- What causes (some aspect of the phenomena you observed)
- Hypothesis:
- How I think it works is… (possible explanation)
- What I think is going on is… (possible explanation)
- Try to answer your question using scientific reasoning.
- Possible explanation for the set of observations (phenomena witnessed)
- An answer to the scientific question
- An educated guess
- It’s usually coupled with explaining a model
- Can be written as an if/then/because – but does not always need to be
- Experimental Design & Expected Outcomes:
- “What we’re wondering about is…” or “What we want to know is…” or “what we want to test for is…”
- Describe the part of your hypothesis that you’re interested in finding out is true.
- “To test this, we’re going to…”
- Describe how you plan on carrying out your investigation.
- List your experimental procedures and materials.
- “If we’re right, we’re expecting to see…”
- Describe what you hope to see if your hypothesis is correct.
- “What we’re wondering about is…” or “What we want to know is…” or “what we want to test for is…”
- Results & Reflection:
- “What we observed was…” or “what we noticed in our experiment was…”
- What are the things you observed?
- Quantitative Observations
- Qualitative Observations
- Any new phenomena observed?
- Any new questions generated.
- “What this means is…”
- Inferences & Data Analysis
- What does your data / information gathered mean? (Infer & interpretation)
- Any new phenomena observed?
- Any new questions generated?
- Any modifications to your hypothesis “we may have to modify our hypothesis to reflect [new phenomena]… by…[describe the new hypothesis model]”
- Inferences & Data Analysis
- [Where we go from here]
- What have you learned as a result of your experiment – or series of experiments?
- Can you answer the original question?
- Does this mean you need to modify your original hypothesis – if so, what would your new idea look like that will address the new phenomena you observed?
- Or… do you need to run further tests to gain a better idea of what is going on?
- “What we observed was…” or “what we noticed in our experiment was…”
Example
Black Bottle
- Phenomena:
- I noticed that when I pour in some water into the black bottle that the black bottle does not pour out the same amount of water that went into it. In fact, the more I poured in – a little more came out, but it seemed to be only a small fraction – perhaps less than 10% of what went in. This means that it’s holding 90% of the water that I’ve put in.
- Question:
- What’s going on inside the bottle to make it hold back more than 90%?
- Hypothesis:
- What I think is going on is that there is a marble inside that plugs up the mouth of the bottle. Below that is a series of sponges that is at the bottom of the bottle that absorbs the incoming water.
- Experimental Design & Expected Outcomes
- What we want to know is if there is a marble inside that is plugging up the mouth of the bottle and if there are sponges inside.
- To test this, we want to pour in about 300cc’s of water, then pour out the contents of the bottle into a beaker. After it’s been poured out, we want to stick a small pencil up inside the mouth of the bottle while it’s still in the pouring position to see if more water will come out.
- To further test this, we would like to squeeze the bottle while the pencil is still up inside the mouth of the bottle. We’re assuming that the pencil will move the marble aside allowing for any excess water to be expelled, however, if no water comes out initially, we think the water is absorbed into the sponges. Therefore, if we squeeze the bottle while the pencil has moved the marble aside, than by squeezing it, the water from the sponges should come out.
- Results & Reflection:
- What we noticed was that after we initially poured out the water from the bottle, some water did come out as expected, however, after sticking a pencil up into the bottle, no additional water came out. In addition, after we squeezed the bottle while the pencil was inside, no further water came out. This is baffling – as we were expecting to see a large body of water to come out. I’m a little confused. Perhaps my thinking is a little off and I would need to run further tests to see how the bottle would behave under different conditions.
- For now, the marble idea doesn’t seem to work – for one, I didn’t hear any noise when I poked it with a pencil – nor did I feel any resistance when I inserted the pencil into the bottle. What’s even more confusing is that if there were something near the mouth of the bottle – by inserting the pencil, it would have moved it out of the way – providing an avenue for the water to escape. However, as I squeezed the bottle while in the pouring position, nothing happened. Could there not be any marble? Could there not also be anything there to plug the top of the bottle?
- What about the sponges? By squeezing the bottle, a lot of water should have come out – but nothing did. I may need to reconsider my hypothesis all together. Could it be that there is another container inside?
- Perhaps what I’d like to see is what would happen if I squeezed the bottle while it’s pointed up.