Mosaic Freeschool

  • Home
  • Classes
    • On Site Classes '25-'26
    • Past Classes
  • Facilitators
    • Mosaic Facilitators
    • Educator Network
  • Enrollment
    • Admissions
    • Registration
    • Payment
  • Contact
  • Opportunities
  • Home
  • Classes
    • On Site Classes '25-'26
    • Past Classes
  • Facilitators
    • Mosaic Facilitators
    • Educator Network
  • Enrollment
    • Admissions
    • Registration
    • Payment
  • Contact
  • Opportunities

Mosaic Minutes

Astronomy Class Summary 9/29/14

10/1/2014

 
with Leigh Ann Yoder

Brace for Impact!

First, a great big THANK YOU! to the students for coming prepared to class each week. Everyone seems to be completing the weekly assignments and returning their library books. It is encouraging to hear the students comment on their weekly library books with one another, and there is always a race to grab the most desired books.

We began class with a very brief discussion of Mercury. We narrowed our focus to the large number of craters present on Mercury, and introduced the week's activity.
Picture
As a class we performed an Impact Crater Experiment.  We tested three different sized meteors (rocks), each dropped from four different heights onto our 'Mercury Like' surface. We added dry powder paint so we could more easily identify the ray lengths produced from the impacts. After collecting data, we calculated averages and made these conclusions:

1.  Crater width is only dependent on the size/weight and orientation of the meteor when it impacts the surface. Height of the drop does not increase the crater width.
2.  Crater depth is dependent on meteor size/weight and height of the drop. A larger size and higher drop both produce a larger crater depth.
3.  Ray lengths are affected by both meteor size/weight and height of drop.  Again, larger size and higher drop produce larger rays. Many of our rays could not be measured since they were way beyond our container.

From our simple experiment we were able to better imagine an actual meteor hitting a planet and the impact it would have.

Picture
Picture
Picture
Next week Ranger Bob will be visiting us with a slew of Sun activities including his specialized hydrogen-alpha telescope to safely observe the sun, solar flares, and sunspots. We are all praying for a sunny day! I reminded the students that they are to be on their best behavior for our guest teacher. I know they will impress him with their knowledge.
We discussed that experiments do not always lead to conclusions, but more often lead to more questions and more experiments. We all agreed that it would be of interest to perform the experiment on a larger scale. It would also be beneficial to simulate earth-like surfaces such as dirt, rock, sand, or water to see how a meteor would impact different areas of earth. Ask your student if they can come up with other experiments that would be useful.  

(***Spoiler*** What about meteors that have the same size, but different weights?) Be forewarned--your student may want to try this at home!
Picture
Picture

Homework

Picture
Mandatory:
Read ECA Chapter 2
Lending Library Book
Bring in shoebox (I need just a few more)

Optional:
ACG Chapter 5 & 6
NB pg 22, 23, 24, 28, 31


Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Afternoon Enrichment
    Closures
    Clubs
    Early Elementary
    Mosaic Texas
    Odyssey Of The Mind
    Out Of This World
    Philosophy
    Tesserae Fall 2012
    Tesserae Fall 2013
    Tesserae Fall 2014
    Tesserae Spring 2013
    Tesserae Spring 2014
    Tesserae Spring 2015
    Tesserae Spring 2016

    Archives

    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos from nojhan, Clay Gilliland, mynameisharsha, kim siciliano salem, matthewvenn, photogirl7.1, El Bibliomata, ~Brenda-Starr~, Anne Worner, Heather Bickle, NASA Goddard Photo and Video, Black.Dots., marta.b, Felipe Venâncio, A. Galassi, bibliojojo, Bibliothèque - Les Champs Libres - Rennes, Robert Hensley, opensourceway, Greenland Travel, est1996x, John-Morgan, camnjeanacess, plindberg, chrisjtse, Vox Efx, philosophygeek, utpala ॐ, Cea., Phil Roeder, andreazgarcia, stevecadman, laynasaur, Steve A Johnson, mattk1979, Tattooed Hippy, spacepleb, Mateus Hidalgo, Todd Binger, TRF_Mr_Hyde, ComputerHotline, Hampshire and Solent Museums, Ben Sutherland, philip_sheldrake, WeeLittlePiggy, echiner1, gruntzooki, emmeffe6, saoire, symphony of love, ups2006, Dave_B_, bobsfever, Kelly Short6, RichardBH, frau-Vogel, Skype Nomad, giopuo, Tomi Tapio