Science Week 2016
We celebrated Science Week 2016 this week and did so by carrying out a number of experiments as a whole class group. We also talked a lot about how we carry out an experiment. Would you like to know how? Here are the steps; 1. Ask a question. 2. Make a hypothesis. 3. Carry out an experiment. 4. Record results. 5. Make conclusions. We really enjoyed doing the experiments and being scientists! Have a look at our gallery and tell us what you think! Please note that there is a Science Week Family Open Day taking place in the GMIT, Castlebar on this Sunday (20th) and doors open at 11.30am. Here is a link for more details. (http://www.mayoscience.ie/OpenDay/) -Ms Fitzgerald, 2nd and 3rd class.
Experiment 1: We put sticks of celery into water containing food colouring. We found that the celery changed colour so we came to the conclusion that the celery drank the water and plants need water to survive!
Experiment 2: We chopped up an apple to find out what happens when it is covered in different liquids (baking soda and water, lemon juice and milk). We left one on it's own to see what air does to the apple! Our results showed that the air turned the apple brown as did the baking soda but the milk and lemon juice stopped it from turning brown! We concluded that lemon juice and milk can act as a preservative.
Experiment 3: We put a packet of soft-mints into a bottle of Diet Coke to watch the reaction it caused. It was great fun watching it explode and fizz everywhere! We took safety precautions by doing this experiment outside! We learned afterwards that the process of nucleation happened whereby the tiny little gaps in the sweets gave the bubbles in the coke the opportunity to get in and create more bubbles, hence the mini-explosion! I think everyone will agree that this was great fun and the giggles could be heard all across Derrywash!
Experiment 4: This was all about sound waves! We listened to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and found out that this famous composer was actually deaf. In order to write music he cut the legs off his piano, put it on the ground and listened to the vibrations. This told us a lot about sound waves. We made our own drums using coffee cups (!) and balloons with the top cut off. We put rice on the top of the drums and banged the drum to see the rice bouncing around. We concluded that vibrations cause sound to travel through air, water and solid objects. All in all, we had a wonderful Science Week and can't wait for next year!
