Happy Wednesday!

Greetings from Physical Science,

We are well into the fourth quarter now and students are actively engaged in studying physics.  We have been studying motion and with that Isaac Newton’s contribution to physics.  We began the unit by making measurements of distance and time and using them to calculate speed.  Students were tasked with chewing bubble gum in order to calculate their chomp speed.  We then moved quickly into topics such as velocity, acceleration, and momentum.

 This week we have been studying Isaac Newton and his 3 laws.  In studying force and Newton’s 2^nd Law, students timed how long it took to blow a golf ball a distance of 2 meters.  Using their average time, they then calculated the speed of the golf ball, followed by the acceleration.  With these calculations they were able to use Newton’s 2^nd Law to determine the force with which they blew.  There were prizes for the team with the “most hot air” or the team who used the most force when accelerating the golf ball.

I’m sure this quarter will fly by just as fast as the 3^rd quarter.  Students will take their 8^th grade science SOL on June 3.  This SOL will cover all 3 years of middle school science.  There will be a period of 6^th and 7^th grade science review in late May when Ms. Cabrera and Ms. Rigby will each take a turn reviewing with the 8^th grade science students.  We will then finish out the year by completing a fun project with paper cars.  As we finish out the year, it will be important for students to finish strong as they prepare to make the jump to high school in the fall.