Shovel fact file

You are going to dig, maybe to plant a flower or vegetables, but you use your hands and realise that it takes you a long time, and you need something to make the job easier. A shovel is fit for this job.

The handles of shovels are usually fastened in place. A T-piece is fitted to the end of the handle for the person who is using it to be able to grip it and control where the shovel is moving soil or heavy materials.  There are many different types of shovels including a coal shovel and a snow shovel.  A coal shovel has a wide, flat blade with steeply sides, a flat face and a short D-shaped handle. It is used for shovelling coals, coke or similar fuels. It could also remove ash from a fireplace, firebox or a furnace. A snow shovel has a very wide blade that curves upwards attached to a long handle. It is used for shovelling snow. There are different names for a snow shovel including snow scoops and sleigh  shovels.

Some kind of garden tools are levers. One example is a shovel. When you use a shovel you hold one end steady to act as fulcrum, and you use your other hand to pull up on a load of dirt. The second hand is the effort force, and the dirt being picked up is the resistance force. The effort applied by your second hand lies between the resistance force and the fulcrum.

To use a shovel you have to keep your feet apart. Place your front foot close to the shovel. Put weight on your foot, use your leg to push the shovel. Shift the weight to your back foot, keep the load close to your body. Turn your feet to the direction you’re going to throw the load away.

A shovel is a machine because it helps people in a lot of different ways, like helping them to plant things, helping them to lift objects and a lot of other things. Shovels are not just useful for one thing, if you are creative enough you can use them for many different things. It is also easy to use.

High Impact --> Car Race Results

What did we do?

I think it was a fair test because all of the groups were given the same materials, we were given the same car, and we were all given the same amount of time to modify our cars. There were 3 different type of races, the first one was "which car is the fastest", the second one was "which car can get closer to the green line", and the third one was "which car can go further".

Before we started the first race, we were all given 5 minutes to modify our cars. After the time was up, our teacher called up the groups one by one. For the second race, we were also given 5 minutes to modify our car. Again, the groups were called one by one. For the third race, we were again given 5 minutes to modify our cars. For this race, we were to race in groups of 3.

Something I found interesting was that sometimes, the groups first try was better than their second try, or their second try was better than their first try.

The effects of my modification:

The first modification we did on our car was that we added a balloon on top of the car, and we also added a spoiler on the back. We added these two things because we thought that they would help the car gain speed. 

Our team added a balloon because it would lift the car a little, making the car lighter. We added the spoiler because we wanted our car to have a balanced force. We think having a balanced force made us win because our car didn't go sideways, or drifted. If it did drift our car would have taken longer to get to the finish line.

 For the second modification we did, we took the balloon off and added more weight on the back. Adding more weight on the back caused the drag to be more powerful than the thrust. We think that when we added more weigh on the back it increased the chances of us stopping close to the green line.

For the third modification we did, we added both the balloon and the spoiler. The balloon lifts the car a little, which makes it lighter. The spoiler causes the car to have a balanced force.

The results:

On our first try for the first race our car passed the green with 1.01 seconds on the timer, on our second try our car passed the green line with 0.87 milliseconds on the clock. 

The first try on the second race our car was closest to the green out of the 2 other cars, on our second try our car was still close to the green line but we didn't win. Out of all the eleven cars that raced our car wasn't the one that one, instead the number eight car won. 

Our car didn't win on the third race, we didn't really get that far. But the number seven car won with 4.97 metres. 

The cars that won:

First Race (which car can go the fastest): Car number 6

Second Race (which car can stop closest to the green line): Car number 8

Third Race (which car can go the furthest): Car number 7

I was really surprised by car number 7, their car went really far. I think them adding the spoiler helped them a lot, because the spoiler helped their car have a balanced force.

Reflection: 

What were we learning about?

We were learning to explain forces, motion and energy and how these are a part of our daily lives. We were also learning to explain how an understanding of forces, motion and energy have led to technological advances.

How does this show my understanding of my learning?

I think shows my learning because I have used my High Impact vocabulary.

What do I still need to work on?

I think I need to work on understanding more of High Impact vocabulary, and to learn more words for this task.

What am I wondering about?

Are their forces that are the same but named differently?

Physics of Car Racing

What I tried today- why I tried it: My group and I tried to stick a balloon to the car, we were hoping that it would make the car go faster but slow it down in the end.

What happened when I tried to race it? When I tried to race it, it didn't spin around, it didn't go sideways, the car went straight and it stopped pretty close to the line.

What will I try next time? Next time I would try to change it more, and to research more ideas about how to make our car better.

What research did I do? I researched 'how to make a toy car go faster', it didn't really come up with anything helpful. All of the ideas that the sites gave me were to add batteries, or to add a fan on it.

17/5/17
1.What has been done to make this a 'fair test'?

• All of the groups were given the same materials.
• All of the groups had the same car.
• All of the groups were given the same amount of time to modify their car.

Even though we were all given the same car some of the groups wheels broke.

2.What forces are needed to make the car go faster and how have you modified your car accordingly? 

Thrust: Thrust is the force that pushes your car.

Accelerate: A force that makes an object faster.

For the first modification we did on our car we added a paper spoiler to the back hoping that it would slow down the car making it stop at the finish line.

For the second modification we added rubber bands around the car, again hoping that the car would slow down. 

For the third modification we added a balloon on the end reducing its weight so that it would go faster, and we also added a clay spoiler to the back of the car hoping that it would help the car pick up more pace while its going down the track.

3.What forces are need to make the car stop and what adjustments have you made to try and stop the line?

Drag: Drag is the force that slows down the car.

Friction: Friction is the force that is made when two objects crash into each other. Making the objects stop.

We haven't added anything on car to make it stop, but instead we were going to add sand paper to the end of the track.

4. What forces are needed to make the car travel further and what adjustments have you made to achieve this?

Thrust: Force that pushes the car. Depending how much force you push your car, your car will travel further.

Accelerate: Force that makes things go faster. The faster your car goes, the further it goes.

5.

Cars

What problem does our car already have?

Our car keeps turning sideways once it hits the bottom of the ramp.

-What is causing the problem?
Luke- The ramp might be a bit uneven.
Sarah- Maybe because it's going down too fast.

-What do you plan to correct it?
Luke- Make the ramp even on both sides.
Sarah- Add blue tack or paper to the car.

How do you think you will make your car go faster?

Luke- Make the ramp go higher
Sarah- Make the ramp higher

How do you think you will slow your car down?

Luke- Change the weight
Sarah- Put tape on the ramp

What equipment will we need?
-Paper
-Sticky tape
-Blue tack
-Clay

Changes we could make:
Add a balloon to the car



Pictures of the changes we made:

Rubber bands around the car with blue clay on the roof.

What is a simple machine?

• A machine is a system that changes the relationship between effort (the force applied) and load (the weight lifted or moved).
• Machine makes our lives easier.
• Machine helps us to lift, push, pill, turn, cut and join things.
• Wheels, rollers, levers, gears and pulleys all make it easier to move a heavy load by reducing friction or magnifying forces.