Mr. Gravagna's Webpage

January 2013

gravagnj — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 20:53:48 +0000

This is the last week of the semester. We will be finishing Science sleuths early in the week and then moving onto the awesome micro rocket lab where we generate oxygen and hydrogen gas from various chemical reactions and determine … Continue reading →

Making a parachute

gravagnj — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 18:44:53 +0000

step 1 -- take your trash bag or dry cleanng bag and without unfolding it cut off the sealed end.

step 2 --cut off the sealed end (leave the bag folded)

step 3--open up bag and cut along seam to creat a giant rectangle

step 3b-- cutting along seam

step 4-- you now have giant rectangle

step 5-- cut the giant rectangle in half

step 6 --use masking tape to tape down 4 corners

step 7 -- place a dot in the middle of the square and draw an 80 cm line with dot being at the 40cm midpoint

step 7b-- here is an 80cm line

step 8 -- draw another 80cm line perpendicular to the line in step 7 using the same midpoint

step 9 -- draw another 80 cm line cutting your those 4 lines in half--see picture

step 10--draw a fourth line cutting the other lines in half --see picture for the final result

step 11-- tie a string around a sharpie --you are going to use this as a compass to draw a circle connecting the 8 points of your spokes.

step 11b -- connecting all 8 spokes into a circle

step 11c -- the final circle

step 12 -- cut out the circle

step 12b -- the final circle cut out

step 13 -- get some masking tape

step 13b-- take 2 inch piece of masking tape and fold it over one end of spoke so it sticks to both sides of the bag

step 13c-- do this to all 8 spokes

step 14 -- get a one hole punch and punch a hole in the middle of each piece of tape. The tape reinforces the hole.

step 14b-- after the hole is punched

step 14c-- all 8 holes

step 15 --get a spool of string and cut 8 120 cm pieces

step 15b

step 16-- tie each piece to one of the holes

step 16b

step 16 c -- all eight holes have a string tied to them

step 17--final product

Bottle Rocket Lab–Tech Problem Solving

gravagnj — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 22:33:58 +0000

We will start the year with a technological problem solving lab called bottle rockets or water rockets. Working in groups of 2 or 3 you will create a bottle rocket out of an empty 2L bottle which you bring from home on the first day of school. I will provide you with the trash bags for the parachute, tape, scissors, cardboard for the fins. Your partner will provide the bottle used for the nose cone. Some students do purchase "golf tubes", long black tubes used to protect golf clubs in the bag, from Golfsmith, Dick's Sporting Goods, etc for their nose cone. Below is the schedule which is subject to change based on the weather.

Wednesday, Aug 22--Introduction, construction
Thursday, Aug 23rd --Construction all period (complete parts at home)(construct data table)
Friday, Aug 24th -- Launch Rocket 1,develop hypothesis for rocket 2 (build rocket 2 over the weekend)
Monday, Aug 27th- Finish Rocket 1 Launches or Launch Rocket 2
Tuesday, Aug 28th --Launch Rocket 2 (begin bottle rocket report) due Thursday, Aug 30th

Grading:

Part 1

Construction of data table -- 5 pts
Rocket grade is based on time aloft in seconds -- 20 points
A- > 15s
B 13-15 s
C 10-13
all times < 10s receive 10/20 points

Part 2
For part 2 you will analyze your 1st rocket and create an improved rocket by only adjusting 1 variable (i.e. size of parachute, number of shroud lines, fin size). You will then launch this rocket. If it does better you will be awarded 2 bonus points for improvement. If it does no better or worse your grade will be based on the above time requirements. Upon completion of part 2 you will write a 1 page bottle rocket report worth 10 points.

H-R Diagrams

gravagnj — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 13:34:42 +0000

aspireH-Rdiagrams

Hint 2 and grading scale

gravagnj — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 20:04:12 +0000

Hint 2 Carbonaceous Condrite, White dwarf, Sun, Mercury's atmosphere, Human body, Supernova, Earth's Atmosphere, Stellar Life cycle rubric -10 pts Hi and low --2 pts Correct Pictures, order, labelled - 3pts Correct Elements -4pts (most commonly missed Hi mass -- … Continue reading →

Starting New Blog–What is it?

gravagnj — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 12:39:12 +0000

We are starting a new science blog this week. You will be able to post questions to the blog and your classmates give hints as to how to answer your questions. In addition, the homework will be posted here. "Bean … Continue reading →

Week 8

gravagnj — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 19:17:53 +0000

This week we will be starting Ch.3--Elements, Mixtures, and Compounds. The students will be begin this week by separating the zinc from the copper in a penny using the properties of mixtures. This is a very cool lab, please ask your students about it. Later in the week students will be devising a way to separate a complex mixture into its original parts.

Week 2

gravagnj — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:37:03 +0000

We continue our study of Ch.1 --Macrochemistry with a focus on measuring and density this week. Somehow I was able to arrange for Indiana Jones to stop by for a visit to explain why a bag of sand with same volume as a gold idol doesn't work. We finish the week with a lab on using density to sort recycleable plastics.

Dinner table conversation: Ask your student to explain why the bag of sand did not work as a replacement for the gold idol.

Week March 20th

gravagnj — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 20:08:06 +0000

We have ended an electric unit on Electromagnetism and we are moving into our 6 week Geology cycle. During this unit we will spend 3 weeks studying geologic time, the Earth's history, and how our planet has evolved. The focus of this unit will be on how we know so much about the Earth from the information we have today. This will include lessons on relative dating, radiometric dating (absolute dating), index fossils, and major geologic events and extinctions. This unit will end the week of April 12th and include a visit to the Field Museum's Evolving Planet Exhibit and the temporary exhibit Mammoths and Mastodons on April 13th. The cost of this field trip will be $4.50.

Dinner table conversation: Ask your student how we know Illinois was was located on the equator.

Week Feb 8

gravagnj — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:06:07 +0000

This week we are focusing on lab skills this week. Students will be using what they have learned over the last 3 months to identify 11 unknown white powders. On Wednesday, they will take a lab test of identifying two … Continue reading →