The Editing Glasses

Richie is peer conferencing with Finn, on his "Why I Can't Sleep" narrative. Nice look with the "editing glasses' boys.

Room 2 - Physicists - Electric Car Convention

Today we built and experimented with cardboard electric cars.  We turned into scientists and shared our claims and findings with our scientific community (our classmates).   Our big question was How might we make our car go as fast as possible for as long as possible.  We briefly talked about the safety rules we needed to follow and then we set off making our own cardboard electric cars.  Here are a few photos taken while we were creating...

After we'd had a bit of time to create we tested our creations to see how far they were able to move.  We discovered that some of our designs needed a bit of extra help and that some needed to be modified in order for them to work.    Here are a few photos of our final creations... 

We talked and shared as a scientific community about what we had discovered and thought carefully about what we might test again if we had time.  Here are a few of the notes about what we discussed...

Science Week Coke and Mentos

Check out the Science behind why this happens, it is surprising!!

Making Lots of Bubbles
After a lot of debate, scientists are now saying that the primary cause of Coke & Mentos geysers is a physical reaction, not a chemical reaction. Their explanation is this process called nucleation.

All the carbon dioxide in the soda – all that fizz – is squeezed into the liquid and looking for a way out. It’s drawn to any tiny bumps that it can grab onto. Those tiny bumps are called nucleation sites: places the gas can grab onto and start forming bubbles.

Nucleation sites can be scratches on a glass, the ridges of your finger, or even specks of dust – anywhere that there is a high surface area in a very small volume.

The surface of a Mentos is sprayed with over 40 microscopic layers of liquid sugar. That makes it not only sweet but also covered with lots and lots of nucleation sites.

In other words, there are so many microscopic nooks and crannies on the surface of a Mentos that an incredible number of bubbles will form around the Mentos when you drop it into a bottle of soda.

Since the Mentos are also heavy enough to sink, they react with the soda all the way to the bottom. The escaping bubbles quickly turn into a raging foam, and the pressure builds dramatically.

All that pressure has got to go somewhere, and before you know it, you've got a big geyser happening!

Learning with Science in a Van

The wonderful people of Science in a van, sharing their knowledge of forces with us.

Kauri Whanau Dance from Assembly

ASB Financial Literacy

A snap shot of our learning with Merlon from ASB.

Dance Time In Room 2

Today we heard some fantastic speeches in Room 2. I am so proud of all the hard work that the students have done towards their speeches. We needed a break today in between speeches and this dance was the result. Enjoy.