This is an optional Science Fair year. Every other year, a project is required...the optional year for us, is a required year for our other elementary.
We an experiment last week. Pairs each received a penny, an eyedropper, a napkin, a paper boat, a paper towel, and a cup of water. They first predicted how many drops of water a penny could hold. Most predictions were around 3-5 drops.
The average number the pennies held was .........about 30!
You should have heard the gasps, the 'oh my gosh's', the squeals coming from Room 5 as the numbers grew.
What they also discovered was how the water made a mound...like a bubble!
We were then introduced to 'cohesion'...and then to 'surface tension.'
We wondered about the difference between heads and tails on the coin...did it make a difference to the number of drops of water the penny would hold?
We did this one time the first day...then the following day, we tried it again, this time doing 3 trials.
Even drying the penny off with the paper towel didn't seem to get it completely dry...because most Room 5ers noticed not as many drops stayed on the penny on the 2nd and 3rd trials. Why?
The question asked at the end of the experiment was...what would happen if we added a drop or two of detergent to the water?
That will be investiged in 2012!
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