having a ball with science!
Saturday, November 28th, 2009
There is a lot of science that we do with the children which is quick and needs very little preparation. Of course that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t get the children thinking.
We have done the first part of this experiment with them before, but it is always a good thing to do a repeat performance.
We held up two identical pieces of paper and asked them which piece would land on the ground first. (They landed together)
Then we scrunched up one piece and dropped them at the same time. Most children remembered how the aerodynamics worked, which meant the ball of paper dropped more rapidly.
Next Sherry held up a tennis ball and a basketball at the same height to see which would hit the ground first. They hit at the same time.
We did the experiment a different way, this time holding the tennis ball on top of the basketball right in the middle.
When they landed the tennis ball went shooting off right up to the ceiling!! The children just cracked up.
When we questioned the children why this happened to the balls, in both groups some clever possums said it was the bounce from the big ball which sent the little ball shooting off, and they were absoloutely right. It is the shock waves from the bottom of the basketball shooting up to the top of it and into the tennis ball, which sends it careering off.
An analogy would be that if you hit the back of your head hard, you would end up with two black eyes from the shock waves which bounced through your brain from the back to the front … pretty scary stuff!
We waited until we went outside to give the children a go.
Step 1. Hold the tennis ball on top of the basketball, directly in the center.
Step 2. Drop both balls together and stand back …
… as the tennis ball goes bouncing high into the air!
The children eagerly lined up and patiently took turns at the experiment, helping each other to find the center of the ball … we so love the way the children help each other out!
Time and time again the children tried the experiment, and time and time again they were amazed by what happened.
The trick is to find the center of the basketball.
