Local Family Fun
Geek Out! Enjoy STEAM-based fun as a family EXPERIMENTS CREATED AND COPYRIGHTED BY STEVE DAVALA FOR METROFAMILY. PHOTOS BY ERIN PAGE.
Cold weather keeping the kids indoors? No problem! Check out these creative science experiments using items you have at home that are designed to engage kids (and the whole family!) in STEAM-centered fun. Let’s Roll Have you ever noticed that all round objects don’t move the same way? Some are slower, some just keep going. Let’s learn why that is. Ready … set … roll! Materials • A variety of similarly-sized canned foods (choose some that contain liquids, like soup, and others that are solid, like refried beans.) • Materials to make a ramp (thick cardboard, a wooden board or a cutting board) • Books or a box to elevate the ramp • Stopwatch
Procedure 1. Set up a ramp with books or a box under one end so the top is just under one foot off the ground. Set the ramp upon a smooth surface, like tile or wood. 2. Place another book 4-5 feet from the bottom of the ramp. You’ll stop the stopwatch when/if the can hits it. 3. Guess which can will roll the fastest and why! 4. Start rolling the cans. When the can rolls off the ramp, start the timer. Stop it when the can reaches the book. Don’t push the cans; instead let gravity roll them down. If some cans can’t quite make the distance, make the distance between the end of the ramp and book shorter. Explanation To measure the speed of something, you need to know how much time it takes for an object to travel a set distance. Since these cans all move the same distance, the one with the shortest time moves the fastest. Did you notice cans with liquid in them, like soups, do not go very fast? Containers that have a solid mass to them, like chili or refried beans, tend to go faster. Why is that? Think about the water in a can: it sloshes back and forth, knocking the can off balance. This wobbling motion disrupts the forward motion and tends to slow it down. The solid can doesn’t have anything that wobbles its motion so it move at a constant and faster speed.
Going further Can you think of other types of foods that will be faster than others? Will the size of the can make a difference in the speed? Try them out and see!
46 METROFAMILYMAGAZINE.COM / JAN-FEB 2024
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