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Updated Calorimeter Experiment - posted from Linton, ND
We have made some updates to the Calorimeter experiment, and when I came home for lunch today, Piper was right in the middle of it. The new materials kit and rewritten experiment seem to be working great. I would recommend burning the food outside. :-)
- file: calorimeter-example.jpg
Energy Transfer through Food Chain - posted from Ravensdale, WA
Short, helpful video
Photosynthesis Game - posted from North Salem, NY
Ellen McHenry has a free game kids can play to see how photosynthesis works on a molecular level.
http://ellenjmchenry.com/photosynthesis-formula-game/
Calorimeter - posted from Bedford, NH
We were not able to do the calorimeter experiment with the scale we had, as it only measured in whole grams and both the marshmallow and peanut seemed to weigh less than a gram. MBTP suggests that you can weigh 50 peanuts or marshmallows, then burn all 50 to get the same results if you can't weigh just one, but this didn't seem very realistic to us. We watched the following video instead, and used her data to fill out the MBTP worksheets. She actually gives very good explanations of what's happening and talks about the release of the stored energy in the food, so it works well for this lesson. Incidentally, we may have been able to do the experiment if we'd watched this video first, as she weighs not only the food, but the combined food and the holder it's attached to. This would have increased the weight enough to measure with our scale. Also, her holder was a square of cardboard covered in aluminum foil with a paperclip to hold the food. This is a better method, anyway, because the holder catches any burnt food that might fall, allowing you to weigh both the food still attached to the holder and any food that may have fallen. MBTP, you might want to consider re-writing the experiment with this type of holder, both to be able to weigh the very lightweight food and to catch falling burnt bits.
*Note from MBTP: We have rewritten the experiment and upgraded the materials used in this experiment. If you are coming to this experiment now, it should work well for you.
http://youtu.be/cw7q433ynYg