Forces
The Grade 3 students will learn about the ways in which forces create movement in objects, for example, that some movement results from an imbalance between forces, and some from the release of stored energy. They will learn the two basic types of forces that cause movement. The first is called a contact force such as a push or pull between surfaces that are in direct contact. The second type of force is non-contact such as a magnetic or gravitational force. In addition, the study of forces will enable students to expand their understanding of control by designing and making devices that use a form of energy and can apply a force to another object.
We have been discussing various types of forces (4 to be exact) including buoyancy, muscular force, friction and gravity. We will be beginning some experiments on forces on Monday, so that we can better understand these four forces by being able to see how they can create a movement through the action of their force.
| 3_science_forces_forces_questions.pdf |
Static Electricity
Amazingly we see static electricity every single day; it even builds up on us. Wow! Have you ever rubbed your feet on the carpet and then zapped something when you touch it? Well that’s exactly what static electricity is.
If you’ve had a bad hair day and it sticks straight up, well this means that your hair has been charged. You don’t want to go to school like that.
Static electricity is the build up of an electrical charge on the surface of an object. It's called "static" because the charges remain in one area rather than moving or "flowing" to another area.
Items with different charges (positive and negative) will attract each other, while items with similar charges (positive and positive) will push away from each other. It’s kind of like a magnet!
So you’ve gone flying down a slide and your hair stands up straight up. This is because of the friction of sliding. It has caused a positive charge on each piece of hair. As each hair has the same charge, they all try and push away from each other, causing that funny straight hair to stand right up on end!
The same happens with your skin. If it’s charged with static electricity, and they you touch something metal, your skin will get rid of the static electricity when you touch something metal. Pretty cool what it can do.
If you’ve had a bad hair day and it sticks straight up, well this means that your hair has been charged. You don’t want to go to school like that.
Static electricity is the build up of an electrical charge on the surface of an object. It's called "static" because the charges remain in one area rather than moving or "flowing" to another area.
Items with different charges (positive and negative) will attract each other, while items with similar charges (positive and positive) will push away from each other. It’s kind of like a magnet!
So you’ve gone flying down a slide and your hair stands up straight up. This is because of the friction of sliding. It has caused a positive charge on each piece of hair. As each hair has the same charge, they all try and push away from each other, causing that funny straight hair to stand right up on end!
The same happens with your skin. If it’s charged with static electricity, and they you touch something metal, your skin will get rid of the static electricity when you touch something metal. Pretty cool what it can do.
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TIN-FOIL POPCORNTape a large sheet of tin foil to the top of a table. Then, cut many small pieces of tin foil and wad them up into balls that are approximately the size of corn kernels. Don't wad them too tight, however. You want them to be light. Place the foil balls onto the taped-down sheet of tin foil. Blow up a balloon, and then rub the balloon against a piece of wool to charge it with static electricity. Slowly lower the charged balloon toward the sheet of tin foil, and as you close in with the balloon, the foil balls will react to the static charge and begin jumping like exploding popcorn kernels, but won't stick to the balloon. Ask yourself why the foil balls are attracted in this way. The balloon is charged with positive ions. What does that say about the charge of the foil balls, and how energy seeks balance?
Forces Review
Starting Thursday November 16th we will be writing our end of unit test on Forces. The test will consist of a true and false section, some short answer questions and some full sentence answer questions based on the activities we have done in class.
I've included a document here that has the review points that will be important for the students' studying for the test.
**Please note the date in the document is incorrect, and the actual test date is THURSDAY NOV. 16th
I've included a document here that has the review points that will be important for the students' studying for the test.
**Please note the date in the document is incorrect, and the actual test date is THURSDAY NOV. 16th
| 3_science_forces_test_review_1_.pdf |
