Physics Olympics

Cleopatra's Barge

Ms. Bhatti’s 8th Grade IPC classes at Sharyland North participated in Physics Olympics on NOctober 27, 2010. The students had to construct a Cleopatra’s Barge from 15 x 15 cm piece of Aluminum foil in 5 minutes. The goal of the activity was to construct a barge that will hold the greatest number of pennies without sinking. The students had to place pennies one at a time on the barge, when it is floating in the water in the presence of a judge. The judges were counting the pennies as the students were placing them on the barge. The highest number of pennies that the barge was able to hold without sinking was 88 pennies.The students were able to understand the concept of density with this activity. They were also able to apply the concept that the objects with density less than water (1 g/mL) will float in water and more than water will sink. When they were constructing the barge, they had to make sure that the barge should have more volume that can hold more pennies and because of more volume, the barge will have less density (Density = mass/volume) and more Buoyancy.The parents, counselors, and teachers were invited to be the judges for the competetion.

Battery Operated Toys Project

Car Race

IPC students of Mrs. Bhatti’s class get better understanding of electricity, electric current, and electric circuit by building and designing the battery operated toys of their choice (race cars, boat, flashlight, hand fan, and wiper glasses), writing the process of building it by using a “How to” format, and performing lab activities (Parallel and series circuit lab, Louis Motor, Electromagnet Induction lab, Electricity in Fruits and Vegetables lab) by using high tech tools and multimedia technology and teacher developed PowerPoint presentation and Internet research. The students were given the basic instruction to build their choice of toys and information to find the material needed for their project. The students were allowed and encouraged to modify and create their own design to build the toy and use household material so it will be unique.