What's Happening?

Try It!

Materials:

• 13" x 9" cake pan
• Water
• Pitcher
• Leaf
• Toy boat
• Foam ball
• Piece of wood
• Long wooden spoon.
• Towel

Procedure:

1. Fill the cake pan half full of water and place the pan on top of the towel.
2. Following steps 3-8 test each of the following items individually:
• Toy boat
• Leaf
• Piece of wood
• Foam ball
3. Place one object onto the water. (Make sure the water is not moving.)
• Observe what happens and write down your observations.
4. Carefully blow on the water in the cake pan
• Observe what happens and write down your observations.
5. Fill the pitcher half full of water.
6. Pour water from the pitcher into the cake pan.
• Observe what happens and write down your observations.
7. Use the wooden spoon to stir the water in the cake pan.
   • Observe what happens and write down your observations.

Safety: Make sure you have permission from an adult before you begin!

Data:

Analysis:

Were you able to get anything to move in the still water?

What changes in motion did you observe when you poured water from the pitcher?

What kind of motion did you observe when you stirred the water with the spoon?

Hopefully you observed a change because outside forces affected each object. The object should be changing directions depending on how much force you use to move the water.

Extension:

Try blowing harder, using different objects in the water, or pouring the water faster out of the pitcher. What differences do these changes make to the object's motion?