Here is a Picture of the 2nd Attempt of the Spool Racer Challenge:

Given the challenge and the performance of your car on Test Drive #1, what change(s) did you make for Test Drive #2?

We made the car more sturdier by using wood, rather than cardboard. We also figured out how to connect the rubber band to the car. Lastly, we made the wheel extra sturdy so it wouldnt move in the wrong direction. We did this by attaching a mini pole and holders for the pole to go into. Then we connected the spool to the pole. Lastly, the wheel went in the front of the car.

What differences did you predict these changes would make in your cars performance? What makes you think this?

I predicted that these differences would make the car more stable/less flimsy and go faster and farther. I think this because if the object is less flimsy, it wont go everywhere, only in the right direction. This then causes it to go farther. The car goes faster because the wheel is in the front, not the back, so there is more potential energy in the front.

Think about the variables such as the size of the spool, weight of the washer or tension of the rubber band. How might these affect how far or how fast your car will go?

If the weight of the washer is heavier, then the car might go slower because there is more weight that it needs to carry. If it is lighter, the the car might go slower because there is less weight that it needs to carry.

What worked better the second time?

What worked better the second time was that we put the wheel in the front of the car. Also, using the wood helped to make it more sturdy.

What still is not quite working?

We figured out after testing our deisgn that we dont need two people to move it at first, only one. Also, the wood is too heavy, causing the car to possible be slowing down. if we did this again, we should cut off some of the wood because we dont need it all.

What questions do I have?

What is the best material to use as of the base of the car for this experiment?

What might I try next?

If we did this again, we should cut off some of the wood because we dont need it all. Also, we could have only one person start the car.

Explain the energy transfer that is taking place in the racer.

The energy transfer that is going on is that the rubber band gives off elastic energy which then turns into kinetic energy so that the car can move.

Here is a Picture of my Partner and I’s 1st Sketched out Plan:

Here is a Picture of my Partner and I’s 1st Design Idea:

1. What do you like about your initial design?

I like the idea that the spool (wheel) is in the front of the design. This way, the wheel gives the rest of the design the force/speed it needs to go the farthest and fastest.

2. What has been challenging about the initial design?

It has been challenging to find a way to inncorporate a rubber band into our design.

3. How well did your racer perform in the first race? Did it go far? Fast?

The racer performed decently. This is because it went kind of far, and it went kind of fast. The speed was 60.33 inches per second.

4. How will you modify your design for the second race? What variables do you feel will affect how far and fast the racer goes? Why?

The design will be modified because we will include the idea of using a rubber band (which is part of the requirments for this challenge). The variables that will affect how far and fast the racer goes are the spool and rubber band. This is because the rubber band determines how far the design will go. The spool determines how fast the design will.

5. What have been your strengths and challenges during the design process?

Some strengths are that my partner and I get along very well. We also have good ideas. A challenge is fidning out a way to incorporate the rubber band into our design.

6. What questions do you have?

N/A

Do you think the temperature of the room affects the time it takes an odor to get to your nose? 

Yes, I think that the temperature of the room affects the time an odor gets to your nose. First of all, the particles that make up the gas will rise if there is heat(I think) and will go down if it is cold(I think). This means that the heat will take over more of the room with the molecules and that will take over the smell.

      Here is My CER(Claim,Evidence,and Reasoning) Writing About How Sea Lamprey Caused a Decline in the Trout Population:

The Sea Lamprey caused a decline in the Trout population. In a Sea Lamprey population graph it showed that the Sea Lamprey’s population increased by 300 in between the years 1920-2000, meanwhile, the Trout Population decreased by 200 in between the years 1920-2000. Since Sea Lamprey can lay up to 60,000-100,000 every other year, there are a ton of them! Some eggs may not get fertilized in the end, but most of them do. Just imagine 100,000 eggs and then think that’s just how many fish just one female Sea Lamprey can have! Trout, on the other hand, lay way fewer eggs than Sea Lamprey do. Since there are so many Sea Lamprey, and less Trout, the Sea lamprey are killing the Trout, which is causing a decline in the Trout population.

According to an article we read in class, Sea Lamprey’s movement is much faster than the Trouts. Trout only use half their body to move, which is also known as a tail swimmer or a half-body swimmer. On the other hand, Sea Lamprey use their whole entire body to move and they wiggle their body in order to do this. These type of swimmers are called S-swimmers. Since they are so much bigger, they can store more energy in them to move, and the more energy stored in you, the faster you are, and ready to attack and in this case, attack the Trout faster. This indicates that Trout are not fast enough to swim away from Sea Lamprey, so they will get attacked and killed by them.

While looking in the Sea Lampreys mouth during dissection, a classmate of mine spotted 60 teeth in their mouth. On average, there are about 60 teeth in a Sea Lamprey’s mouth, but it could vary between each individual fish. The teeth on the fish were very sharp and thick. This makes it easy to kill trout because they can eat them up with all those teeth! They do so by sucking the blood on the Trout with their teeth and other fluids in them, because that’s what they need to survive. So, this means that because they get killed by the teeth of Sea Lamprey, they will die, and soon all trout will die from this as well.

Lastly, according to the Great Lakes ecosystem food chain, Sea Lamprey are at the top of the food web. This shows that they can not be eaten by any other creatures, but they can eat other creatures. So essentially, they are predators, not prey. Since Trout are more towards the bottom of the food web, they are going to get eaten more by Sea Lamprey and Sea Lamprey eat a lot. The reason for that is because the size of one Sea Lamprey is typically between 15-55 centimeters, which means that it needs to eat quite a bit to get around, and one of the foods they eat are Trout, so they become the main target that way as well. Due to this, the Trout population is declining.

What is the value of dissecting?

The value of dissecting(at least in this situation) was to figure out whats inside and outside a orginism’s body and why that is invasive or why because of their body structure they are invasive to other organisms.

How did the dissection help you understand what is happening between the sea lamprey and the trout?

It helped me to understand because I was able to look inside and outside their bodies and see how for example how they move so I can know how fast Trout can escape from Sea Lamprey. Also by their teeth, because you could see how sharp they are, and they can use those teeth bite Trout if they are the Sea Lamprey or the opposite.

How did you feel about dissection? If you enjoyed the process, why did you enjoy it? If you did not enjoy it, what was difficult about it?

I think in the begining I was scared about it but then I got a little more comfortable as I went along. I think I also overacted a little bit. Although, it was a bit challenging to actually open up the fish even with a very sharp scissors since their very sturdy and fragile.

What do you think invasive species means?

Maybe it means to invade because invasive kind of sounds like invade and also the next question below says”What does it mean to invade” so Im guessing invading is like invasive maybe just used for different nouns or adjectives.

What does it mean to invade something?

It means to go into someone else’s space without their permission and then just using the space for your own personal use. (By the way we talked about something like this in Social Studies)

Can animals invade?

Yes,because for example if there wasnt enough grass for all the bunnies then they would go find a different area of grass and they could invade where the snakes area of grass is and then the snake population could go down.

What about plants?

Probably not because unless the wind blows the plants into a different area its not like they can really move. The only way plants could invade would be if the person who panted the plant put it really close to another plant.

How might invasive species affect other organisms in their environment?

They might make the population go down because if a certain species is taking over the whole land, the species that was there first wont have any place to go and then they could die and then they would make the population go down.

Here is My Reflection:

Today me and my partner were able to put the boat in a bucket of water and test it out to see if it would float. I predicted that it would be able to float but only for a short amount of time since it runs by a balloon and the balloon would inflate in about 5 seconds. When we tested it the boat did float for about 2 seconds which was actually pretty good and we were really proud of ourselves and what we did. I think to make the boat better next time maybe we should tie the balloon instead of just putting the rubber band around it so that it’s able to float for longer although that might not work because then bubbles wouldn’t be able to come out of the balloon and that’s how the boat moved from before but maybe there is another way to have the boat float with the balloon tied. If you know a way please leave it down in the comments.

Here is the link to our video of our Boat(Enjoy)

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We worked together as a team me and my partner for this to happen. Also my partner blew up the balloon again and we put it on the straw inside the milk carton and then the “boat” actually floated using motion energy transfers.

My Reflection on Today:

Today me and my partner actually changed what type of boat we were making due to some misunderstandings. Luckily we already had all the materials for the new boat that we did! I actually am glad that this happend because this was way more fun and it made you think more than the other boat did. Also I feel that me and my partner did really good teamwork and worked really well together and compromised and gave each other a “hard time” in a good way by making each other think a little more about everything in the project. The most challenging part about today was getting the balloon to stay blown-up because we had to put the balloon in a straw and also wrap it up with a rubber band. It was also hard to blow into it. The easiest part was probably cutting out the whole in the milk carton and also cutting out the square in the milk carton it was kind of hard but kind of easy.Then once we put our boat together we got to test it out in a water  bucket but it didn’t work because of the balloon not being blown-up so the boat didn’t float. Tomorrow me and my partner’s plan is to find a way for the balloon to be fully blown-up and also be able to float in the bucket of water without sinking. I think we will be able to do this if we use the same techniques as we did today for tomorrow and also come up with new techniques to help us even more.

**Please let me know in the comments if you would like my partner and I to take pictures in addition to my reflection for this project**