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Alisha Sabrowsky

Partners: Elehna Robinson


Danielle Robilotta
Archimedes Principle
The purpose of this lab was to apply Archimedes Principle to determine the density of
rocks. In this lab we used a triple beam balance and spring balance, and rock samples.
Archimedes principle states that the amount of buoyant force on a body immersed in a fluid is
the same as the weight of the fluid displaced by the object. In order to test this theory, we started
by weighed our testing rock, JH on the triple beam balance in grams and found it to be 463.8 g.
We then weighed the rock with our spring scale, which we would later use to lower the rock into
the water, and found the weight of the rock to be 460 g. This gave us a small margin of error by
3.8 grams, because the weight of the rock on the triple beam balance was greater. We then
weighed our rock in the water on the spring scale and found it to weigh 280 g. With this weight,
we could find the volume of the object. Because water has a density of 1 gram per cubic inch, we
can use an easy volume formula of: density = mass/volume.
Volume = (460g 280g) / 1 g per cubic cm
Volume = 180g per cubic cm
Then we can take the volume displace by the rock and find the density of the rock also with the
same equation.
Density = 463.8g / 180 g per cubic cm
Density = 2.576 g per cubic cm
To find density we used the weight of the rock from the triple beam balance because it is more
accurate than the spring scale.
Also, the buoyant force is then 180 g per cubic cm, because this is the calculated volume that
was displaced by the rock in the water.
Mass of rock triple beam
Mass of rock spring scale
Mass of rock in water
Volume
Density
Buoyant Force

463.8 g
460 g
280 g
180 g/cm
2.576 g/cm
180 g/cm

1. Yes, you would be able to float better in sea water than fresh water. This is because the
water is denser. When you displace a certain amount of water, the density of the water
being displaced factors into the equation. We divided by one because that is the density of
regular water. You would divide by more than that if the density of salt water is higher.
This would make your amount of displaced water less, depending on how salty the water
is.
2. Melting ice in a cup of ice water would lower the water level in the cup. This is because
the ice is less dense than the water, which is why it floats. When the ice melts, it becomes
as dense as the water again and therefore the water level will lower.
3. High mountains have deep roots into the asthenoshpere because they need a large amount
of something to hold them up above the normal level of ground. If there was nothing
underneath to support them, they wouldnt have any buoyancy to make them higher than
ground level.

Alisha Sabrowsky
Partner: Alice Lee
Sound Sources
In this lab, we identified the source of vibration when producing a sound. We used two
glass bottles and a plastic drinking straw. To test different vibrations, we blew across the top of
the bottles with different levels of water inside each. We also tapped the bottles to test the pitches
of tapping with different water levels. As the air vibrates, a pitch is produced. This pitch was
different depending on how much water was in the bottle at the time. We also tried making a
reed-like instrument with a plastic drinking straw. To do this, we cut two slits onto one end and
blew through the straw to generate a sound.
After testing our bottles, we found while blowing across the top, there was a lower tone if
the bottle was emptier and a higher tone if the bottle was fuller. This is because the air has more
room inside the bottle to vibrate when there is less water, resulting in a longer wavelength and a
lower pitch. Also, when the bottle is fuller there is less room for the air to vibrate and therefore a
shorter wavelength and a higher pitch. When tapping, there is a higher pitch if the water is lower
and a lower pitch if the water is higher. This is the opposite effect than blowing across the top.
This is because the glass is vibrating on the bottle instead of the air vibrating inside of the bottle.
When we blew on the drinking straw, we produced a buzzing noise, which was the
vibration of the plastic reed from the air. If the straw was cut shorter, the pitch of the buzzing
rose. This is because there is not as much room for the air to travel through and the wavelength is
shortened. This result was similar to the water in the bottles and the way the pitch changes as you
blow across bottles of different water levels.
1. In a piano, there are hammers that hit a taught soundboard of wires. The wires vibrate
in the piano to produce sound. In a drum, the drumhead will vibrate to produce sound.
Similar to a piano, the violin has strings that will vibrate when rubbed. The clarinet
has a reed inside the mouthpiece that vibrates to produce soundwaves through the
clarinet, similar to the drinking straw reed we made.
2. If a string is vibrating, the larger the diameter of the string, the lower the sound.
Similarly, if a drum is vibrating, the larger the drum head, the lower the pitch. Also
true for a saxophone or other instrument. I believe this is because the larger the
instrument, the more space the wavelength has to move around, and the lower the
resulting pitch will be.
The holes in a woodwind instrument are controlling how much air is allowed to escape, and at
what point on the instrument. These holes are placed specifically so that the certain arrangement
will produce certain pitches with different combinations.

Alisha Sabrowsky
Partner: Alice Lee
Sound Transmission
The purpose of this lab was to demonstrate how sound travels in different media. In this
lab we used two paper cups, fishing line and copper wire each about 5 meters long, and a
toothpick. With these items we created a line of communication similar to a telephone. First we
poked holes into the bottoms of our cups and attatched them with the fishing line, one cup at
each end acting as both a receiver and a mouthpiece. We tried communicating with each other
through the stringphone and found that we could hear each other pretty well due to the vibrations
along the fishing line. We tried the same thing with the copper wire, first wrapping the end
around half of a toothpick to that it doesnt fall out of the hole we poked in the cup. There was no
margin of error in this lab because we were able to hear each other well through the stringphone.
1. Sound is transmitted through the stringphone because the line picks up the vibrations
coming from the drum end of the cup and passes the vibrations through the string to
the other end of the line, onto that cups drum. The fishing line and copper wire both
worked well. With the wire, we could hear echoes that we could not hear while using
the fishing line. We also tried twisting another groups stringphone onto our line and
listened to each other talk.
2. All communication works better through the stringphone if the line is taught instead
of slack. I believe this is because if the string is taught, it has a better opportunity to
vibrate. The copper wire is especially a good transmitter of sound, because it is a
different medium than the fishing line, the sound travels faster and has more time to
bounce around between lines.
Water causes sound to travel at a medium speed, because it is medium dense. Air is least dense,
so sound travels fastest through air. Steel is the densest, so it is hard for sound to travel through
steel.

Alisha Sabrowsky
Partner: Alice Lee
Electric Charges (Electroscope)
The purpose of this lab was to explore the properties of electrostatic charges. We created
our own electroscopes with transparent cups, strips of foil, a paper clip, some plastic wrap, and
tape. Our first step in creating our electroscope was to cut two 8 x 8 cm squares from the foil. We
then folded these strips into quarters, with the cut edges on the inside and the smooth folds on the
outside. We then folded the strips once more to make then 8 x 1 cm. We also folded them in half
once more the long way, making the 4 x 1 cm strips. We flattened the strips with a heavy book
for several minutes. Then we folded the paper clip so that it could serve as the mechanical hanger
for our foil, and the electrical contact for our device. The paper clip was stuck through the top of
our cup, which we created a drum-like lid for with the plastic wrap and tape. The foil hangs
loosely and parallel from each other on the two bars of the paper clip inside the cup.
We then used a rubber balloon to test the effectiveness of our electroscope. We blew up
the balloon and rubbed it on our hair to give it an opposite charge. We brought the balloon close
to the electroscope and the metal foils spread away from each other. Because they spread very far
apart from each other, this told us that the electrostatic charge was very great.
1. Santa Ana weather conditions would improve this experiment because the dryer the
weather, the more easily charges move through the air. Water or moisture in the air
makes the air more dense, slowing down the movement of particles through it.
2. Industries probably employ electrostatic charge to their smokestacks so that the
electricity will hold onto the particles instead of allowing them to freely move into the
air. This way they are not polluting the atmosphere, because the particles remain in
the factory and can be removed later.
3. Yes, if two objects repel each other, we can be sure that they both have the same
electric charge. They are both either negative or both positively charged. If two
objects are attracting each other, they must both have opposite charges, because
opposites attract.
4.

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