My younger son asked if he could do a science experiment. Honestly, science wasn't even on the agenda for today and I had already allowed (that doesn't seem like the right word!) them to watch a science program on T.V. earlier in the morning. But, I know, to some extent, I really need to go where the spirit leads them. So, I asked what he had in mind. He said that he wanted to see what temperature a Lego brick would melt at. He thought it would melt at 500 degrees. His brother was convinced that it wouldn't melt at all.
Hmmm . . . This was actually some valid scientific inquiry, complete with two competing hypotheses. I asked them how they would go about this experiment. They suggested starting at 350 degrees for eight minutes, then going up by 50 degree intervals for the same amount of time, until (if needed) we got to 500 degrees. Sounded like a good plan to me. Plus, to get even more educational mileage out of this experiment, I told them they could write up a short report about it, including photos, for their writing assignment today.
So, here were the results.
After eight minutes at 350 degrees:
After an additional eight minutes at 400 degrees:
After an additional eight minutes at 450 degrees:
Next week, they are already planning on melting a Mega Block to see how the lower-priced Lego competitor compares.
2 comments:
And that's why you're my hero! So cool! Our homeschool science has employed the insect container you got for science last year and some caterpillars we discovered on parsley in the garden. They have grown so much in the past week! The boys have drawn them, but alas, no pictures have been taken to show how much fatter they are than last week....I found another baby caterpillar today. If it lives, we will have something for comparison. Perhaps there will be a black swallowtail butterfly blog post in my future....
Have fun with the caterpillars :)
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