Science Activity

Grades K-4

Background In this activity students experiment with a spinning sprinkler to observe and measure the motion of a spinning object. A garden sprinkler is a good analogy of how the solar wind moves away from the sun.

Science Standards

Science As Inquiry
   Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
   Understandings about scientific inquiry

Physical Science
   Position and motion of objects

Science and Technology
   Abilities of technological design
   Understandings about science and technology

Student Product: Model of solar wind being flung into space from the sun

Materials

For each group of students:

• Cardboard milk carton (any size)
• Nails of various sizes
• Basin of water
• String

Activity

1. Attach a string to the top of a milk carton. Show the apparatus to your students. Ask them what they think will happen if you use the nail to poke one hole in the bottom corner of one of the sides of the milk carton. Accept all answers.
2. Pour water into the opening of the carton and then hold the string. Punch a hole in one corner of the carton.
   -Safety Note: Older students may poke their own holes with teacher supervision. For younger students, teachers may want to control the nail and poke the holes where the students want.
   Ask the students to describe the resulting motion. Ask students to determine a way to measure this motion. One way would be to count the number of times the carton turns. Repeat the procedure asking the class to count the number of spins it makes.
3. Ask the students to think of some questions that they may want to test with their own spinning sprinkler. Older students should be encouraged to write these down. Possible questions may include:
   - What happens to the spinning sprinkler if the hole is made larger?
   - What happens if we add holes to different sides of the spinning sprinkler?
   - What happens if we add holes to different places of the same side of the spinning sprinkler.
4. Then ask the student groups to decide which question they would like to test. You may want to ask them to come up with a way to record their results.
5. Provide the materials to the student groups and let them conduct their experiment. Emphasize that they should conduct more than one trial for each experiment. Encourage students to write their results on paper.
6. Ask students to write an explanation to their question based on the results of their experiment.
7. Student groups should then communicate their results to the class by stating the question, their experiment and the explanation.

Going Further

Ask students to design a spinning sprinkler that can spin the most number of times in one minute. For this have the students consider what worked to make the sprinkler go fast in their first experiment. Ask students to come up with a plan before they test their sprinklers. For this the students will need a minute timer and perhaps practice counting the number of rotations before they start the experiment.

Older students might be interested to know that the sun spins too. They may also be interested that solar wind particles are emitted from the sun in much the same way as the water was emitted from the spinning sprinkler. Explain the Genesis spacecraft is to collect solar wind particles and return them to the Earth.