Today, the Hands-On Science group activities were centered around physics. We started off the day by watching a documentary about astronomy. We learned about the possibilities of life on other planets and what is necessary to form life. We also learned about how NASA astrophysicists compile light levels to create the images of space we see on the web. We then took a short break, before starting a class-wide video chat with Beatriz Campos Estrada.
Beatriz Campos Estrada is a passionate astrophysicist currently working on earning her PhD in astrophysics at the University of Copenhagen. During our call she taught us about exoplanets, as well as evaporating exoplanets. Exoplanets are planets outside of our solar system. She also showed us methods of finding exoplanets, and the efficiency of different methods. After her short lesson, we were able to ask some questions about the lesson as well as her life as an astrophysicist.
In the afternoon we learned about projectile motion. We started with an experiment involving the vertical and horizontal motion of a ball being thrown. We collected data and learned about how to find certain data using graphs. We then moved on to an activity in the red gym, where we had tennis ball cannons and mini tennis balls for ammo. We played a game where we had to shoot cones 5m, 10m, 15m, 20m, and 25m away using a mix of how much power was used and the angle we shot at.
-Allan, Jason, and Zev