LifeBoats

Today in Science we conducted an experiment to see if the capacity of a boat was related to the number of passengers it could hold. Our hypothesis was, the bigger the boat the more people it will hold.
The experiment consisted of multiple step directions, lots of cooperative learning, and the use of several Scienctific tools. (ruler, scissors, Graduated cylinders)

Check out the procedures:

Procedure:

1. Measure up from the bottom of the cup to 2cm and draw a line. Using scissors cut the cup to this height. Then cut a cup to 3 cm high and the third to 4 cm high. Name each boat and record this on the “Lifeboat Inspection” sheet.

2. Using a graduated cylinder fill each boat with water to its top. Record this amount as the boats capacity on the “Lifeboat Inspection” sheet. Empty each boat of water and dry it out.

3. Place the first boat into the water. Carefully load pennies (passengers) into the lifeboats one at a time. Remember that once the boat sinks it has one too many passengers. Record the number of pennies the boat can hold on the “Lifeboat Inspection” sheet.

4. Repeat this process for each boat and record data.

5. Using data make a graph of your results on the “Lifeboat Inspection” sheet.

 

This is how we recorded our data:

Lifeboats	Capacity of each boat in ml	Prediction of how many pennies can load into boat before it sinks	Number of pennies the boat can hold
2 cm- _______________
3cm- _______________
4 cm-________________

This was a super fun experiment and the kids did a great job with all the directions! They were amazed at how many pennies even the smallest boat could hold.