flying and pianos

For our science, we are using Apologia Press' Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day.

Today we did two experiments from the book that relate to flight. The first one displayed how having a lower air pressure above and a higher one below will cause things to rise.

It was a simple experiment where you place one straw in a full glass of water (with the straw being cut down so it extends just a bit above the surface of the water) and use another straw to blow across the mouth of the first straw. By blowing across the top of the first straw, you lower the air pressure above the water in the straw and it shoots out the top - it was a super easy experiment.

If you click on this photo to enlarge you will see the water spraying out of the top of the straw.

The second experiment was to compare wings on gliders to see which wings had the most drag.

The girls showing off their gliders. I found it interesting that Charis chose the one that she correctly hypothesized wouldn't glide as far.

Charis measuring the throw. We threw each glider ten times - I did all the throwing so that we could be sure the throws were as consistent as possible. Kira recorded the measurements that Charis gave.

Afterwards, the girls played with their gliders for awhile.

The highlight of the day, however, was the piano tuner. We found him through a friend of ours. I really, really like him. I had fun photographing him at work.