Volcanoes

We made predictions about what would happen when we put vinegar on top of bicarbonate of soda. Some of us got it right.  We put it in a cup first and saw it bubble, then we tried it in a bottle because it has a smaller top to see if it would flow better. It did! We decided to make our own volcano out of plasticine. We chose plasticine because it is waterproof.  The volcano was put into a bowl to make sure it didn't make a mess and the bicarbonate was put in first followed by the vinegar.  We were amazed at how much the volcano erupted.  The smell was terrible but we had a lot of fun.

Which colours do woodlice prefer?

We investigated which colours woodlice would prefer and why? As a group we chose 4 different colour pieces of card, they were green, yellow, black and blue. The card was placed into each corner of a large black tray so the woodlice couldn't escape and white paper was placed in the middle. We collected a number of woodlice and placed them gently into the tray. One or two of them rolled into a ball but the rest walked quickly to the edges of the tray. They walked around the very edge which is black until they came to the black piece of card. They mostly stayed underneath the card.  We think they prefer dark colours because in their natural habitat they live under wood where it is dark and they feel safe.

Forces

We looked at how far a car would travel on different surfaces.  We used 2 different cars - a black truck and a green car and the surfaces tested were wooden floor, carpet and lino. We used metre sticks to measure the distance travelled. Our conclusion was the green car travelled the furthest each time and the wooden floor was the best surface for the cars to travel on.