Strands: Measures, Data
Strand Units: Capacity, Representing and Interpreting Data
4th, 5th and 6th Class
This Engineers Week, we were looking at hydropower in Ireland and across the world. We looked at the construction of the Hoover Dam in the USA and learned about the hydropower stations in Ireland that provide 20% of the country's power. We then looked at other ways water power is used: in hydraulics. A lot of us have seen the fascinating videos on YouTube where a man crushes things with a hydraulic press. We discovered why it is so powerful when we made a mini-hydraulic machine ourselves. Water cannot be compressed, so it pushes things out of the way instead. We got a little bit splashed, but it was good fun making the syringes pop out!
We measured our syringes in millilitres. With this measurement, we recorded 60ml of water in one syringe, which was able to send 5ml into the smaller syringe at the end of the tube. Water does not compress, so we had to stop once we filled the smaller syringe or the pressure would force it out of the tube!
Using this knowledge, we also measured pneumatic force. We filled the syringes with 90ml of air, and covered the end with our fingers. We were able to compress the air to a variety of measurements - 24ml, 20ml, and our smallest compression, 15ml! We also noticed a little bit of steam coming out of the top when we released the compressed air. We think this is because the compressed air raises in temperature a little, and when it is released, it cools and condenses into steam. It's so interesting!
Strand Units: Capacity, Representing and Interpreting Data
4th, 5th and 6th Class
This Engineers Week, we were looking at hydropower in Ireland and across the world. We looked at the construction of the Hoover Dam in the USA and learned about the hydropower stations in Ireland that provide 20% of the country's power. We then looked at other ways water power is used: in hydraulics. A lot of us have seen the fascinating videos on YouTube where a man crushes things with a hydraulic press. We discovered why it is so powerful when we made a mini-hydraulic machine ourselves. Water cannot be compressed, so it pushes things out of the way instead. We got a little bit splashed, but it was good fun making the syringes pop out!
We measured our syringes in millilitres. With this measurement, we recorded 60ml of water in one syringe, which was able to send 5ml into the smaller syringe at the end of the tube. Water does not compress, so we had to stop once we filled the smaller syringe or the pressure would force it out of the tube!
Using this knowledge, we also measured pneumatic force. We filled the syringes with 90ml of air, and covered the end with our fingers. We were able to compress the air to a variety of measurements - 24ml, 20ml, and our smallest compression, 15ml! We also noticed a little bit of steam coming out of the top when we released the compressed air. We think this is because the compressed air raises in temperature a little, and when it is released, it cools and condenses into steam. It's so interesting!
Strand: Measures
Strand Unit: Weight
Mrs Garveys class had great fun exploring weight this week.
Here they are using their estimation skills to guess how many cubes the nest will weigh.
They took turns placing the cubes in the weighing scales.
When the scales balanced they found out how many cubes the nest weighed...it was 7 cubes!
Strand Unit: Weight
Mrs Garveys class had great fun exploring weight this week.
Here they are using their estimation skills to guess how many cubes the nest will weigh.
They took turns placing the cubes in the weighing scales.
When the scales balanced they found out how many cubes the nest weighed...it was 7 cubes!
