State Da Vinci Decathlon 2016 Practice Tasks
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Knox Grammar School STATE DA VINCI DECATHLON 2016 PRACTICE TASKS CELEBRATING THE ACADEMIC GIFTS OF STUDENTS IN YEARS 9, 10 & 11 Task developed by Karen Yager, Knox Grammar School, 2016 An academic gala day for Years 9, 10 & 11 Team Number _____________ Task developed by Karen Yager, Knox Grammar School, 2016 Background information The poet T.S. Eliot wrote “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time”. Throughout history humanity has yearned to explore new worlds. However, many after travelling to new places discover that they long to return to their home. They see home in a fresh light and question why they left it in the first place. Homer’s legendary hero Odysseus explored new countries and met fascinating people and creatures but after the tragic loss of all of his men he realised that he wanted to return home to Penelope and the life he led in Ithaca: Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds, many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea, fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home. Driven by curiosity many have left home to explore new worlds: the sailors who sailed across unknown, treacherous seas to explore new lands; young country boys who enlisted during the world wars to escape their country homes and explore foreign places; scientists who are planning to travel to Mars knowing that there will be no return; and even many young people who long to leave their home after school and explore new worlds but after extensive travelling discover that their home was a wonderful place. Your task is to compose an original poem and interconnected artwork from the perspective of an individual who has yearned to explore new places but discovers that home was where they belonged. Your poem and artwork MUST encompass the CONTRAST between the excitement and drive to explore new places and the realisation that home was where they wanted to be. You will need to ensure that you adhere to the following guidelines: An original poem and artwork that represent the changed perspective of the explorer, showing the imitial curiosity and excitement to the new realisation that home was where they yearned to be. Your poem and artwork MUST be interconnected closely and represent a personal perspective. You have to submit a critcial reflection to explain how and why your poem and artwork have represented the contrast between the initial excitement of exploration and the actual realisation of wanting to return home. Materials Three A4 sheets of paper Two A4 sheets of cardboard Lead pencils, coloured pencils and/or oil crayons Sticky tape (Use sparingly) Task developed by Karen Yager, Knox Grammar School, 2016 Team number: __________ Marking guidelines MARKING CRITERIA POEM ARTWORK Original interpretation of the task 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 Creativity of the poem and artwork 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 The CLOSE interconnectedness of the 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 poetry and the artwork Ability to connect the poetry and 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 artwork to represent the contrast between the initial excitement of exploration and the actual realisation of the desire to return home Critical reflection 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 TOTAL /48 Critical reflection (8 marks) HOW have you used the poem and artwork to represent the excitement and curiosity that drive the initial desire to explore new places? Refer explicitly to the use of words, images and colour. (4 marks) __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ HOW have you used the poem and artwork to represent the changed perspective and the realisation that home is where the individual belongs? Refer explicitly to the use of words, images and colour (4 marks) ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Task developed Charles List, Pembroke School, 2016 An academic gala day for Years 9, 10 & 11 Science “He who thinks little errs much…” Leonardo da Vinci. Team Number _____________ 1 Task developed Charles List, Pembroke School, 2016 Space exploration (40 marks) Gravity is the force that attracts two bodies towards each other, the force that causes apples to fall toward the ground and the planets to orbit the Sun. The more massive an object is, the stronger its gravitational pull. The further you are away from an object the lower the force of gravity. Many scientists from Newton to Einstein have furthered our understanding of gravity. We now know that gravity causes weight. This is not the same as mass. To understand the differences we need to remember Mass is a measurement of the amount of matter something contains, while Weight is the measurement of the pull of gravity on an object. The Mass of an object doesn't change when an object's location changes. Weight does change with location as gravity changes. Mass is measured in kg, weight is measured in Newtons. Newton found out that weight (in N) = mass (in kg) x gravity (in ms-2). (This is a version of his Second Law, F = ma) Question 1 (10 marks) Scientists and engineers need to know the value of gravity at various distances away from the Earth in order to calculate the path of spaceships. The table below shows the value of gravity (g) in ms-2 at distances above the Earth’s surface and away from the centre of the Earth. The distances from Earth’s centre are written in standard form, where 6.38 x 106 means 6 380 000 m Distance from Earth's Value of g Location centre (ms-2) (m) Earth's surface 6.38 x 106 m 9.8 1000 km above surface 7.38 x 106 m 7.33 2000 km above surface 8.38 x 106 m 5.68 3000 km above surface 9.38 x 106 m 4.53 4000 km above surface 1.04 x 107 m 3.70 5000 km above surface 1.14 x 107m 3.08 6000 km above surface 1.24 x 107 m 2.60 7000 km above surface 1.34 x 107 m 2.23 8000 km above surface 1.44 x 107 m 1.93 9000 km above surface 1.54 x 107 m 1.69 10000 km above surface 1.64 x 107 m 1.49 50000 km above surface 5.64 x 107 m 0.13 2 Task developed Charles List, Pembroke School, 2016 (a) Plot a graph of distance from Earth’s surface (on the y-axis) vs. g (5 marks) 3 Task developed Charles List, Pembroke School, 2016 (b) (i) Plot a graph of distance from the Earth’s centre squared (on the y-axis) vs. g (2 marks) (ii) Use this graph to find a relationship between the distance from the Earth’s centre squared vs. g. (3 marks) 4 Task developed Charles List, Pembroke School, 2016 Question 2 (15 marks) One of the companies that employs scientists to perform spaceflight calculations is Virgin Galactic. This is associated with Richard Branson’s Virgin group. This company plans to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to the paying public. They have built a craft called SpaceShip Two, which will carry six passengers and two pilots. SpaceShip Two is a rocket powered space plane that launches horizontally from an aircraft called WhiteKnight at around 15 000 metres (50 000 feet) rather than vertically from the ground. It will reach the edge of space but only stay there briefly before it begins its descent. During this descent the passengers will appear to float. The diagram below is taken from the Virgin website. (a) What would be the advantage of launching the SpaceShip Two from an aircraft at 15 000 metres (50 000 feet) rather than vertically from ground level? (2 marks) _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 5 Task developed Charles List, Pembroke School, 2016 (b) SpaceShip Two fires its rockets for 90 seconds to power itself up in to space. SpaceShip Two has a mass of 9740 kg and the thrust provided by these booster rockets is 140,000 N. (i) Calculate the weight of SpaceShip Two at 15 000m before it fires its rockets. (3 marks) (ii) Calculate the total