Super Worm Lab Adapted from Chris Kesler @madsciencelessons.com Purpose To calculate and graph the average speed of a super worm using distance and time measurements. Materials: 1 Super Worm 1 ruler or meter stick 1 large piece of chart or butcher paper 1 set of markers Pencil Extra books or rulers to be used as a boundary Stopwatch Meet Stan the Superworm The scientific name is Zophobas Morio, and they are also known as King Worms. Superworms are large mealworm type worms. Zophobas morio is a species of darkling beetle. They have a hard exoskeleton. Procedure: On your big paper, put a dot in the middle. Draw this data table in your composition book. Title: Super Worm Data Table Average Position from Distance (cm) Speed Leg Time Origin (cm) (Distance/10 seconds) Start :00 0 0 0 cm/s 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Procedure 1. Setup a boundary around the top rectangle using books or rulers. 2. When you are ready to begin, place the worm on the dot in the middle of your racing area (top rectangle). Begin the stopwatch at the same time. 3. The super worm will begin to run. Every 10 seconds one person in the group will be responsible for placing a mark at the worms current location. 4. Next to each mark they will write a #1-12. For example, 10 seconds is #1, 20 seconds is#2, 30 seconds is #3, etc. 5. When you have completed the data collection give the worm back to your teacher. Procedure 1. Draw lines between each dot to re-create the path of the worm. Use your ruler. 2. Fill out the data table in your notebook. a) Measure from the starting point to each of the 6 marks that you made and write your data in the POSITION column on the data table. For each measurement the ruler should start from the origin. It should NOT follow the path of the worm except from the start to position #1. b) Measure the distance the worm traveled on each leg of the race. c) Begin at the starting point and measure to #1. Write your data in the DISTANCE column of the data table. Continue recording data for each leg of the race (#1-2, #2-3, #3-4, etc.). Graph your data Create two graphs in your notebook. ― Graph 1 should be a position/time graph. Position is the Y-Axis and time is the X-Axis. ― Graph 2 should be a distance/time graph. Distance is the Y-Axis and time is the X-Axis. Questions Answer the following questions in your notebook. 1. Describe in your own words the path your worm took during the 120 second time period. Use data from your graphs to support your answer. 2. Between which two points did your worm travel the fastest? 3. Did your worm ever turn around and head back to the starting point? 4. What does the line look like for that interval on the position/time graph? 5. List a point during the race that your worm changed velocity? (Velocity is a change in speed and/or direction.) Be specific. 6. List a point during the race that your worm accelerated? (Increased or decreased speed). Be specific. 7. What is the total distance the worm traveled? 8. Calculate the average speed of the entire 120 seconds. (Total distance traveled/120s.).