SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Teacher Training Pack (in conjunction with Mad Science) This pack includes activities for you to complete with your class after visiting The SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Thrillology Workshop at the Big Bang Fair, Birmingham. This pack reinforces the concepts and terms presented at the event. It also contains book titles, suggested resources and extension activities for a variety of subject areas related to the topic. Included in this pack are several fun, easy and educational activities that will allow your class to continue learning about the science behind the world’s leading rollercoasters, developed by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. These experiments will also help your students to become familiar with the concepts of observation, hypothesis, experimentation and the scientific method. Simple Energy Experiments The Bounce Challenge Experiment with different types of balls to learn more about the power of energy Materials Metre ruler Masking tape or chalk Variety of balls: squash ball, tennis ball, rubber ball, steel ball or golf ball etc. Squares of carpet Procedure 1. Select two different types of balls and hold them up so the class can see them clearly. Ask the students to discuss which of the two balls they think will bounce higher; you may even want to record their ideas on the board. Explain that these are their hypotheses, or best guesses, and that you are going to conduct an experiment to see if they are correct. 2. Take the metre ruler and place it against a wall so that you can determine which of the balls bounced higher. 3. Remind the students to observe, or watch carefully, as you release the balls. 4. Release the two balls and have the students share their observations with the group. You may even ask them to record their observations in their notebooks. 5. Repeat steps 1 - 4 with different balls to determine which bounces the highest, lowest, etc. 6. Ask the students if they think there will be any difference if the balls are bounced on carpet or different flooring. Explain that these are their hypotheses, or best guesses, and that you are going to conduct an experiment to see if they are correct. 7. Place a piece of carpet on the floor beside the meter ruler, select two balls that are the same and bounce them on the floor. 8. Ask the students to share their observations with the group. Explanation Energy is something that can’t be created or destroyed and it’s everywhere around us. An object always has a certain amount of energy, but we need to know exactly which kind of energy it has. There are many different kinds of energy. The main ones are potential energy (stored) and kinetic energy (moving). When the ball was held in the air before it was released, it wasn’t moving, therefore it had no kinetic energy. Instead we know that it has potential energy because if the ball is released, we know that it will fall. After the ball is released, all the potential energy gets changed to kinetic energy, and we know this because the ball drops really fast. Another factor contributing to the ball dropping is the Earth’s gravitational pull. Earth’s gravity is what keeps you on the ground and causes objects to fall, which in this case can be seen when the balls are released and drop to the floor. These scientific theories are also applied to the rides at SeaWorld Parks, for example Falcon’s Fury at Busch Gardens. Falcon’s Fury is a drop tower which lifts riders 335 feet in the air (potential energy), once the riders have reached the top, their carriage is then released and plunges straight down at 60mph. Kinetic energy and gravity combined make the riders descend so quickly. The materials and design of the balls also contribute to how high the ball bounces after it falls. If for example, you compare a tennis ball and a golf ball, and drop them both from the same height, the tennis ball will always bounce higher than the golf ball. This is due to the different mass of the balls. If the ball is heavier, it will have more mass, therefore this will affect the speed that the ball will fall to the floor (kinetic energy) and therefore will inevitably reach a lower height once it has hit the floor and bounced up again. Swinging Buckets Demonstrate centripetal force Materials One bucket or several if you wish each student to perform the experiment Several balls, confetti or water Note If using water, the children or flooring may get wet when the bucket is tipped upside down Procedure 1. Fill the bucket with your object of choice 2. Ask the students to discuss what happens to the object(s) inside the bucket when the bucket is tipped upside down. Explain that these are their hypotheses, or best guesses, and that you are going to conduct an experiment to see if they are correct. 3. Tip the bucket upside down and ask the students to observe what happens to the object(s). 4. Now ask the students to discuss what happens to the object(s) inside the bucket when you/they spin the bucket around very fast. Explain that these are their hypotheses, or best guesses, and that you are going to conduct an experiment to see if they are correct. 5. Ask the students to share their observations with the group Explanation When you or the student tips the bucket upside down, the objects fall to the ground due to the gravitational pull towards the earth. Earth’s gravity is what keeps you on the ground and causes objects to fall, which in this case can be seen when the objects fall from the bucket. However, when you or the students spin the bucket around quickly, you will notice the object does not fall out but instead is pushed to the side of the bucket. This is known as centripetal force. Newtons Law of Motion states that a moving object would like to continue in a straight line at its current speed, however when the object hits a loop, this energy is transferred in to centripetal force, which pushes the object in to the circle and in this case to the edge of the bucket. This is the same principal used when rollercoasters go round loop the loops. When a rollercoaster car is released and starts traveling around the track (kinetic energy), the rollercoaster car builds up a certain amount of speed, therefore when the rollercoaster car goes around a loop, centripetal force pushes the car against the track, which means the car will continue around the loop. Expanding Your Knowledge Marble Run This activity will help students understand how different types of energy work together Materials Empty cardboard egg box Scissors Tape Marbles (all the same size; 5 would be ideal) A bottle lid (For example, the lid from a bottle of coke) Empty egg Hinge Track pockets pieces Sections Procedure 1. Steps 1 - 4 can be done either before the class begins or as a separate lesson with the students where they can construct their own ramps. Take a standard empty egg box and cut it into the following sections as illustrated above: a. Cut across the box so that you have two sections, both with the empty egg pockets b. Cut the two “hinge” pieces off the lid of the box c. Cut two long pieces from the edges of the lid to make the track section 2. Stack the two empty egg pockets on top of each other 3. Put the first track section so that it is leaning on the stacked empty egg pockets shown in the diagram. 4. Use the hinge pieces from the lid as connectors for the track so that you can set up the track for your marbles. Tape the tracks so that they stay together. 5. Set up a chain of five marbles along the bottom of the track. You need to make sure that they stay still and are next to each other. 6. Ask the class what they think will happen once you roll the first marble down the ramp. Explain that these are their hypotheses, or best guesses and that you are going to try an experiment to see if they are correct. 7. Remind the students to observe, or watch carefully as you perform the experiment. Roll one marble down the ramp and have the class share their observations with the group. 8. Ask the class what they think will happen if you roll two marbles down the ramp. Again review the scientific method – hypothesis, experiment and observation. 9. Ask the students to experiment with different numbers of rolling marbles and marbles in the chain. You can also try to space the marbles in the chain about an inch or 2.5 cm apart. Ask the students to tell you what happens when rolling marbles collide with the chain of marbles? Explanation Energy is very interesting as it can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be destroyed. The total amount of energy that you have in a system always stays the same. Scientists call this idea, the Law of Conservation of Energy. The rolling marble is moving, so it has the energy of motion which is called kinetic energy. When the rolling marble hits the first marble in the chain, the last marble rolls away, this is because the moving marble’s energy is transferred through the chain of marbles. Two moving marbles will have twice as much energy as one marble, so they knock two marbles off the chain.