WEBELOS
SCIENTIST
TECHNOLOGY
GROUP
Baltimore Area Council
A scientist studies things to team how
they behave and why. Scientists try to find out the laws of nature about the
things they study. People can use these rules or laws in making things. While
working on this activity badge, you will learn a
few of the main ideas in physics.
Physics is a science with several branches. One of these branches will be
weather. You can learn a little about weather in these activity badge
requirements. Another branch of physics is called optics. You will have a chance
to learn something about sight and find out how your eyes work. Scientists learn
a lot by experimenting or trying things out. Try things for yourself. Scientists
take nothing for granted. They may be sure an idea is true, but they always test
it, if possible, to make certain they are right.
Speakers:
Lab Technician
Researcher Zoologist
Optometrist
Ophthalmologist Nuclear Physicist
Weather Forecaster
Nurse X-Ray Technician
Science Teacher
Pack Meeting
*
Honor your Pack leaders by making up some
"Scientific Awards." Cut them out of poster board. For example:
·
Gravity is a heavy subject. (Shape of the Earth)
·
Stars are night lights that don't run up bills.
(Stars)
·
Astronomers are far-sighted. (Glasses with big
eyeballs)
·
Chemists really, stir things up! (Beaker with
bubbling mix.)
*
Science Fair: Set up and hold a science fair during
your Pack meeting. Show some of the simple experiments you have been doing in
your Den meetings.
*
Display items that you have made.
Den Activities
*
Talk about the various branches of science and how
they differ.
*
Do the atmospheric pressure tests or balance tests
in the Webelos Book.
*
Make Fog.
*
Make Crystals.
*
Do the inertia experiments in the Webelos Book.
*
Visit an eye specialist and learn how the eyes
converge and find out what the various eye tests measure
*
Invite a local weatherman to your Den meeting to
talk about the climate during the year. How is weather different in
*
the Southern Hemisphere?
*
Have a slow-motion bicycle riding contest to
illustrate balancing skills.
*
Plan a scientific experiment to be demonstrated at
the Pack meeting.
Field Trips
*
Visit an eye specialist and learn how the eyes work.
*
Visit the control tower of the Metropolitan Airport
or visit a Municipal Airport.
*
Learn about the principles of fight for an airplane
and look at all the control dials.
INERTIA
Southern NJ Council
Inertia is the tendency of a thing at
rest to remain at rest and a thing in motion to continue in the same straight
line.
Get a small stick about 10-inches in
length and the diameter of a pencil. Fold a newspaper and place it near the edge
of a table. Place the stick under the newspaper on the table and let about half
the stick extend over the edge of the table. Strike the stick sharply with
another stick. Inertia should cause the stick on the table to break into two
parts.
PASCAL'S LAW
Southern NJ Council
Materials:
Rubber balloon
Several pins with large heads
Roll of
plastic tape
Inflate
the balloon and affix little squares of plastic tape to it. Stick each pin
through the center of the tape and to their amazement, the balloon will not
burst. When you remove the pins, the balloon still will not burst.
What happens: The
adhesive substance on the tape acts like a self healing automobile tire,
adhering to the pin as it is pressed inward. When the pin is removed, the
adhesive is forced outward by the air pressure from within the balloon,
atomically sealing the tiny pinholes.
MYSTIC MATCHES
Southern NJ Council
Put
several matches in a bowl almost full of water, making a shape like a star.
Stick a
pin into a small piece of soap.
Gently dip
the soap into the water at the center of the star of matches, taking care not to
disturb them. The matches will all move away from the soap.
What happens: When you
dip the soap in the water a little of the soap dissolves. The surface tension of
the clean water is stronger that that of soapy water, so the clean water around
them pulls the matches outward.
MAKE A
FIRE EXTINGUISHER
Southern NJ Council
Materials: 1 or 2 quart bottle with stopper to fit
3” of ½ “ glass, metal or plastic
tubing (Tube from an old Windex bottle can be used)
Spoonful of baking soda
Vinegar
Facial tissue
- Drill hole in stopper and insert
tubing
- Wrap soda in tissue and attach
tissue to tube with rubber band
- Fill bottle one half full of 1
part vinegar and 1 part water
- Insert stopper in bottle with
soda inside bottle, but not touching vinegar solution
- To operate, tip bottle upside
down, soaking the tissue paper with vinegar
RECORD
WIND SPEED
Southern NJ Council
To see how fast or slow the wind
blows, make an anemometer (a wind speed measurer)
You will need - stiff
cardboard 24” x 12”
- Measure four 6” widths with a
ruler, and draw pencil lines with scissors.
- Set a compass to 4” and draw an
arc on the cardboard as shown.
- Cut out a narrow slot along the
arc.
- Mark numbers at equal intervals
along the slot.
- Fold the cardboard inward along
the scored lines.
- Put cellophane tape along the two
edges and along all the folded edges.
- Cut a piece of paper 4 ¾” square
and tape it to the end of the box as shown. Take the anemometer outside and
point the flap toward the wind. Each night and morning, record the level
that the flap reaches
BOILING ICE
Southern NJ Council
In a
heatproof jar with lid, boil a half-inch of water with the lid on loosely so
some of the steam can escape. Then tighten the lid and turn jar over. Put an ice
cube or two on the jar bottom. In a moment the water will boil again.
What happens? The air pressure
has been reduced in the jar by the ice condensing the water vapor inside. The
boiling point of a liquid depends on atmospheric pressure.
BALLOON AND CAN RACE
Southern NJ Council
Each team
will need a balloon for every Webelos and a fruit can for each team. Each team
will have a chair on each end of the room. Each team is divided with half of the
team behind each of that teams chairs. The can is placed on a chair.
One boy
holds the balloon in the can and blows it up enough to make the can stick on
around the balloon. He then carries the balloon, with the can hanging on, to the
other chair. He then deflates his balloon and the next boy inflates his own
balloon and carries it and the can back to the original chair. The first team to
switch locates wins.
EXPERIMENTS IN AIR PRESSURE
Baltimore Area Council
Shooting Back
Place an
empty soda bottle on its side. Put a wad of paper in the neck and try to blow it
in. It comes back out.
Why?
When you blow into an enclosed space like a bottle, you increase the air
pressure inside. Since pressure will equalize when it can, the air rushes out of
the bottle, taking the wad of paper with it.
Balloon in Bottle –
Place a deflated balloon inside a two-liter bottle, with the lip of the balloon
over the top of the bottle. "Cry to blow up the balloon.
What happens? Air pressure inside
the bottle increases as the balloon takes up space, so air pressure is fighting
against you. To inflate the balloon, you would need to compress the air trapped
between the balloon and the bottle. To compress air requires force. The human
lungs are not strong enough to inflate the balloon and to compress the trapped
air.
Making Air Work for Us
Use a balloon to pick up a glass -- Place a deflated balloon in a glass.
Blow up the balloon until it is tight around the edge of the glass. Hold the end
of the balloon shut and pick up the glass.
Use a
balloon to lift books -- Place a deflated balloon under a stack of books. As
you blow the balloon up, the books will rise. A hydraulic lift is based on this
principle.
EXPERIMENTS IN ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
Baltimore Area Council
We live under a blanket of air called
the earth's atmosphere. The air in the atmosphere exerts pressure of almost
fifteen pounds per inch on every surface on earth.
Diving Bell
Place a piece of crumpled paper in the
bottom of a glass or tin can. Turn the glass upside down and submerge it in a
bucket of water. The paper will remain dry. Why? The air, which filled the
"empty" space in the glass, stopped the water from entering.
Hanging Water
Fill a glass to overflowing and lay a
piece of cardboard atop it. Support the card with one hand, turn the glass
upside down, and remove your hand from the card. The card does not fall. It
remains on the glass and allows no water to escape. Why? The air pressure from
below the cardboard is greater than the pressure of the water above and presses
the card tightly against the glass.
Wedged Glasses
Place two glasses together with a
piece of wet construction paper between them. Burn a candle in the bottom glass.
The glasses become "welded" together. Why? The flame uses up the oxygen in the
bottom glass, so the pressure is now lower in this glass.
Auto Gyro
Baltimore Area Council
Materials:
Paper 3 1/2"
wide by 8 1/4" long
The
principle of the Auto Gyro can be easily demonstrated by making one as shown in
the sketch.
1.
Using a
piece of paper 3 ½" wide by 8 ¼” long, cut down the center of the paper 4" and
then fold the cut sections to opposite sides as shown, to form the two wings.
2.
Fold
the balance in halt: and then make two triangular folds to the midline and your
Auto Gyro is ready.
3.
Make
two other Auto Gyros basically the same as the first one, but shorten the wing
length from four inches to three inches on the second one and to two inches on
the third one.
Try
flying from the same height and observe how each model reacts. Does any thing
seem to slow their descent'? What actually makes it spin'? Note the order in
which the three models reached the ground. Are wing size, air resistance, and
rate of descent related?
Spinner Scope
Baltimore Area Council
Materials: Paper plates, scissors, watercolor markers, pushpin, unsharpened pencil
with eraser top
1.
Cut out
notches around edge of plates as shown.
2.
Draw a
design on each plate with markers. Draw a spiral, small circles close to each
other, or a simple object, such as a fish.
3.
Poke a
pushpin through center of plate, then into eraser end of pencil.
4.
Stand
in front of mirror. Spin pencil between hands as you peer through the notches.
Each design will produce a different optical illusion as the spinning elements
appear to merge.
