Please reply to this blog post, stating
- the research question that you are going to turn into a hypothesis for your lab report, or your hypothesis if you have already formulated it
- the materials and methods you are going to employ to test your hypothesis
Please publish your response and respond to two other students responses by 11:59PM on Monday March 18th
This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
1. How can the effectiveness of an escalator change the arrival time between floors?
2. The materials of this experiment is a stopwatch, escalator that operates and one that does not operate and a group of people. The method that I will test in this experiment is my first category is a group of people standing on an escalator while it is operating. While they are standing a stopwatch will be used in order to find the arrival time between one floor. The second category is when a person is walking on the steps while the escalators are operating. The third category is when a person is walking on the escalator when the escalator are not operating. For each of these three categories a stopwatch will be used in order to measure the time of arrival within these three scenarios.
Mohamed, I feel that people who walk on the escalators will arrive at their floor quicker than those who don’t. However, one could be limited by how crowded the escalator is when it is operating, as you would need to overtake other people.
I agree with Basil that how crowded an escalator is could also affect how fast people on it are moving, assuming that everyone is walking up. You might also want to consider that people also walk at different paces. If you choose to keep the person walking a constant, they may slow down if you conduct multiple trials consecutively due to fatigue.
Mohamed. a good idea of using the same timer as it helps keep the data consistent. The elevators being fixed to work more regularly and efficiently will help all people get to class earlier and on time.
I think this is a good idea and is something that every student thinks about as they all likely dread when the escalator doesn’t work, defeating the purpose of even having an escalator. The escalators being fixed would likely benefit everyone.
I think these methods are really helpful in trying to fix the escalators. It makes sense since so many people use the escalators, many problems are bound to happen.
1. How could the addition of solar panels on the roof of NAC help mitigate the amount of energy wasted within the building?
2. The materials I am going to use for this experiment is a classroom, a timer, a calculator, and access to the internet to estimate the amount of electricity used in the classroom. I will execute the experiment as follows, first I will observe the classroom from about 9 is to 5 pm on a normal weekday. I will have my timer on and collect data on how long the lights are left on in the classroom when there is or isn’t a class. The outcome of time we collect from the experiment will then help us determine to calculate that number into an amount of electricity used, by using tools on the internet. After I find how much energy was used within one classroom I will then multiply that number by the number of classrooms in NAC and get an approximation of how much energy the NAC uses in one day. Next, I will approximate how many solar panels can be put on the NAC and how much electricity they would generate by using websites online and looking into certain solar panel manufacturers websites. By getting these two values I can subtract them and see how much energy we could save by installing solar panels!
Jonathan, solar panels sound like a good way to generate energy for the NAC building, especially if the electrical use is high. There are other sources of power loss, such as elevators, computer use and escalators. However, I feel that as you reach the end of the day, there are less and less lights on in classrooms, and people who use the computers.
Having solar panels seems like a very good idea. City College will receive its own energy which can cut down electric bills. I also agree that most classrooms have their lights on when there is no class.
I think this is a great idea. The energy saved by the solar panels and the use of the panels themselves could provide for a saving of money. If that’s the case, funds could be directed to other projects or activities, benefitting more people.
I think this is a great idea, using solar panels for CCNY will be for the better of the college. Saving energy means saving money which can leave a bigger budget for the school’s spending.
1. How does mass affect the velocity of two different sizes of balls when they are dropped from certain heights?
2. Materials: a measuring tape, a rubber ball, a paper ball, a chair, a wall, a smartphone for time, and a mass scaler. We will be dropping two balls with different masses from different heights and measure the time, to find out which one has the same speed as they reach the ground.
Abir, I like how you are taking a classic approach towards a physics experiment. I think you should specifically state how many different heights you will be dropping the ball at. Maybe you should mention the law of conservation of mass somewhere in the report! Good luck.
This is a really good idea for a lab report, because it won’t be too complex. I think you should maybe decide whether you want to be changing masses or changing heights because if you do both you will be testing two different dependent variables.
I like how your experiment is simple and straightforward. A suggestion I would give is maybe throw the different masses from the same height so you can measure how mass affects the speed. Good luck!
Question: How can the addition of solar panels to NAC save energy?
Materials/Methods: Our report will mostly be based on research from the internet in order to estimate how much energy is used in NAC, what type of solar panel we can use, and if this solar panel can save us a significant amount of energy. We will measure the amount of energy used in NAC by observing NAC for one whole day by picking one floor, and then using this as a basis to estimate the amount of time the lights are on each day.
I think the addition of solar panels is a very interesting topic to observe. You’re experiment looks great, although the only concern I have is how you will account for the energy used not by lights and the varying factors from room to room.
Solar panels would be a great addition o the school and I admire that you’re doing a lab on this though it’s quite challenging. I just wonder if you’re measuring the amount of energy used in NAC, based off the amount of time the lights are on, how will you take into consideration that not all lights use the same amount of energy.
1. Hypothesis: If a ball has a heavier mass, then its velocity will increase if dropped from the same height as a ball with a lighter mass.
2. The materials we used were: rubber ball, paper ball, measuring tape, stopwatch, chair, scale, pen, notebook, and calculator.
We tested our hypothesis by dropping both the rubber ball and paper ball from different heights, and timing how long it took to hit the floor. We had to measure the drop distances with the tape measure, and recorded the times with a stopwatch. In total there were eight trials for both the rubber and paper balls, as there were four different drop distances. We used a chair to get to higher drop heights. In the end we calculated velocity to see if our hypothesis was accepted.
Everything about your materials and methods looks good to me, except the paper ball. Was the ball made exactly into a sphere like the rubber ball? I’m not exactly sure how/if the dimensions of an object has any adverse effects on your experiment (I doubt it did but you never know), but if any discrepancies showed up in your data, maybe you could point to this as a source of error?
I like your experiment but I agree with Vince. Would the shape of the paper ball have an affect on the speed? Maybe you can point that out in your report and clarify it. Also, how many papers will you use to make the ball and how big would it be?
1. Hypothesis: Maintaining the pullback distance of a self-moving object will result in it traveling a constant speed.
2. Materials and Methods:
– Pullback toy car
– Meter sticks (x2)
– Timer
Aligning the back of the toy car with 15 cm, pull the car back until its front is aligned with 0 cm. Release the car. Record the time from the moment of release until the front of the car passes the 2 m mark. Repeat these steps in order to conduct a total of 10 trials. Use the formula v = d/t to calculate the speed, and compare the values determined for each trial.
I like your experiment I feel like its something simple and very easy to understand. I would say since its so simple you can try adding another object to test it on, maybe another car just a different size.
1. How rigorous is City College security in terms of checking ID cards?
2. Materials:
– survey on Google Forums
– CCNY students to take survey
Method: We came up with 4-5 questions about the security at CCNY and asked if people would like to swipe/scan their ID cards instead of showing them to the guards at the entrances. The results of the survey will help us form an answer to our research question.
Nayma, I like how you all are approaching the issue of security at CCNY! However, I am wondering if observing the security checking ID cards on certain days may have a stronger impact on your data. Like you can have someone walk in and show a different ID and see how many times they can get away with it. I do like the concept of reaching out to the students though.
This sounds like a good idea to hear the experiences/opinions of other students about checking IDs. Maybe for collecting data you could also observe the security guards at a certain time in the day and see how many IDs are actually checked.
I like this idea because there are many times when I feel that when I show them my ID they are not even looking or they take a one second glimpse. I feel that if you can just swipe it’s faster and at the same time the machine scans your ID card.
I like this concept. Hunter College has the scanning system and they really enforce this because of safety. CCNY system puts us at risk.
1. How does the operation of a backpack strap correlate with the physical concept of harmonic motion?
2. The materials I used for this experiment are a backpack, whiteboard, recording device and a program called Tracker. To answer my scientific question I must measure frequency by filming the strap swinging after it was displaced and released. The strap would then be raised higher than equilibrium and filmed again, swinging for one complete oscillation. The film was then imported into Tracker where the displacement and period of the strap was measured. To measure the frequency of the system, the period of the oscillation was determined directly from the footage. To perform further calculations, the shape and mass of the strap needed to be taken into account.
This is very interesting to show the concept of a backpack. I was really interested when you stated the harmonic motion of the the backpack when it correlates to the strap.
Question: How rigorous is CCNY’s security when checking IDs?
Materials: Survey and CCNY students
Method: My group and I came up with 4-5 questions about the security at CCNY and asked if people would like to swipe/scan their ID cards instead of showing them to the guards at the entrances. The results of the survey will help us answer to research question.
This is a very good experiment and I am very interested to see if the security guards even check the ID most of the time. I really like the idea of a survey as it will voice many other CCNY students perspectives on the ID checks.
Great idea would like to see how often security checks our id
This is one of the more useful experiments to see weather for not the security are actually doing their jobs.
The purpose of my experiment was to observe in thorough detail the changes that occurred to bananas in three different temperatures over a period of 72 hours. One banana was to be placed at room temperature, another in the refrigerator and a third in the freezer. It was hypothesized that the banana placed in the refrigerator would preserve the banana better than the frozen banana in comparison to the degradation rate under room temperature
Materials
● Three ripe bananas
● Refrigerator
● Freezer
The control was the banana left at room temperature as it was being compared to the two other bananas for their effectiveness in preservation. The variables were the ones placed in refrigerator and freezer because the purpose of this experiment was to understand the behavior of bananas in those environments.
I think this is a cool experiment. I think the freezer banana will preserve the best because I’ve seen banana snacks like for the freezer plus room temperature bananas tend to start rotting within one to two days. Do you think the color/stage you purchase bananas will affect the preservation in each environment
Question: How rigorous is City College safety?
Materials:
-Google Form Survey
– CCNY Students
Methods:
My group and I would pass out the survey to as many people as possible. The survey has 5 questions regarding whether City College security checks ID, and whether people have snuck other people on to campus.
I like this idea as we would get to know how people feel about the City College ID checks. I personally think it’s quite slacking as some officers don’t even check and let anyone enter the building. Besides City College ID security checks I wonder if you’ll test out other things to see how safe City College is.
Hypothesis – The Addition Of a Digital ID Scanner would Benefit City College campus
Materials – Our report will mainly be based on research collected from Surveys around campus.we will use survey on Google Forums, CCNY students will take the survey
The Method- we chose was to come Up with a small number of questions, 5, in this case, to test students on the school security. We want to mainly focus on whether students would like to swipe their Id’s on a digital scanner or even scan them when entering the building instead of going through the long process of showing the picture close up to a security guard. We are collecting this data and analysis is to help answer our research question and prove our hypothesis.
This sounds like a great idea, and I’d be interested to see what people think about the addition of ID scanners. I think maybe you could also include comparisons to schools that currently use scanners such as Baruch, and how their security compares to ours in order to evaluate the benefits.
1. How effective are automated bathrooms in reducing waste?
2. Materials – Access to city college bathrooms, measuring cup, container, timer, face mask/gloves
Methods- We went to every floor of the NAC building for a week and compared the manual bathrooms to the automated bathroom of the first floor. We observed trash on the floor, the number of unflushed toilets, and the amount of water used for a single person to wash their hands. We timed the whole process to test efficiency as well, and recorded the data to analyze the effectiveness of automation.
Aman, this is a great idea for an experiment. It would be great if the research could be more thorough and you had opportunity to see how much bacteria resides in automated bathrooms verses normal bathrooms.
Great idea automated bathrooms would be really for the school to have.
The experiment was how the effectiveness of the escalator determines the time it takes to get from one floor to another.
Materials
Stopwatch, paper, pencil, and escalators
Hypothesis: The change to a more automated bathrooms on campus will help improve the hygiene and efficiency of bathrooms on the City College campus.
Materials: NAC building bathrooms, timer, container, measuring cup, face-masks, and gloves.
Methods: Check one bathroom for every floor in the NAC building. I’ll see how many paper towels is littered on the floor and how many toilets are flushed. To test efficiency I’ll have a couple of people wash their hands using an automated faucet and air dryer, and then a manual faucet and paper towels. The time it takes for them to wash and dry their hands will be recorded and how much water will be used. To measure how much water will be used, I will place a container in the sink to collect all the water they use and then measure the amount.
I agree with your hypothesis and I am very curious to see just how more efficient the automation of bathrooms would be. Also, I am curious to see how much more clean the bathrooms become.
1. How will the velocity of two objects of different masses be affected when they are dropped at certain heights???
2. We use a tape measure to measure the distance of dropping a paper ball and a heavier rubber ball. With our height measurement, we time with a timer how long it takes from dropping to hitting the ground, do multiple instances of each trial at each height. The heights go from 1 meter to 1.5, 2 and 2.5. I needed a chair to reach 2.5 meters tall. Compare results of both balls being dropped.
1.Hypothesis: Gravitational energy and elastic energy have a direct relationship with each other.
2.Materials: Hoop spring, Track, Force sensor/recorder, Cart
Procedure:
a.Determine spring constant of the hoop spring
b.Obtain all materials and set up lab.
c.Place cart at different heights and release it from those heights.
d.Record values of spring deformation and calculate the Elastic Energy stored within the hoop spring.
e.Record the distance traveled and calculate the Height for each trial.
f.Graph the data and find the relationship between the two energies.
1. My research question is; Which is safer for your ears, the over the ear headphones or the in ear headphones?
2. My materials would be two pairs of headphones, one would be ear buds and the other would be over the ear headphones. Access to the internet for research and I will be using my phone to control the level at which the music is being played. For my experiment I plan on using two days with each of the headphones and comparing them. Then, referencing my findings with my research on which are actually better for your ears and if the type of headphones affects hearing after a long period of time.
1. My Research question is how will solar panels in the NAC reduce our carbon footprint and generate additional energy.
2. Materials mostly consist of statistical data already recorded on the internet as installing solar panels in the NAC and testing them would be difficult.
This is an interesting topic because I’ve worked with solar panels in my career as an engineer. They are very expensive and would require subsidies to be placed onto CCNY campus. They will of course reduce energy its just implementing them is the problem which is something you should write in your conclusion.
1. I wanted to question whether metal detectors and scanners would be a good addition to our school or not.
2. I chose two schools to survey: one school, John Adams High School, with the detectors and scanners and the other, City College, without them. I surveyed 100 students from each school asking them a total of questions.
1. How does the change in the escalator effect the speed in which you arrive on time.
2. 2. The materials of this lab is a stopwatch, escalator that operates and one that doesn’t and a group of people. The method that I will test in this experiment is my first category is a group of people standing on an escalator while it is operating. While they are standing a stopwatch will be used in order to find the arrival time between one floor. The second category is when a person is walking on the steps while the escalators are operating. The third category is when a person is walking on the escalator when the escalator are not operating. For each of these three categories a stopwatch will be used in order to measure the time of arrival within these three scenarios.
The Purpose of this memo is to propose that the CCNY Libraries to branch out and make their libraries accessible online and to make those existing online libraries made easier and quicker for students to access.
To ask faculty at the CCNY Libraries, such as the Dominican, Music, Cohen and rest of the Libraries. I will then propose using more pdf’s, ebooks, and options such as students scanning them or using a foot pedal to speed up the scanning process.