Hopwood Primary

Great Science Share

2020.

How do we make the

best paper aeroplane?

Today is the Great Science Share.

This is a national event which happens every June where

primary aged children from all over the country join

together to share science. Over 100,000 children have

taken part since it began in 2016.

Previously Hopwood have used the day to share science

within school and our Science Ambassadors have

represented us at the Manchester Flagship event.

Last year our Science Ambassadors also helped

organised the Heywood event to share their knowledge

of science with children from other schools.

The Great Science Share is about asking questions are

figuring out the best way to answer these.

As this year we sadly cannot all be together, today we

are challenging the Hopwood Primary Community to

make the best paper aeroplane- have a look through this

booklet for how you can join in.

Our Science Ambassadors have also been very busy, they

have created their own questions and thought of ways to

answer them or their favourite experiments. They have

then written them up for you to try at home! Have a look

at the back of this booklet for their methods, and watch

social media for photos of them setting up.

Please share with us all your results from your investigations

and enquiries at home- we can’t wait to see them!

Paper aeroplanes- design

What could you make an aeroplane out of?

What materials could you use?

Paper is a really good material to make an

aeroplane. It is light and easy to fold.

Would paper or card make a better aeroplane? Does the

colour of the paper help?

Have a think about your plane design… how many

different ways can you make a paper aeroplane? Do

some research to find different prototypes for your testing

phase.

I have attached a pattern to follow to fold your paper or

card into a paper aeroplane to start you off. I have also

added a link for a clip to watch.

Which other methods can you find?

https://safeYouTube.net/w/kmBJ

Plane Testing.

Once you have found

some different plane

designs then you need to

test them.

What criteria are you

going to use to test your

designs? How many times

will you test each one?

How will you know which

design is the best?

Look for patterns in how far they fly. Could you

combine several different methods to make

your own design of plane?

Draw out your design, why have you chosen this

particular one? Ensure you now decorate it to make it

your own. What will you call your plane?

Testing

Everyone is going to test their aeroplane so we

need to make sure it is a fair test so that we can

compare our results.

We need to make this fair:

Dependent variable- the distance travelled

Independent variable- the aeroplane

Control variables- environment, strength of throw.

Can you think of any more variables?

It is hard to control these across the school during this

investigation as some children are conducting this at

home. This needs to be remembered if we are interpreting

any further information from measurements which we

collect.

1. Find a spot on the floor which will be your starting

point, make sure your aeroplane is at this point

before you start.

2. Take your time to throw your aeroplane, place a

marker where it has landed.

3. Repeat your throw 3 times, then use the furthest

distance.

How will your measure the distance your

aeroplane has travelled?

For our investigation we are going to use units of measure,

this means using centimetres. With the help of an adult if

needed, carefully measure the distance your aeroplane

travelled from the starting point to where it landed. You

could use a ruler or tape measure.

How far has your aeroplane

travelled?

Take a picture with your fantastic

flying creation and let us know how far your aeroplane

travelled.

Science Ambassador’s Investigations and Experiments.

Spicy Surface Tension.

By Daisy, Year 6

Apparatus

Bowl or rimmed plate

Ground Pepper

Water

Washing up liquid

Method

1. Put a thin layer of water in your bowl or

plate.

2. Next add some pepper into the water,

distribute it across the water surface.

3. Then put a small amount of washing up

liquid on the end of your finger.

4. Place your finger into the centre of the

water.

5. Be amazed!

Watch Daisy’s fantastic demonstration:

https://vimeo.com/428574469

Wizard’s Brew

Storm in a Glass

Apparatus

Shaving cream

A large glass

water

Food colouring

A spoon

Method:

1. Fill the glass 1/2 full with water

2. Spray some shaving cream on top of the

water to fill the glass to ¾ full.

3. Use your finger or a spoon to spread the

shaving cream evenly over the top of the

water. The top of the shaving cream

should be flat.

4. Mix ½-cup water with 10 drops of food

colouring in a separate container. Gently

add the coloured water, by pipette if you

have one, to the top of the shaving

cream. When it gets too heavy, watch it storm!

Watch an amazing demonstration:

https://vimeo.com/428575294

Make your own lava lamp.

Apparatus:

Vegetable oil

An empty plastic bottle

Water

An Alka-Seltzer tablet

Food colouring.

Method:

1. Get your apparatus ready.

2. Fill the bottle three-quarters

full with vegetable oil.

3. Fill the rest of the bottle with

water (almost to the top but

not overflowing).

4. Add about ten drops of

food colouring, (be careful not

to spill it!). Notice that the food

colouring only colours the

water and not the oil.

5. Divide the Alka-Seltzer

tablet into four pieces. Ask an

adult to help with this.

6. Drop one of the tiny pieces

of Alka-Seltzer into the bottle.

Watch what happens!

7. When the bubbles have

stopped you can repeat this by adding a second piece of Alka-

Seltzer.

8. When you have finished and the bubbles have stopped, put the

lid back on the bottle. Turn the bottle on its side, gently rock it and

you have a wave in a bottle!

Convection Current Rainbow

*You will need an adult to help you during this

experiment*

Apparatus

Big jar

Hot water

Cold water

Food colouring

4 small glasses

Cling film

Knife

Method

1. Fill the big jar up with cold water

2. Take 4 little glasses and fill them up with hot water and

food colouring – each a different colour

3. Cover the small glasses tightly with

cling film and secure it with an elastic band

4. Put them carefully in the jar

5. Using a sharp knife, poke holes in the

top of the cling film until some colour starts

to come out

6. The hot coloured water rises to the top

of the jar. This is called a convection

current.

How to suck an egg into a bottle

*You will need an adult to help you during this

experiment*

Apparatus.

1 milk bottle or conical flask

1 hard-boiled egg

1 match or lighter

Optional (paper or tissue paper)

Method.

1. First you will need to hard-boil an egg.

2. Then peel the egg and place it at the

neck of the bottle to check that is does

not fit inside.

3. Carefully light the match or the paper

and place this into bottom the bottle.

The air inside the bottle becomes hotter

and expands.

4. While the flame is still lit quickly put the

boiled egg onto the neck of the bottle.

5. The egg will starve the flame of oxygen

and put it out.

6. The air inside of the bottle immediately

cools and contracts which means the

air pressure decreases causing the egg

to be sucked into bottle.

A HUGE thank you to the children who contributed

to this booklet.

You are all AMAZING.

I hope you are all inspired to create and enjoy

some fantastic science.