The Great Snail Race

Madeline Jenkins

Period 3

Purpose: 1. To measure the distance a snail has traveled divided over given time intervals and construct a position versus time graph of this event. 2. To analyze the data to compare the average speed with the speed with the speed over specific intervals and to find the average speed in various units.

Materials: Stopwatch, string, chalk, gastropod mollusk, meter stick, calculator, and graph paper.

Procedure: First, you need to find a snail.

You need to be careful not to hurt the snail. Next collect the materials listed above. Then, go outside into a shady area and put your snail down on the ground. Time your snail as it moves along and put chalk marks at the 30 second mark, 60 second mark,

and 90, 120, 150, and 180 second marks. Then graph the information collected and find your snails average speed.

Graph: See pervious page

Calculations: My snail’s average speed in cm/s was .14cm/s. My snail’s average speed in m/s was .0014m/s. My snail’s average speed in m/hr was 5m/hr. My snail’s average speed in miles/hr. was .0031 miles/hour.

Conclusion: They are not always the same. See the graph on the previous page as evidence.