Welcome to Day 3!
Welcome to Day 3!
Embedded Files
Welcome to Day 3 of STEM Without Borders Camp. So far we’ve learned a bit about STEM and a few key industries to Oklahoma that helps tie us to the rest of the world. Aerospace and Energy are important sectors in our economy, but let’s see if we can learn about a new one today!
Be sure to keep marking your map with all the locations we’re discussing!
Today, we’ll explore:
Today, we’ll explore:
The Transportation Industry
Port of Catoosa (have you been?)
Building our own boats for maximum efficiency
Buoyancy Challenge
Getting Started
Getting Started
Transportation
Transportation
In Oklahoma, commercial shipping of minerals and steel flows along the McClellan Kerr River Navigation System, which runs southeast through Oklahoma and into Arkansas, and provides access to the Mississippi River. Two major railroads, five airports, and three interstate highways give further advantage to Oklahoma when it comes to transportation and distribution.
We also have Route 66 that runs through Oklahoma and specifically Tulsa. Have you ridden in a car along Route 66?
After traveling through Galena, Riverton and Baxter Springs, Kansas, Route 66 entered Commerce, Oklahoma, and headed southwest through Miami, Chelsea, Claremore and into Tulsa. Once inside Tulsa, Route 66 traversed the city east-to-west on 11th Street into downtown, crossed the Arkansas River, and headed westbound to Sapulpa, Davenport, Chandler, Arcadia and Oklahoma City.
Bonus challenge: Can you draw Route 66 on your map?
Tulsa Port of Catoosa
Tulsa Port of Catoosa
The Port is Oklahoma’s premier inland river port, multi-modal shipping complex and 2,000-acre industrial park.
There are 25,000 miles of inland river system used for transportation in the United States. Just like trucks are transporting goods on the highways and trains are transporting goods on the rail system, towboats pushing barges are transporting goods on this “highway of water.” Products can leave the Tulsa Port of Catoosa on the waterway and be shipped anywhere in the world!
Bonus Challenge: See if you can trace the route a ship might take out of the Tulsa Port of Catoosa to the Mississippi River and out to the Gulf of Mexico.
Now let’s explore how those boats transport heavy loads of important things all across the world!
STEM@HOME Challenge: Foil boats
STEM@HOME Challenge: Foil boats
Sourced from Science Buddies: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/stem-activities/aluminum-foil-boats-float#instructions
Have you ever wondered how a ship made of steel can float? If you drop a steel bolt in a bucket of water, the bolt quickly sinks to the bottom. Then how can a steel ship float? And better yet, how can a steel ship carry a heavy load without sinking? It has to do with the density, or the mass per volume, of the ship (and its cargo) compared to the density of water.
In this STEM activity, you will make little "boats" out of aluminum foil to explore how their size affects how much weight they carry and how this relates to the density of water.
Materials Needed:
Aluminum foil
Tape Measure
Weights (beans, pennies, buttons, stones, rice, etc)
Access to a sink or tub with water
Instructions:
Cut two squares of aluminum foil, making one square have dimensions that are twice that of the other square. For example, you could make one square be 12 inches by 12 inches (or 30 centimeters [cm] by 30 cm), and make the second square be 6 inches by 6 inches (or 15 cm by 15 cm).
Fold the two aluminum foil squares into two different boat hulls. Try to make them the same shape. For example, you could make them both have two pointed ends (like canoes) or you could make them square or rectangular (i.e., rectangular prisms).
Make finishing touches to the boat hulls. Make sure they do not have any leaks. If needed, use a little tape to make them stronger. Flatten the bottoms of the hulls. On each, try to make sure the rim is the same height going all around the edge of the hull.
Observe the two boats. What are your predictions about their volume? You used twice as much aluminum foil on one, do you think it will hold twice as much?
Calculate the volume of each boat hull. If both hulls are rectangular prisms, you can measure the length, width, and height of each hull and multiply these dimensions together to get its volume. If parts of the hull have an irregular shape, measure the volume piece-wise and then add these volumes together. Use triangles to approximate any areas of the hull that are curved or angled.
Fill the bucket, tub, sink, or dishpan with some water.
Take one of the boat hulls and carefully float it in the container of water.
Gently add one bean (or other weight) at a time. To prevent the hull from tipping, carefully balance the load as you add beans (left to right, front to back — or port to starboard, fore to aft, if you are feeling nautical).
Keep adding beans until the hull finally sinks.
Carefully take out the sunken hull and place it and the beans on a rag or paper towels. Dump any excess water back into the container.
Count how many beans the hull could support before sinking (i.e., the penny that sank the hull does not count). Record your notes in your notebook!
Repeat this process with the other hull. Be sure to only add dry beans. Why do you think using dry beans (instead of wet ones) is important?
Could the larger hull support a lot more beans than the smaller one?
When you first put one of the boat hulls on the water, it should have floated because its total density (or mass per unit of volume) was less than the density of water. As you added beans to the hull, its density increased and the hull floated lower. Eventually, when enough beans were added, the hull's density roughly equaled the density of water. This happens right before the bean is added that sinks the hull. The hull sinks because its density has finally become greater than the density of water. Consequently, the density of the hull right before sinking should roughly equal the density of water, which is 1 gram per cubic centimeter. Even though the larger hull supports more weight, the larger hull also has a larger volume, and both hulls should roughly have a density of 1 gram per cubic centimeter right before sinking.
Bonus challenge: See if you can remake the boat to hold EVEN more weight!
STEM@Home - Scuba Diver Buoyancy Challenge
This activity was adapted from California Academy of Sciences: https://www.calacademy.org/educators/lesson-plans/STEM@Home - Scuba Diver Buoyancy Challenge
Scuba diving is an excellent hobby for underwater naturalists. With the aid of specialized equipment made by marine engineers, divers can prolong their visit below the surface for a lot longer than they can hold their breath!
Scuba diving requires training as well as specialized equipment, called SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) gear, which includes one or two oxygen tanks strapped to the back of the diver and a regulator that fits into the mouth and controls the flow of air. It is essential for divers to be able to breathe underwater, but they also need to be neutrally buoyant to prevent floating to the surface or sinking to the bottom. What makes divers sink or float depends on a combination of the density of their bodies, the density of the diving equipment they wear, and the density of seawater.
Water has a natural force that pushes up towards the surface. This is called the buoyant force. The buoyant force comes from the pressure exerted on the object by the fluid. Pressure increases as depth increases, so the pressure on the bottom of an object is always greater than the force on the top resulting in a net upward force.
Materials Needed:
Plastic figure
Paperclips
Toothpicks
Water
Bucket
Pennies / Beans
Rubberbands
Masking tape
Balloons
Your Challenge:
Use the following Diver Worksheet to create a neutrally buoyant diver.
Building Instructions:
Attach materials to the plastic figure using masking tape or rubber bands and test its buoyancy by placing it in the bucket of water to see if it floats or sinks.
Once the figure is neutrally buoyant (neither floats nor sinks) record your data.
Reflection
Reflection
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