Ping-pong avalanches
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/sci_update.cfm?DocID=205
A lesson plan for grade 6 Science
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In this Science Update, students explore how ping-pong balls might make it easier for scientists to predict avalanches. To study the physics of avalanches, a research team in Japan dropped hundreds of thousands of ping-pong balls down an Olympic ski jump. Because ping-pong balls are light, when Koichi Nishimura of Hokkaido University and his team dropped them down the ski slope, they started off running along the ground in contact, just supporting their own weight. But because they’re quite light, they started to get picked up by the air and became suspended, in a similar way to a powder snow avalanche. Using the ping-pong balls, the researchers figured out surprisingly simple models for the momentum and volume of the snow flow, which they hope to use to help mountain dwellers avoid or block future paths of destruction. Science NetLinks provides a link to the audio file, a written transcript, and questions to engage students in discussion about why it is difficult to predict avalanches, why ping-pong balls are useful models for this type of experiment, and other examples of simple models that might be used to make predictions of more complicated events. This activity also contains links to “Avalanche!” the online companion to a PBS Nova special, Avalanche.org, and The Snow Crystal Research Unit.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
Science (2005)
Grade 6
- Goal 1: The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.
- Objective 1.01: Identify and create questions and hypotheses that can be answered through scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.05: Analyze evidence to:
- Explain observations.
- Make inferences and predictions.
- Develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
- Objective 1.08: Use oral and written language to:
- Communicate findings.
- Defend conclusions of scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.09: Use technologies and information systems to:
- Research.
- Gather and analyze data
- Visualize data.
- Disseminate findings to others.
- Objective 1.10: Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing:
- Scientific text.
- Articles.
- Events in the popular press.
- Goal 3: The learner will build an understanding of the geological cycles, forces, processes, and agents which shape the lithosphere.
- Objective 3.01: Evaluate the forces that shape the lithosphere including:
- Crustal plate movement.
- Folding and faulting.
- Deposition.
- Volcanic Activity.
- Earthquakes.
- Objective 3.07: Assess the use of technology and information systems in monitoring lithospheric phenomenon.
- Objective 3.01: Evaluate the forces that shape the lithosphere including:
