SLEUTh Academy

Kindergartners through 3^rd graders will be learning all about variables and controls using Galileo’s pendulum experiments. Galileo was an amazing scientist who lived from 1564-1642 (that is a LONG time ago). Because of his astronomy work mapping the sky (he invented one of the first telescopes) a table is named for him in the science lab this year. His pendulum experiments and his famous dropping of objects experiments went against the known science of the time – proving initial ideas about gravity long before Newton came along.

• Think about a pendulum and try some online experiments here: http://pbskids.org/zoom/games/pendulum/
• More Galileo experiments and a quiz here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/galileo/expe_flash_1.html
• Go to this website and you can play a game dropping objects and see that in a vacuum (like in space, no air to push objects) even a feather falls the same as a heavy ball: http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/watch/skydiving/galileo_pisa.htm
• Also go here and see the video of the astronauts of Apollo 15 try this experiment on the moon. Did it work like the experiment in a vacuum? http://www1.jsc.nasa.gov/er/seh/feather.html

Think about it:

• What do these experiments have to do with rollercoasters?
• Where have you seen some pendulums (hint: sometimes called a “swinger”) at work?

Send me a comment and let me know what you think!