Pressure

In class today, the main focus was density and pressure. To first discuss density, Dr. E reminded the class that density is equivalent to mass divided by volume; mass and volume go up and down proportionally. Dr. E then moved on tand conversed about pressure. One of the first things she brought up when dealing with pressure, was checking our tires in our car or bikes. She went on to inform the class that the more pressure a tire has in it, the better mileage you will get with your car or bike. Dr. E then wanted the class to experience pressure themselves, so she set up a fun activity for the different groups to partake in. The materials needed for the experiment were butcher paper, a ruler, and markers. The object of this experiment was to see which group could get the most amount of pressure. Our group then chose a person to lay on the paper and cover the most paper they could with their body, trying to cover the most area allowable. Once our group member was strategically placed onto the paper, one person in our group took the marker and outlined her body onto the paper, while another person and I measured the width and the height of her body. We measured in cm and Dr. E asked for the final answer in inches squared per lbs. so we converted our area. After converting our area, we took our group members weight and divided it by the area to obtain how much pressure we used. It turns out that our group ended up having the least pressure because we covered the most area when in fact we should have tried the cover the least amount of area so we could obtain the most pressure. I really enjoyed that experiment, not only because it was interactive, but it was also very easy to see where an individual could have gone wrong. This was a fun experiment that I know elementary students would love!