PHS Science - Ms. Mallon

Science Teacher Adventure

Congratulations and a huge thank you to the Rehrig Family for their generous bid for the Science Adventure day. Ms Nguyen and I will plan an amazing day of fun for Liam and Phoebe and their friends.

Science Lab Updates ~

Welcome Back and A Happy New Year!

2nd Grade :- In preparation for their overnight field trip at the Long Beach Aquarium we have been studing the marine environment we grew polymer sea creatures and made our own aquarium.

3rd Grade:- After the field trip to JPL we have continued to study space. Currently we are
learning about the moon it's phases surface and effects on earth'+s tides. Shortly we will begin our preparations for our field trip to Rawhide Ranch.

4th Grade:- We are finishing our unit on earth's geology, we visited the old quarry at Ladera Linda canyon. We were accompanied by vulcanologist Dr. Jennifer Garrison who found us many wonderful rock samples to bring back to the lab and gave us an overview of Palos Verdes Peninsula geology.

5th Grade:- Our 5th graders have enjoyed learning systems of the body. We finish the unit with in depth look at the circulatory system. We will be doing heart dissection during special persons day.

6th Grade:- Earth's Biomes are our current focus. Please stop by and see presentation boards the class made depicting the arid desert and the wet humid rain forest. We had a fun time assembling the boards, except for a few burnt fingers!

We had a ghoulish week in the lab, which was awash with glow in the dark, slime, foam and eyeballs. We experimented with Ultraviolet light and Fluorescence and grew polymer spheres and eyeballs. The children enjoyed bubbling pots of CO2 and the resulting huge bubbles. Ask them about ' Elephant Toothpaste '! We launched soda rockets, discovered what happens when gas pressure builds up in a small container ( the lids blow off violently!! ) and decided finding sticky body parts in the dark is disgusting. Add in some scary fog, lots of screams and junior Dr Frankenstein were created.

Ferrofluid Sculpture

Ferrofluid Sculpture A steel sculpture with changing magnetisation is coated with ferrofluid. The fluid is pulled in the direction of increasing flux density and forms peaks, which become smaller in higher flux density. At an accumulation of fluid at ridges, the flux density at the surface decreases. The flow and the distribution of the fluid can be observed at several characteristic locations. The centre part of the sculpture is a conical spiral that has one, three or even more tracks of peaks depending on the magnetisation. Further tracks are built at the crown and at the ridge of the central hexagon. The crown has horizontal cavities that discontinue the gradient of flux density. On the way to the top the fluid is accumulated until the cavities are bridged by fountains. On the way back the fluid falls in large drops over the gap. The horizontal cavity at the ridge of the hexagon remains filled at the retreat. With increasing magnetisation the fluid at the ridge rises steeply as the flux density on the hexagon is slightly higher than at the other side of the cavity. One can also just enjoy looking at the movements of the object. ------------------------ Ferrofluid Figur Eine Stahlplastik wird bei zunehmender Magnetisierung von magnetischer Flüssigkeit überzogen. Die Flüssigkeit wird dabei jeweils in Richtung der zunehmenden Feldstärke gezogen und bildet dabei Spitzen, die umso kleiner sind, je höher die Feldstärke ist. Bei der Anhäufung von Flüssigkeit an Kanten nimmt ...