More Sport Science!

Bazemore, Suzanne. Soccer : how it works. Mankato, Minn. : Capstone Press, c2010
Biskup, Agnieszka. Football : how it works. Mankato, Minn. : Capstone Press, c2010
Biskup, Agnieszka. Hockey : how it works. Mankato, Minn. : Capstone Press, c2010
Bonnet, Robert L. Home run! : science projects with baseball and softball. Berkeley Heights, NJ : Enslow Publishers, Inc., c2010
Dreier, David Louis. Baseball : how it works. Mankato, Minn. : Capstone Press, c2010
Gardner, Robert, 1929-. Health science projects about sports performance. Berkeley Heights, NJ : Enslow Publishers, c2002
Gardner, Robert, 1929-. Science projects about the physics of sports. Springfield, NJ : Enslow Publishers, c2000
Gardner, Robert, 1929-. Slam dunk! : science projects with basketball. Berkeley Heights, NJ : Enslow Publishers, c2010
Goff, John Eric, 1970-. Gold medal physics : the science of sports. Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010
Goodstein, Madeline P. Goal! : science projects with soccer. Berkeley Heights, NJ : Enslow Publishers, c2010
Goodstein, Madeline P. Wheels! : science projects with bicycles, skateboards, and skates. Berkeley Heights, NJ : Enslow Publishers, c2010
Levine, Shar, 1953-. Sports science. New York : Sterling Pub., c2006
Mercer, Bobby, 1961-. The leaping, sliding, sprinting, riding science book : 50 super sports science activities. New York : Lark Books, c2006
Rowe, Julian. Sports. Crystal Lake, Ill. : Rigby Interactive Library, 1997
Slade, Suzanne. Basketball : how it works. Mankato, Minn. : Capstone Press, c2010
Sohn, Emily. Skateboarding : how it works. Mankato, Minn. : Capstone Press, c2010
Why a curveball curves : the incredible science of sports. New York : Hearst Books, c2008
Wiese, Jim, 1948-. Sports science : 40 goal-scoring, high-flying, medal-winning experiments for kids. New York : J. Wiley, c2002

Don't Blink or You'll Miss It!

You didn’t think we were done with science did you? Think science and sports are worlds apart? Think again!
Some sports require fast reaction times: baseball, sprinting, tennis, volleyball and fencing to name a few. How fast is your reaction time? Below is a way to measure it.

Materials:
Ruler
Friend to help you

What to do:
Have your helper hold the ruler by the 12 inch (30 cm) end so that it hangs down vertically toward the ground.
Place your thumb and index finger on either side of the ruler at the 0-inch mark. Don’t squeeze the ruler—it should be able to move freely through your fingers.
Tell your friend to let go of the ruler when s/he is ready and pinch your fingers together to catch it.
Read on the ruler the distance it fell. Use the table below to determine your reaction time.

DISTANCE – REACTION TIME CONVERSION TABLE
Distance Time
2 in (~5 cm) 0.10 sec (100 ms)
4 in (~10 cm) 0.14 sec (140 ms)
6 in (~15 cm) 0.17 sec (170 ms)
8 in (~20 cm) 0.20 sec (200 ms)
10 in (~25.5 cm) 0.23 sec (230 ms)
12 in (~30.5 cm) 0.25 sec (250 ms)***

This one is all about realizing how amazing your body is. Your senses have to realize what is happening, communicate with your brain and tell your hand to grab the ruler.

Want some more science? Introduce a few variables: which of your hands is fastest, which person in your family is fastest? Try it blindfolded and have the helper make a noise as s/he drops the ruler. Collect these results. What things do you notice about your data? Keep practicing and see if you can improve your time!

***Remember milliseconds are one thousandths of a second so 1000 milliseconds (ms) = 1 second. That means 250 ms = 0.25 seconds; 100 ms = 0.100 seconds. See you’re a lot faster than you thought!

Another Great Science Fair!

Wow, 2011 held another great Science Fair for Fernwood Elementary!

Great job all of you Fernwood Students, what a wonderful group of experiments were performed, recorded and shared!

Thanks to Amy Oliver for all her hard work in making this happen!

What did you learn from your experiment? Leave a comment to share with others about what you learned.