Chill out with graphs: serve your data in tables, graphs, and charts - with a cherry on top!Serve your data in tables, graphs, and charts--with a cherry on top! You're gabbing on the phone with your best friend, trying to come up with an idea for your science project. In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , your mint-chocolate-chip ice cream melts faster than you can spoon spoon, n an instrument with a round or ovoid working end; designed to be used for scraping or scooping. it into your mouth. Aargh! Then it dawns on you. Here's an excellent idea for your science project: What container would keep your ice cream from melting so fast? You grab an extra pint pint: see English units of measurement. from the freezer freezer the compartment in which meat and offal are stored at freezing temperatures of 10 to 16°F (-12 to -9°C) although there is a trend to lower temperatures of 0 to -22°F (-18 to -30°C). , eager to start your scrumptious experiment. But wait! Before you begin, you'll need to get organized. The first step is to make a data table--a place where you can record your observations in a systematic way (see below). Your data table should include all the variables in your experiment: the independent variable, or variable you change on purpose (in this case, the type of container), and the dependent variable--the variable that responds when you change the independent variable. In this experiment, the dependent variable is the melting time of the ice cream. Under the independent variable column, list the different types of container you plan to test: plastic, paper, and Styrofoam cups. Once you've set up the table, you're ready to fill it in with data from your experiment. (See "Melt Your Treat," above.) THE SCOOP SCOOP - Structured Concurrent Object-Oriented Prolog. ["SCOOP, Structured Concurrent Object-Oriented Prolog", J. Vaucher et al, in ECOOP '88, S. Gjessing et al eds, LNCS 322, Springer 1988, pp.191-211]. ON GRAPHS After you've filled your table with data (and your stomach with leftover ice cream), your next task is to make sense of ail those numbers you scribbled down. The best way to do this is to present your results in a graph. A graph can help you see trends in your data. It's also a great way for you to share your findings with other science (and ice-cream) lovers. For the ice-cream experiment, a bar graph works best (see below). That's because each type of ice-cream container is separate and distinct. A bar graph allows you to use a separate bar to represent the melting times for each container. But what if you changed your experiment to find out the rate at which ice cream melts in a plastic cup? Your new independent variable is time. Time is a continuous variable. This means even if you measured how much ice cream melts every 10 minutes, other minutes exist between those intervals (like 7 or 15 minutes). A line graph In graph theory, the line graph L(G) of an undirected graph G is a graph such that
ICE-CREAM PIE As you clean up the gloppy mess that's left of your experiment, you might be thinking of going for extra credit. You could continue your ice-cream investigation by conducting a survey: Which ice-cream flavor is most popular among your schoolmates? After talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to 100 students, you discover 50 love chocolate; 30, like you, prefer mint chocolate chip Mint Chocolate Chip is an ice cream flavor composed of mint ice cream and small chips of mint chocolate. In some cases the liqueur creme de menthe is used to provide the mint flavor. It is usually green, but may be white in "all natural" or "organic" varieties. ; 10 prefer strawberry strawberry, any plant of the genus Fragaria of the family Rosaceae (rose family), low herbaceous perennials with edible red fruits, native to temperate and mountainous tropical regions. The European everbearing strawberry (F. ; and 10 voted for vanilla vanilla, a plant of the genus Vanilla of the family Orchidaceae (orchid family). Vines of hot, damp climates, most are indigenous to Central and South America, especially Mexico, but are now cultivated in other tropical regions. . This kind of data calls for a pie chart A graphical representation of information in which each unit of data is represented as a pie-shaped piece of a circle. See business graphics. (see below, right). Simply draw a circle and divide it into wedge-shaped sections. The size of each wedge represents a percentage from your survey. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , the wedge for chocolate should take up 50 percent of the circle, the wedge for mint chocolate chip 30 percent, and so on. (To calculate each percent, divide the number of people who voted each way by the total number of people you surveyed, then multiply mul·ti·ply v. 1. To increase the amount, number, or degree of. 2. To breed or propagate. by 100.) EDIBLE SCIENCE All this work with ice cream is probably stirring up your appetite for more research! There are other ways you can display your data, like using pictures or maps. Just remember, the important thing is to present your findings in a way that helps you and others understand your research. And be sure not to eat your experiment before your work is done! Bet you never thought science experiments could be so delicious! RELATED ARTICLE: Melt Your Treat You Need: 1 pint ice cream * 3 8-oz. clear plastic cups * 3 8-oz. paper cups * 3 8-oz. Styrofoam cups * 60 ml (114 cup) measuring cup * clock or timer timer, n radiographic timing device that functions as an automatic exposure timer and a switch to control the current to the high-tension transformer and filament transformer. The face of the timer is calibrated in seconds and fractions of seconds. To Do: 1. Scoop 60 ml (1/4 cup) of ice cream each into a clear plastic cup, a paper cup, and a Styrofoam cup. 2. Place the cups on your kitchen counter. 3. Check the cups every I 0 minutes for the first half hour, then every 3 to 5 minutes afterwards af·ter·ward also af·ter·wards adv. At a later time; subsequently. afterwards or afterward Adverb later [Old English æfterweard] Adv. 1. . 4. Record the time it takes for the ice cream to completely melt in each cup. 5. Repeat steps I through 4 two more times. 6. Calculate the average melting time for each cup and record it in your data table. RELATED ARTICLE: To make a data table: 1. On a sheet of paper, draw a data table as shown at left. 2. Give your table a title that identifies your variables ("The Effect of Container Type on Ice Cream's Melting Time"). 3. Label the column on the left as the independent variable (containers). Underneath, list each item you used for the independent variable (plastic, paper, Styrofoam cups). 4. Label the columns to the right as the dependent variable (melting time). Draw boxes under these columns in which you can record the result of the trials for each container. Include a column at the far right to record the average melting times. (To calculate the average time, add the melting times for each container, and then divide the total by the number of trials.)
The Effect of Container Type
on Ice Cream's Melting Time
Containers Melting Time (in minutes)
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average
Plastic cup 55 50 48 51
Paper cup 64 59 57 60
Styrofoam 75 70 68 71
cup
RELATED ARTICLE: TO make a bar graph: 1. On graph paper, draw a set of axes axes [L., Gr.] plural of axis. The straight lines which intersect at right angles and on which graphs are drawn. Usually the horizontal axis is the x-axis and the vertical one the y-axis. Called also axes of reference. (x and y). 2. Give your bar graph a title ("The Effect of Container Type on Ice Cream's Melting Time"). 3. Label the horizontal (x) axis with your independent variable (type of container), including the items you used for the independent variable (plastic, paper, Styrofoam cups). 4. Label the vertical (y) axis with your dependent variable (melting time). Place a scale that marks the values (in minutes) of your dependent variable along the y-axis. 5. For each independent variable, draw a solid bar to the height of the corresponding value of the dependent variable. For example, the average melting time for a plastic cup was 51 minutes. Draw a bar above the plastic label on the x-axis to the 51-minute mark on the y-axis. Leave equal space between bars so your graph is easy to read. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] RELATED ARTICLE: To make a line graph: 1. On graph paper, draw a set of axes (x and y). 2. Give your line graph a title. 3. Label the x-axis with your independent variable (melting time). Place a scale with the values (in minutes) on the x-axis. 4. Label the y-axis with your dependent variable (melted ice cream). Place a scale that includes all the values (in ml) of the dependent variable on the y-axis. 5. Plot a point on the graph for each piece of data. For example, after 10 minutes, 3 ml of ice cream has melted. Draw an imaginary Imaginary can refer to:
See also: Horizontal from the 3-ml mark on the y-axis. Plot the point where the lines intersect In a relational database, to match two files and produce a third file with records that are common in both. For example, intersecting an American file and a programmer file would yield American programmers. . [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 6. When you've plotted the points for all your data, connect the points. (Instead of connecting the data points, scientists sometimes draw a "line of best fit," which reflects the general trend for the data.) RELATED ARTICLE: To make a pie chart: 1. Draw a circle using a compass. 2. Give your pie chart a title. 3. Mark the center with a point; this is the spot where each pie "slice" or wedge will start. 4. Measure a wedge for each item (chocolate, etc.) of the independent variable (ice-cream flavor). To figure out how big to make each wedge, convert your data from percentages to angle degrees. For example, if 50 percent voted for chocolate, the pie wedge for this flavor should be 50 percent of the 360o circle, or 180 [degrees]. Position a protractor protractor Instrument for constructing and measuring plane angles. The simplest protractor is a semicircular disk marked in degrees from 0° to 180°. A more complex protractor, for plotting position on navigation charts, is called a three-arm protractor, or station at the center point of the circle. Mark the 180 [degrees] angle with points on the edge of the circle. Draw a line from these points to the center of the circle. 5. Label the wedge (include its percentage). 6. Measure your next wedge from the edge of the first. When you're finished, the entire circle should be filled. The sum of all angles must add up to 360 [degrees]. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion