Roman catapults

Catapults, in various forms, were used by many ancient civilisations to break down enemy defences and break sieges which were costly.  The Senior Science Club made catapults with soft drink cans held together with thick elastic bands.  The angle of the catapult arm (a kitchen fork) could be adjusted by changing the amount of buffer (two pencils taped together).  It was interesting to see how our adjustments to the angle of flight changed the distance projectiles travelled.

Mini catapults

The Junior Science club made catapults using recycled tin cans, pop sticks and milk bottle tops.  When they were finished, we made projectiles from balls of tinfoil.  It was interesting to launch our catapults and measure how far the tinfoil balls travelled.

Convection Currents

We could plainly see that the coloured water first rose to the surface.

At first, the jar floated on top of the water, so we added some old coins.
Their combined weight made the jar successfully sink to the bottom
 of the water filled container.

To investigate convection currents, we filled a large container with clear cold water, and filled a small jar with hot water mixed with dye.  We carefully lowered the jar into a container and watched what happened.

Roman aqueduct

In our Ancient Civilisation theme, some students are learning about Ancient Rome so we decided to make a model of an aqueduct, similar to the ones used in Ancient Roman times.

This is the plan we followed to make our model.

Finding how electrical things work

We took to various electrical items with screwdrivers on our work bench to better understand how they worked.  We dismantled toasters, kettles, pumps, irons, mobile phones and a lap top. 

WE ALWAYS WELCOME ELECTRICAL ITEMS YOU NO LONGER NEED AT HOME - PLEASE DONATE THEM TO THE SCIENCE CLUB SO WE CAN DISMANTLE THEM.

Balloon rockets

The Junior Science Club used air pressure to power their balloon rockets across the classroom.

Fizz Bombs

The Junior Science Club wanted to celebrate the end of term with a bang, so they made fizz bombs.

There was quite a lot of Maths involved - we had to fill the film canisters up to one third with water and snap the Alka Selzer tablets into quarters.

It was fun waiting for the fizz bombs to work - they tended to explore at unexpected times which kept us all on our toes!