After exploring our cup systems with both cold and hot liquids, we agreed that while the layers and material make a difference, the lid makes a really big difference when there's a hot liquid inside the cup! We began investigating exactly what a lid does. We also developed models to explain our thinking! |
Mrs. Brinza realized we needed to do some figuring out about water and air, so we played with some syringes to determine what's really going on! That's not her hand, but a stock image as we were too busy to snap a pic! After lots of exploring and seeing that when we closed the system and air was inside, we could push the plunger down really far! But when we put water in the syringe, we couldn't hardly push the plunger down. |
From here, we realized that there had to have been empty space inside the syringe when there was air in it, but because the plunger couldn't go all the way down, there still have to be SOMETHING inside it. After great conversation, we agreed on the following to the right: 1. That both air and water had to be made of pieces, or particles, too small for us to see. 2. That they have empty space around them, allowing the syringe to compress the plunger in. |
All this deep thinking is making us think that maybe what's going on with the cups is much more complicated than we thought. And maybe we have to zoom in WAYYYYY more than we even anticipated to really be able to explain how and why a fancy cup works better than a regular cup!