Crazy Straws in Science

At SJHS the eighth graders made straw towers in their science class towards the end of March. The purpose of this experiment was to learn about Newton’s Law of Gravity. Some of the requirements of this project were that students could only use 20 straws, 33 centimeters of tape, and the towers had to be able to hold 20 grams of mass for at least 10 seconds. The towers also had to be free-standing, which means students couldn’t hold on to it at all.  According to Chris Webber, an eighth grader at SJHS, almost everyone’s was a 3D triangle. Chris Webber also said  “One of the challenges I faced was running out of tape definitely; it was hard not to run out of tape.” 

According to Mr. Kindrick, a science teacher at SJHS, his students were supposed to learn a few things about construction and material management and also being able to work together as a group. The students were also supposed to learn about Newton's Laws. Those laws consist of three basic rules: The first law is when the first body of an object exerts a force. The second law is the acceleration of a body is parallel and directly proportional to the net force. The third law is for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

“This year the tallest tower was 107 cm tall, and my overall record is 117 cm,” said Mr. Kindrick.  The kids in Mr. Kindrick’s classes all said that they learned a lot about science, and also about how Gravity Laws work. They seemed to have enjoyed this project. Mr. Kindrick is looking forward to doing this with his students again next year, he feels it’s a fun and interesting way to look at science.