Digesting starch

Year 7 have been learning about digestion this week. We have discussed how enzymes can break down our food.

This morning we did an experiment using amylase to digest starch.

We measured our starch:

And filled two spotting tiles with iodine:

Then we got our enzyme - amylase. Some groups used 5ml and others 10ml. When we were ready we poured the amylase into the starch solution and started the stopwatch:

We tested the solution for starch every 20 seconds:

We found the starch with 10ml of enzyme had digested before the one with 5ml of enzyme. 

Looking at porosity

Year 5 have been looking at how gases spread out to fill all available spaces. We looked at 3 different 'soils' to see which one contains the most air.

We carefully measured 50ml of water:

We put our soil sample into a small beaker until it reached the 50ml line. Then we slowly poured the water into the soil until no more would sink into the sample.

We tested sand:

Soil:

Marbles:

And then we sat down to write about our findings:

Year 5 presents

Year 5 have started a new topic all about gases. One year 5 class did some research on the way we use different gases. They did this using textbooks and the Science department iPads. The groups then presented their findings to the rest of the class. 

More food testing

7G also tested a MacDonalds breakfast this morning. This required the students to use lots of different practical skills. 

The meal to be tested:

Testing for starch:

Protein:

Fat:

Glucose:

Testing MacDonalds

Year 7 are testing for different food types in a MacDonald's big breakfast

They tested for starch

And protein

And fat

And sugar

And they recorded the results

An interesting experiment

Looking at shadows

After learning about the heat energy from the Sun, Year 5 then looked at the light energy it produced. We discussed how light travels and saw why we get shadows. Then we did an investigation as to how shadows change throughout the day while the Earth spins on its axis. 

We placed an object on a piece of paper and shone a lamp from different angles. As the angles changed it represented the Sun appearing to move throughout the day. We drew around the shadows and compared them.

 

The heat of the sun

Year 5 have been looking at the Earth, the Sun and moon in our latest topic. We did an experiment looking into the heat produced by the sun and how it spreads over the suraface of the Earth. 

We had a test tube tilted to a particular angle to reflect the tilted axis of the Earth.

To make our test fair we made sure the lamp was at the same distance from each of our boiling tubes.

We also made sure that each boiling tube contained the same amount of water.

We started the timer and turned on the lamp (representing the Sun).

We then measured the temperature of the water to see how it changed.

We were sure to record our results.