waiting

well hi there,
i still haven't gotten miss Zhang's approval yet so i'm just going to type this to fiill in some space. Actually, i'm not being that pointless, but until official approval from the 'one above' is handed down, i'll keep the research on rubber bands etc. until next time.
By the way, is it just me or is everything so ambiguous...

EVERYTHING

VARiables/ Research ETc. etc. etc. Hello again! AS i have previously mentioned before, i am doing my experiment on-

'DOES TEMPERATURE AFFECT THE FORCE A RUBBER BAND CAN WITHSTAND BEFORE RUPTURE?'

The variables are:
INDEPENDANT VARIABLE: Temperature
DEPENDANT VARIABLE: Elasticity of a rubber band (The force the rubber band can withstand before it breaks)
CONTROLLED VARIABLES: Size of the rubber band, brand of rubber band, spring scale used, same fridge and oven.

EQUIPMENT NECESSARY (MAY CHANGE LATER) - spring scale -protective gloves (optional) - pack of rubber bands -same oven and fridge - safety goggles

METHOD (SUBJECT TO CHANGE):

1) Hang the spring balance from a secure post vertically.

2) Heat 15 of the same type of rubber band in the oven at 70 degrees celcius for 2 hours.

3) Take the rubber bands out of the oven and pull on spring scale with rubber band. Record results (force exerted before rupture of elastic band in a table).

4) Repeat steps 1-3, instead using 15x rubber bands at room temperature left for 2 hours, and 15x rubber bands at 0 degrees celcius for 2 hours.

5) Record and tabulate results.

For my other project ideas:

- does the design of a bridge affect the weight it can carry?

INDEPENDANT VARIABLE: Design of bridge

DEPENDANT VARIABLE: weight it can support/ carry

CONTOLLED VARIABLES: Material the bridges are made of, the length and size of the bridges, same weights used

-Does fertiliser actually affect the rate of plant growth?

INDEPENDANT VARIABLE: type of fertiliser

DEPENDANT VARIABLE: rate of plant growth

CONTROLLED VARIABLES: plant type, position and location of the plants, water and amount of fertiliser gaiven to each plant

Rubber band research

RUBBER BAND RESEARCH:
I found that rubber bands are short loops of rubber and latex, calcium carbonate, carbon black, clay, sulfur, stearic acid, zinc oxide, wax and oil. The rubber band can be classified into classes according to its- length, width and thickness.

The rubber band is made with the ingredients above through a process called 'vulcanization.' I shall conduct further research on the process of vulcanization later on.

An important note i found is that ELASTICITY (defined as the tendency of a body to return to its original shape after it has been stretched or compressed) is different to stretching the rubber band till it breaks and meausuring the force exerted on the rubber band just before it breaks. I think the correct term is rupture, that is, where an object suddenly breaks, but confirmation would be grealty appreciated... Miss Zhang...
As a result of this finding, i have decided to change my experiment aim to:

Does temperature affect the force that a rubber band can withstand before rupture?

Bibliography/ sources:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_band, what are rubber bands made of?, Date accessed[6/03/10] (research was conducted before posting)
-taken from wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn, elasticity, DAte accessed [10/03/10]