Science and Data Acquisition with Vernier Probeware Creative

Science and Data Acquisition with Vernier Probeware © Creative Learning Systems www. creativelearningsystems. com

What You’ll Learn… § § How color affects the reflectivity of light How to use Vernier light sensors How to use the Vernier Lab. Quest interface How to use Vernier Logger Pro software to record analyze scientific data Stuff You’ll Need… § § Vernier light sensor probe Vernier Lab. Quest interface Computer with Logger Pro software Soda can bottom and different colored paper Vernier, Lab. Quest and Logger Pro are all registered trademarks of Vernier Software and Technology © Creative Learning Systems www. creativelearningsystems. com

Research/Documentation… § Before you start the activities in this Learning Launcher, write down what you already know about light and how it reflects off of different colors. § Record all of your experimental data. § Formulate and explain a hypothesis before you begin to record data. What do you think your experimental data will reveal? Remember – it doesn’t matter whether your hypothesis is right or wrong, only that you have a hypothesis to test. § Include a graph of your experimental data in your Word Document. § Answer the questions at the end of the experiment (Word Document from the website). © Creative Learning Systems www. creativelearningsystems. com

What You Should Know… Light: The light we see is made of extremely tiny particles called photons. A source of light such as the Sun gives off vast amounts of photons each second. When some of these photons hit our eyes, we see them as light. If a lot of photons hit our eyes, we see them as a bright light. If fewer photons hit our eyes, we see dim light or darkness. Light sensors, like the one you’ll be using in this activity work much the same way and can record the amount of light with precision. © Creative Learning Systems www. creativelearningsystems. com

What You Should Know… Light: When we measure the intensity of light, we are really measuring the number of photons hitting a certain area. There are too many photons to measure individually, so we compare the total amount of light to some standard measurement. A foot-candle is a common measurement that approximates the intensity of light on an object emitted from a candle placed one foot away. One Foot Candle Your Vernier light probe will measure light intensity in units called “lux”. You can think of one lux as approximately equivalent to one meter -candle – or a little less than 1/10 th of a foot-candle. © Creative Learning Systems www. creativelearningsystems. com

What You Should Know… What Makes Color? Light particles travel in waves – similar to waves in the ocean. The distance between each wave is called its wavelength. Different colors of light have different wavelengths. Each wavelength is perceived by our eyes as a different color. Only a narrow band of wavelengths can be seen with the human eye. We call this the visible spectrum. Portion of the spectrum visible to humans Light that contains all wavelengths in the visible spectrum is colorless. You’ve probably seen how a prism divides light into its component parts: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. You can remember these colors with the name Roy G. Biv! © Creative Learning Systems www. creativelearningsystems. com

What You Should Know… When light waves hit an object they can be reflected, absorbed, or transmitted (allowed to pass-through). For the most part, opaque objects (things you can’t see through) will either reflect or absorb light. Substances can absorb certain wavelengths and reflect others. When something reflects all the wavelengths in the visible spectrum, it’s seen as white. When something absorbs all the colors of the visible spectrum, it’s seen as black. When something reflects certain wavelengths and absorbs others, it is perceived as having color. So it’s the wavelength of reflected light that gives an object its color! © Creative Learning Systems www. creativelearningsystems. com

What You Should Know… The Scientific Method You’ve probably studied the scientific method before in other classes. But, before we start to use our Vernier probeware to collect data, let’s review it one more time: 1. State the question you intend to answer through your research and experimentation. 2. Form a hypothesis – a prediction of what you think you’ll find. 3. Test your hypothesis by doing an experiment or study. 4. Analyze your results. 5. Draw a conclusion and report your findings. Be sure to capture all of these steps in your e. Folder to be turned in. © Creative Learning Systems www. creativelearningsystems. com

What You Should Know… The activities in this Learning Launcher use the Vernier light sensor, the Lab. Quest interface and Logger Pro software on your computer. Light Sensor Lab. Quest Interface © Creative Learning Systems www. creativelearningsystems. com

What You Should Know… Now let’s explore the Logger Pro software. It’s what you’ll use to record analyze your experimental data. Launch Logger Pro software. Then under the File menu, click Open and select the Tutorials folder. Click on Tutorial 1 – Getting Started and follow along with the tutorial. To learn about using Logger Pro for the kind of data you’ll be collecting in this Learning Launcher, follow along with Tutorial 3 – Events with Entry. [Note that this tutorial uses the temperature probe. That’s okay, the process of collecting data with the light sensor will be similar. ] © Creative Learning Systems www. creativelearningsystems. com

Do It! Reflectivity of Light In this Learning Launcher, you will conduct an experiment using the Vernier light sensor to measure how color changes the amount of reflected light. § Download the Reflectivity of Light activity from the class website and do the experiment. The print of the color charts on the following pages are in the Vernier Lab Tools box that you check out from Mr. Ochs. Use the worksheet from the folder on the desktop. You don’t have a light stand, so hold the probe the same distance from each test color. © Creative Learning Systems www. creativelearningsystems. com

Vernier Science – Reflectivity Experiments © Creative Learning Systems www. creativelearningsystems. com

Answer one of these questions… § How do you think the amount of reflected light affects temperature? Design an experiment using the Vernier temperature probe to find out. § Experiment with the reflectivity of various materials like glass, soil, water, etc. § Consider how the colors of clothing absorb or reflect light. Now go online to learn about traditional clothing in different parts of the world (especially those with extreme climates). Do the traditional clothing choices reflect this factor? © Creative Learning Systems www. creativelearningsystems. com