quicksand and how you sink in it
Aspen Scrymgeour Dahna Lim
Grade 5
Presentation
Hypothesis
We think that a certain mixture from our 3 mixtures will make a small object sink fastest. Our hypothesis is that the mixture with the sand will slow the object down and the mixture like slime ( A.K.A shampoo mixture) will make it sink the fastest because the object will start sinking the moment we put it on.
Research
- Deaths from quicksand are rare
-The more you struggle & panic it is most likely to sink faster than when you stay calm
-Quicksand is when water pressures the sand upwards
-Usually 2-3 ft deep
- You sink up to around somewhere near your waist
- Quicksand is not deadly unless you fall in headfirst
- You can easily get out of quicksand when you float on your back
- Quicksand is formed in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddently agitated
- If the water stops or drains the sand becomes plain sand again
- Quicksand is found beside shores,under water,near river banks,midstream, also riverbeds that look dry
- Quicksand is a mixture of sand,water,clay bits and salt
- Quicksand is a colloid
Variables
Dependent variable:
~How many seconds it took the loonie to hit the bottom of glass
Controlled variable:
~The loonie dropped from 14.5 cm above the mixture
Manipulated Variable
~ The different mixtures
Procedure
1.Start be opening the clear shampoo bottle.
2.Next pour one cup of shampoo into the bowl.
3.Then go to your bathroom and get five pieces of toilet paper (You can use any kind of toilet paper but I recomend the thin type if you have it)
4.Shred the five pieces of toilet paper that you got (Make sure the toilet paper sheets are shredded into small sqaures.)
5.Stir the mixture until the liquid stars to turn white.
6.Once youv'e mixed the mixture put it in the fridge for 30-45 mins.
7.Take the mixture out from the fridge once 30-45 mins have passed.
8.Stir the mixture one last time at a faster pace.
9. Once you have done all the final touches pour the mixture into a small clear vase make sure you pour so the mixture is 5.5 centimeters high.
10. Use a measuring tape. When you are measuring make sure the tape starts from the table where your vase is.
11. Once you have measured how much of the mixture you poured in, find a loonie.
12. After you have found your loonie measure 20 centimeters up starting from the table.
13. Get someone to hold the measuring tape in place so you know where the 20 centimeter mark is.
14. Drop your your loonie from the 20 centimeter mark make sure to drop the lonnie in vertically.
15. Drop the loonie close to the glass so you can see the loonie better when it falls in
16. Once the loonie is dropped in use a stopwatch to count how many seconds it takes the loonie to reach the bottom of the vase.
17. Stop the timer once the coin has succesfully reached the bottom of the vase
18.Rrecord the time and then do the same experiment with the same mixture and the same measurements 3 more times.
19. Record the time that you got each time so that you can find out what your fastest time was and what your slowest time was.
20. Then do the same steps again for the other mixtures
INGREDIENTS AND STEPS
SHAMPOO MIXTURE (Also used for the example in the steps)
1.Add 1 cup of clear shampoo
2.Shred five peices of toilet paper (Thin will be the best but you can use any kind)
3.Mix together until the mixture is a white color
4.Put the mixture into the fridge for 30-45 mins tops
KINETIC SAND MIXTURE
1. Add
Observations
| Toilet paper shampoo mixture | Foamy sand mixture | Kinetic sand mixture |
| -When the loonie was dropped in it sunk very fast | -When we first made the mixture it was really soft but once we made all the mixtures it got harder | -Did not sink even a little bit |
| fastest time: 9: | We shold have tested right away It got too hard | We should have added more water or less sand |
Analysis
We noticed that when the coin hit the top of the mixture virtically it sunk really fast.
When the coin hit the glass it did not slow it down it made it go faster.
We also noticed that when the coin hit the top of the mixture horizontaly it slowed it down much more.
Conclusion
We ended up getting our hypothysis correct which means YAY!
We think that we might need to do more tests to scientificaly make sure our tests were correct because whenever we dropped the coin it would sometimes hit the glass & sink horizontally (which didn't end up well).
Out of 4 coin drops the fastest time was 9.68 secs but the slowest time was
Application
If you were in quicksand try to be horizontal as quick as possible because your sinking will slow down
If you are in quicksand try not to be verticle or else you will sink faster
Sources Of Error
We made 4 mixtures but 3 of them didn't turn out right which kind of bummed us out because we worked sooooo hard on them
Me and my partner think the oobleck did not work because we added too much water or maybe the water absorbed it
We also think the foamy one didn't work out because it was too stiff
The Kinetic sand did not go well because it was too hard (Athough it gets softer when we knead through it)
Thankfully the toilet paper mixture worked perfectly fine
Also whenever we dropped the loonie for the 2 mixtures that didn't work, the loonie would always flip and turn horizontally.
If I ever made these mixtures again I would add less water to the oobleck, Add more water or less sand to the kinetic sand, and lastly
Make sure the foamy mixture isn't too stiff
Sometimes the coin flipped in mid air whitch made it go slower
When we first made the mixture it was really soft but once we made all the mixtures it got harder
Citations
Acknowledgement
Me and my partner would like to acknowledge our parents who has helped us buy ingredients for our project, gave us snacks,(haha) and has gave us nice advice of how to do things.
We would also like to thank our teacher, Ms. Tang who has taught us lot's of stuff about science and the fair at meetings by using some of her free time.
Thank you soo much to whoever we forgot and didn't forget to mention in this acknowledgement.
Thank you again