How many pennies in a cup?

Purpose: I have students do this lab at the beginning of the year to help
illustrate the scientific process. The main goal is to show that it is
okay for a hypothesis to be incorrect.

Problem: How many pennies can you put into a cup of water
before it overflows?

Hypothesis:

Experiment: Supplies - Dixie
cups (3 oz), Water, 50-60 pennies per group

Step 1 - Fill the Dixie cup with water until it nearly overflows (a few
millimeters from the top)

Step 2 - Carefully drop pennies into the cup, 1 at a time, until the water
overflows outside the cup.

Independent Variable: Group

Dependent Variable: # of pennies in cup





Results:

Group #	Number of Pennies

Conclusion:

Possible Errors/Things to look out for:
1. Be careful not to drop pennies in and cause a splash, let pennies into water gently.
2. Make sure to fill to top of cup or just measure out 3 oz.
3. Use tally marks to keep track of pennies.
4. Have students alternate for who drops the penny.

Analyzing the human voice

Problem: What is the average vocal range of humans in Hertz?

Experiment: Step 1 - Download the clips from these three songs from the class drop (click on the link to download)

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• Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) - Jay Z

• Always Be My Baby - Mariah Carey

• Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash

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Step 2a - Import "Hard Knock Life..." into Audacity

1. Select a 1-2 second clip of the kids singing

2. Click on 'Analyze' in the menu

3. At the bottom of the window change the Axis to 'Log Frequency' (it probably says Linear Frequency to start)

4. Hold your cursor over the highest peak in the middle 1/3 of the graph

5. Record the Hz level of this peak

Step 3 - Repeat the analysis for a piece of the song where Jay-Z sings, a Mariah Carey song, and the Johnny Cash song

Results -

Independent Variable:

Dependent Variable:

	Mariah Carey	Kids (Hard Knock Life)	Jay Z (Hard Knock Life)	Johnny Cash
Hz

Conclusion:

Possible Errors: