SnitchSeeker.com - View Single Post - Astronomy I: Put a Little Swing in Your Step! (The Scientific Method)

laurange · 05-21-2019, 11:47 PM

SPOILER!!: nicole black

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicole black

Maxie offered the Gryffindor a nod as she spoke to him. He was a tinge on the pink side, but it was- so far- managable. the Chaser nodded- yes, Max- that was him- it felt good to be seen as Max and not as Kowalski, even if it didn't happen as often as he wishes.

"A-A-anahera." It was a greeting, as friendly as Maxie was capable.

He wished, quite sincerely that the professors would leave him well enough alone. He did not like speaking if he could avoid it- especially during class. The hufflepuff always hoped they'd just accept his nod and carry on..

and sometimes!! they did! and it was great, and he'd carry on quietly and effieciently and sometimes they didn't. Simran didn't. flushed, Maxie did not meet the Astronomy Professor's gaze as he forced a very uncomfortable laugh.

hahaha. ha. ha.

Back to mostly miserable, Maxie spent the next ten mintutes beating himself up for his feigned laughter. The 13-year-old was certain the whole class - including Celine and Eloise who were known for their teasing - had heard it and thought him a big dumb dumb head.

So busy stressing over his mishap was Maxie, he missed the entire first question- but thankfully- blessedly- not the following activity. He didn't want a repeat of his experience with Professor Carmine.

Carefully, the young boy used the screws to attach the clamp- it was actually very easy but he worried as he did it and that made everything harder - next was constructing the pendulum. Maxie took a deep breath, calming his anxious fingers before tying the string perfectly around the pendulum bob- he considered adding a little something extra with a more complicated not but immediately decided against something so silly. Next came tying the thing to the pivot and.. yeah, yeah, that looked just right.

Okay. Just displace and release like the professor said. He'd done this before, but felt very little confidence desite it.

Displace. and release.

One oscillation.

good.

Two oscillation.

keep going. Maxie silently urged.

Three oscillation.

Four oscillation

Five oscillation

Six oscillation

only four more.

Seven oscillation

Eight oscillation

Nine oscillation

Ten oscillation.

Maxie breathed out with relief, his lips a small, but pleased smile.

Notes taken, Maxie settled back in his chair and listened as the Professor began once more to speak.

......... He'd just quietly keep his mouth shut, thanks.

Simran observed the young boy carefully, his silence a note she made and quickly stored in the back of her mind. It always worried her when students were silent in class, that they would not tell her when they didn't understand the subject matter. Master Anderson-Belfort, however, did seem to follow for now.

Hopefully, he'd acclimatize to her lessons soon and start voicing up.

SPOILER!!: hermionesclone

Everyone makes mistakes, she told herself. even the gifted students. Especially the gifted students. Which was why Mr Dakest really shouldn't worry about his setup, or how it was wrong, but focus on how to fix it instead. Which she'd tell everyone collectively in just a minute.

"Very good, Master Dakest," she said, nodding in approval. "Friction does often fudge results, and there's often nothing we can do to remove it completely. And the setup of apparatus too, which is why designing experiments often take a lot of time to consider how the design could affect results."

SPOILER!!: siriusblackliveson

Simran was not, in fact, looking for any specific answer at all, but for the general pattern the answers tended towards. She'd personally have suggested that things sometimes go flying and hit people in the face and then they go blind, but that was extreme, and she wasn't a student. Just an old woman prone to hyperbole.

"That is correct, instable equipment can lead to inaccurate results, but at least they'd be consistently inaccurate."

SPOILER!!: Felixr

"Correct, Kaiser!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together in delight. "Environmental factors out of your control can affect your results. A gust of wind, for example, even if it's light. For light-sensitive experiments, doing the experiment at different times of day, or with varying degrees of cloud cover."

Now addressing everyone, she flicked her wand at the board, and all the previous answers on it were wiped clean. Then she turned back to them, just as the piece of chalk wrote "ERROR" in large letters on the board. "Everything you have all mentioned falls under one large category -- error. It can cloud the accuracy of your results or, in extreme cases, derail the entire experiment."

"There are two main types of error: Random Error and Systematic Error," she said, but as she turned, caught the piece of chalk throwing a tantrum and refusing to write. She sighed. "Very well, then."

Making her way to the blackboard, she picked up a different piece of chalk, now yellow, the chalk she used for equations and incantations to distinguish it from the regular white chalk the other notes used, and began to write. Desperate measures and all. "Random errors usually result from the experimenter's inability to take the same measurement in exactly the same way to get exact the same number."

"They are are statistical fluctuations (in either direction) in the measured data due to the precision limitations of the measurement device. Your metre rule can only take measurements in increments of one centimetre, for example. If you had a piece of string measuring 11.3cm, it would read as 11cm, likewise for a piece of string measuring 10.9cm. Sometimes it's not even just the device, and human error adds too! Like if you blink and barely miss exactly when an oscillation completes, or the reaction time between you observing a result and reading the stopwatch."

"Systematic errors, however, are inaccuracies that are consistently in the same direction, and usually persist throughout the entire experiment. For example, if your stopwatch doesn't reset to zero but is always 0.2s ahead or if your measuring tape were stretched out. However, because these affect all your readings, they don't usually affect your results." They could, though.

Oof, that was a lot of words. And a lot of writing. She had not missed this part of muggle teaching. Anyway, now for the fun part, with exactly no writing involved! "Now, if you all would disassemble your apparatus, pack your bags and head to the back of the classroom -- there are some boxes there for you to put the materials in."

Once everyone was done, and the apparatus put away, and students congregated at the back of the classroom, she stretched lightly and cracked her knuckles. This one would be a doozy. With a flick of her wand, the tables and chairs moved themselves to the sides of the classroom, stacked, and shrunk until they occupied only a tenth of the space they once did. A second flick of the wand sent the boxes of apparatus to her office, and a third brought in more boxes, and they moved to the cardinal directions of the room.

"I had wanted you to use the apparatus for this activity, but when I was doing a trial run, I realised that the retort stands are half the size of some first years." Not ideal to be running around with. "The box with you at the back of the room contains little bean bags. Please take one of each colour. There are orange, purple and brown." One for each other cardinal direction of the room, y'know? Why those colours? Well, they weren't house colours.

"Your job is to get from there to the other boxes and deposit your bean bags into the corresponding coloured box. However --" she flicked her wand at the ceiling, and previously camouflaged and hidden pendulum-like round pillows attached to strings dropped from the ceiling. "You have to get through the pendulums. If you get hit by said pendulums, you have to return to the starting position and begin again."

"You may and should use these pendulums to sabotage your classmates." They were only pillows after all, and there was very little serious injury that could stem from a pillow. "First ten to finish the course gets a 8-inch discount on your next essay."

"NOW GO GO GO GO GOOOOOOOOOO."

Oh how her inner Gryffindor loved chaos.

OOC NOTE: It's main activity time! You'll have approximately 3 days to do so!

05-21-2019, 11:47 PM	#47 (permalink)
laurange DERP & DMLE Ramora Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Kita's pocket Posts: 5,227 Hogwarts RPG Name: Aslan Archer Slytherin Second Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Rose Woods Gryffindor Third Year x9 x6	½ of Lauralie \| Koala \| The being in Ern's pocket \| Baby Smurf \| Prouf member of The Flock SPOILER!!: nicole black Quote: Originally Posted by nicole black Maxie offered the Gryffindor a nod as she spoke to him. He was a tinge on the pink side, but it was- so far- managable. the Chaser nodded- yes, Max- that was him- it felt good to be seen as Max and not as Kowalski, even if it didn't happen as often as he wishes. "A-A-anahera." It was a greeting, as friendly as Maxie was capable. He wished, quite sincerely that the professors would leave him well enough alone. He did not like speaking if he could avoid it- especially during class. The hufflepuff always hoped they'd just accept his nod and carry on.. and sometimes!! they did! and it was great, and he'd carry on quietly and effieciently and sometimes they didn't. Simran didn't. flushed, Maxie did not meet the Astronomy Professor's gaze as he forced a very uncomfortable laugh. hahaha. ha. ha. Back to mostly miserable, Maxie spent the next ten mintutes beating himself up for his feigned laughter. The 13-year-old was certain the whole class - including Celine and Eloise who were known for their teasing - had heard it and thought him a big dumb dumb head. So busy stressing over his mishap was Maxie, he missed the entire first question- but thankfully- blessedly- not the following activity. He didn't want a repeat of his experience with Professor Carmine. Carefully, the young boy used the screws to attach the clamp- it was actually very easy but he worried as he did it and that made everything harder - next was constructing the pendulum. Maxie took a deep breath, calming his anxious fingers before tying the string perfectly around the pendulum bob- he considered adding a little something extra with a more complicated not but immediately decided against something so silly. Next came tying the thing to the pivot and.. yeah, yeah, that looked just right. Okay. Just displace and release like the professor said. He'd done this before, but felt very little confidence desite it. Displace. and release. One oscillation. good. Two oscillation. keep going. Maxie silently urged. Three oscillation. Four oscillation Five oscillation Six oscillation only four more. Seven oscillation Eight oscillation Nine oscillation Ten oscillation. Maxie breathed out with relief, his lips a small, but pleased smile. Notes taken, Maxie settled back in his chair and listened as the Professor began once more to speak. ......... He'd just quietly keep his mouth shut, thanks. Simran observed the young boy carefully, his silence a note she made and quickly stored in the back of her mind. It always worried her when students were silent in class, that they would not tell her when they didn't understand the subject matter. Master Anderson-Belfort, however, did seem to follow for now. Hopefully, he'd acclimatize to her lessons soon and start voicing up. SPOILER!!: hermionesclone Quote: Originally Posted by hermionesclone ............. Oh. Lucas..... was embarrassed, to say the least. The colour started to rise in his cheeks as he watched Sandhu start setting up the apparatus for him, feeling, well, embarrassed. He kept his eyes on the set up itself, all the while mumbling something under his breath about wanting to be extra careful, as well as a simple thank you when she was done. Could they move on? Yeah? When the professor started explaining what this experiment had to do with Astronomy - which, no, he didn't think of - the third year started jotting some things down in his notes. There was an extra little note about...... what was it? Gravitational acceleration? Yeah, that. He probably needed to find out what that was but focusing so much on that was...... probably not a good idea. What could go wrong in this experiment? Well. Lucas glanced over at his own set up, the one Sandhu had done, and felt the colour rising to his cheeks again. There was an obvious answer here, an elephant that was MUCH bigger than Dani the elephant, but he didn't want to say it. But he had to, didn't he? Slowly, he raised his hand up in the air, before saying, "Uh, I guess, you could add friction to your set up? Which would affect your results." Pause. "Or just set it up badly, I guess, which might still affect the results." Everyone makes mistakes, she told herself. even the gifted students. Especially the gifted students. Which was why Mr Dakest really shouldn't worry about his setup, or how it was wrong, but focus on how to fix it instead. Which she'd tell everyone collectively in just a minute. "Very good, Master Dakest," she said, nodding in approval. "Friction does often fudge results, and there's often nothing we can do to remove it completely. And the setup of apparatus too, which is why designing experiments often take a lot of time to consider how the design could affect results." SPOILER!!: siriusblackliveson Quote: Originally Posted by siriusblackliveson Patrick glanced over at Anna. He was about to tell her to hush up when he heard the three point deduction. He tried to hide the snicker that was about to come out of his mouth when he just slid his notebook toward her: real smooth PREFECT He turned back toward the front of the room listening he knew that the variables could have all been different. It was clear by the fact that many people got different times and numbers. Raising his hand he waited to speak, "Well depending on what you want to get out of the experiment you could have a lose string which would cause it to wobble and create even worse results." At least he hoped that was the answer she was looking for. Simran was not, in fact, looking for any specific answer at all, but for the general pattern the answers tended towards. She'd personally have suggested that things sometimes go flying and hit people in the face and then they go blind, but that was extreme, and she wasn't a student. Just an old woman prone to hyperbole. "That is correct, instable equipment can lead to inaccurate results, but at least they'd be consistently inaccurate." SPOILER!!: Felixr Quote: Originally Posted by Felixir Uhhhhhhhhhh. Right. Riiiiiiight. Right. Hesitating for just a moment, Kaiser reached out and took the stopwatch from Professor Sandhu, blinking as she (presumably) repeated the instructions to him. "... Right." Ahem. "Thank you." All the same, what on earth was an 'oscillation'? Did that mean the swinging? Kaiser was going to assume it was referring to the swinging. He held the pendulum to stop it from moving, and then started the whole process again, this time using the stopwatch and writing down the timings and everything. He was only just about finishing up the process with the shorter pendulum when the professor moved the lesson on. Again, it wasn't long before Kaiser was completely lost in her words, which might have been clear from the blank look on his face. He did, however, at least understand the question. Kaiser eyed the pendulum on his desk for a moment, before raising his hand to give an answer. "A strong gust of wind?" That could have negatively affected this experiment's results, right? "Correct, Kaiser!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together in delight. "Environmental factors out of your control can affect your results. A gust of wind, for example, even if it's light. For light-sensitive experiments, doing the experiment at different times of day, or with varying degrees of cloud cover." Now addressing everyone, she flicked her wand at the board, and all the previous answers on it were wiped clean. Then she turned back to them, just as the piece of chalk wrote "ERROR" in large letters on the board. "Everything you have all mentioned falls under one large category -- error. It can cloud the accuracy of your results or, in extreme cases, derail the entire experiment." "There are two main types of error: Random Error and Systematic Error," she said, but as she turned, caught the piece of chalk throwing a tantrum and refusing to write. She sighed. "Very well, then." Making her way to the blackboard, she picked up a different piece of chalk, now yellow, the chalk she used for equations and incantations to distinguish it from the regular white chalk the other notes used, and began to write. Desperate measures and all. "Random errors usually result from the experimenter's inability to take the same measurement in exactly the same way to get exact the same number." "They are are statistical fluctuations (in either direction) in the measured data due to the precision limitations of the measurement device. Your metre rule can only take measurements in increments of one centimetre, for example. If you had a piece of string measuring 11.3cm, it would read as 11cm, likewise for a piece of string measuring 10.9cm. Sometimes it's not even just the device, and human error adds too! Like if you blink and barely miss exactly when an oscillation completes, or the reaction time between you observing a result and reading the stopwatch." "Systematic errors, however, are inaccuracies that are consistently in the same direction, and usually persist throughout the entire experiment. For example, if your stopwatch doesn't reset to zero but is always 0.2s ahead or if your measuring tape were stretched out. However, because these affect all your readings, they don't usually affect your results." They could, though. Oof, that was a lot of words. And a lot of writing. She had not missed this part of muggle teaching. Anyway, now for the fun part, with exactly no writing involved! "Now, if you all would disassemble your apparatus, pack your bags and head to the back of the classroom -- there are some boxes there for you to put the materials in." Once everyone was done, and the apparatus put away, and students congregated at the back of the classroom, she stretched lightly and cracked her knuckles. This one would be a doozy. With a flick of her wand, the tables and chairs moved themselves to the sides of the classroom, stacked, and shrunk until they occupied only a tenth of the space they once did. A second flick of the wand sent the boxes of apparatus to her office, and a third brought in more boxes, and they moved to the cardinal directions of the room. "I had wanted you to use the apparatus for this activity, but when I was doing a trial run, I realised that the retort stands are half the size of some first years." Not ideal to be running around with. "The box with you at the back of the room contains little bean bags. Please take one of each colour. There are orange, purple and brown." One for each other cardinal direction of the room, y'know? Why those colours? Well, they weren't house colours. "Your job is to get from there to the other boxes and deposit your bean bags into the corresponding coloured box. However --" she flicked her wand at the ceiling, and previously camouflaged and hidden pendulum-like round pillows attached to strings dropped from the ceiling. "You have to get through the pendulums. If you get hit by said pendulums, you have to return to the starting position and begin again." *"You may* and should use these pendulums to sabotage your classmates."** They were only pillows after all, and there was very little serious injury that could stem from a pillow. "First ten to finish the course gets a 8-inch discount on your next essay." "NOW GO GO GO GO GOOOOOOOOOO." Oh how her inner Gryffindor loved chaos. OOC NOTE: It's main activity time! You'll have approximately 3 days to do so! __________________ Last edited by laurange; 05-21-2019 at 11:52 PM. Reason: coding D: