SCIENCE CLUB ENRICHED THROUGH BAYFIELD TRIP

The Greenwood High School Science Club recently took a trip to the Apostle Islands by Bayfield, where they participated in a boat tour of the islands. Here they learned about the history, biology and geology of the islands. The group also got a chance to tour the Les Voight Fish Hatchery south of Bayfield, where they learned about the biology and rearing of stocks of popular lake fish such as lake trout, splake, brown trout and others. It was interesting to learn that 85% of the fish raised at the facility are stocked in Lake Superior but some go to other lakes in the state. This was the first of possibly a number of trips the science club will take this school year. The purpose of the science club is to provide opportunities for upper-division science students to learn more about science outside the classroom!

The physics class has been working on building model rocket gliders to launch and recover by guided flight using the built-in ailerons. These are Apogee Aurora Clipper rockets powered by D12-7 engines that generate enough thrust to lift the rocket to an altitude of 2,000 feet and then, when fully configured, use a radio transmitter to send signals to the servo motors connected to the ailerons to steer them during their descent. If the weather isn't too bad, we will be launching these rockets before Christmas break!

The class has also been working on a marble roller coaster project during their study of projectiles and trajectories. The object is to build a roller coaster with at least one loop and two turns using a marble to send through the track and strike a target at the end.

An upcoming project is to have the class participate once again in the annual Purdue University Bridge Bust Competition and build balsa wood bridges to exact specifications to withstand a maximum torture test of several kilograms before breaking!

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