For week three (3), you will be making some really cool origami figures! With every fold you make with your paper, you are making your paper thicker and thicker. When you fold the thick parts of paper over onto itself, the paper wants to “fix” itself. When we say “fix” itself, that means that the paper wants to try and flatten again just like it was before you started folding the paper.
We will be exploring the concepts of potential and kinetic energy. An example of potential energy is how a rock at the top of the hill has great potential to fall. You can also see this principle in action with a spring. When you push it down it has a potential to jump back up into place. When the spring jumps or the rock is falling, that is called kinetic energy or energy in motion.
One of the figures you are making this week is a frog. Every time you make a paper fold, you create a spring on the back of the frog. Once you push down on the back of the frog, you depress the spring where energy is being stored (potential energy). Once you let go, BOING! Your frog jumps into the air (kinetic energy).
Essential Concepts:
Areas of focus: Physics
Aim: How to create potential energy and how to convert it to kinetic energy.
Materials Needed:
We will be exploring the concepts of potential and kinetic energy. An example of potential energy is how a rock at the top of the hill has great potential to fall. You can also see this principle in action with a spring. When you push it down it has a potential to jump back up into place. When the spring jumps or the rock is falling, that is called kinetic energy or energy in motion.
One of the figures you are making this week is a frog. Every time you make a paper fold, you create a spring on the back of the frog. Once you push down on the back of the frog, you depress the spring where energy is being stored (potential energy). Once you let go, BOING! Your frog jumps into the air (kinetic energy).
Essential Concepts:
- Energy: Energy is the capacity for doing work. Energy exists in various forms like potential, kinetic, thermal, electrical, chemical or nuclear.
- Potential energy: is what we call energy that is stored and depends upon the relative position of various parts of a system
- Kinetic energy: is a form of energy that an object or a particle has by reason of its motion.
- Origami: Origami is the art of paper folding, which is often associated with Japanese culture.
Areas of focus: Physics
Aim: How to create potential energy and how to convert it to kinetic energy.
Materials Needed:
- 1 sheet of construction paper
- *Scissors
Procedure/Instructions:
- Make a square piece of paper by taking the top right corner and folding it down towards the left hand edge of the paper. Trim the excess paper with some scissors.
- Fold your paper in half by taking the left hand edge of the paper and lining it up with the right hand side.
- Take the top right corner and fold down to meet the edge of the left hand side of the paper. Unfold.
- Now take the top left hand corner and fold down to meet the edge of the right hand side of the paper. Unfold.
- Take the bottom right corner and fold up to meet the edge of the left hand side of the paper. Unfold
- Take the bottom left hand corner and fold up to meet the edge of the right hand side of the paper. Unfold. You should have a criss-cross pattern on your paper.
- Take the top half of the paper and pinch the sides in and fold down towards the center. You should have a shape that looks like a house.
- Repeat with the bottom half of the paper and pinch the sides in and fold the paper up towards the center. You should now have a square.
- Next take the right hand corner and fold up so the tip is aligned with the top corner. Then fold this section down in half. Repeat on the left hand corner.
- Repeat with the bottom section.
- Flip over. Take the bottom corner and fold up towards the center.
- Take the left hand side and fold it in towards the center. Repeat on the right hand side.
- Fold the entire paper in half, creating a pinch or mountain.
- Take the bottom half and fold down to create a valley.
- You now have an origami frog! Push down on the back and release. Your frog should jump!
Connection to the real world
With every fold of the paper you are making your frog thicker, and when you fold that thickened paper over itself the paper wants to correct to its natural state – being flat – and it bounces. The frog you’ve created is like a paper spring. As you push down on the back of your frog the spring is depressed – potential energy is stored. When you let go, the frog leaps into the air – the potential energy is spent in the form of kinetic energy and your frog flies.
Elkhart County is home to the cardboard and packaging company, Welch Packaging Group! The concepts of energy that you explored in this activity are very important in this industry and applying these concepts are essential to creating strong cardboard that can withstand forces to protect the item inside. Have you noticed that cardboard boxes are not made of flat sheets of paper? Have you ever wondered why cardboard has ‘ripples’? The ripples are called corrugation and help make the cardboard stronger and more rigid through a process of glueing and stacking many layers of paper and corrugated paper on top of one another. Corrugation makes it possible to make light, strong structures. Corrugations make it possible for energy to be absorbed (just like a spring), better protecting what’s inside of the cardboard box.
Scientists have also used origami (the art of paper folding) to help with mathematical equations related to packing things into small spaces. Researchers at Brigham Young University, National Science Foundation, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and origami expert Robert Lang designed a space solar array (solar panel) which can be folded compactly and then deployed while in outer space. When opened, the proposed disk-like array is 25 meters in diameter (82 feet) but when folded origami-style, it is only 2.7 meter (8.8 feet)! You can learn more at https://langorigami.com/. If you want to check out more origami art, check out Wellfield Botanic Gardens, ‘Origami in the Garden’, which has 21 origami sculptures on display!
Challenges:
Think about these questions while you are working:
With every fold of the paper you are making your frog thicker, and when you fold that thickened paper over itself the paper wants to correct to its natural state – being flat – and it bounces. The frog you’ve created is like a paper spring. As you push down on the back of your frog the spring is depressed – potential energy is stored. When you let go, the frog leaps into the air – the potential energy is spent in the form of kinetic energy and your frog flies.
Elkhart County is home to the cardboard and packaging company, Welch Packaging Group! The concepts of energy that you explored in this activity are very important in this industry and applying these concepts are essential to creating strong cardboard that can withstand forces to protect the item inside. Have you noticed that cardboard boxes are not made of flat sheets of paper? Have you ever wondered why cardboard has ‘ripples’? The ripples are called corrugation and help make the cardboard stronger and more rigid through a process of glueing and stacking many layers of paper and corrugated paper on top of one another. Corrugation makes it possible to make light, strong structures. Corrugations make it possible for energy to be absorbed (just like a spring), better protecting what’s inside of the cardboard box.
Scientists have also used origami (the art of paper folding) to help with mathematical equations related to packing things into small spaces. Researchers at Brigham Young University, National Science Foundation, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and origami expert Robert Lang designed a space solar array (solar panel) which can be folded compactly and then deployed while in outer space. When opened, the proposed disk-like array is 25 meters in diameter (82 feet) but when folded origami-style, it is only 2.7 meter (8.8 feet)! You can learn more at https://langorigami.com/. If you want to check out more origami art, check out Wellfield Botanic Gardens, ‘Origami in the Garden’, which has 21 origami sculptures on display!
Challenges:
Think about these questions while you are working:
- What are some other examples of potential energy?
- What do you think would happen if you used a thicker paper to create your frog? Thinner paper? Would your frog jump higher?
- Want to try more? Try the jumping bean video or check out the hooey stick video below!
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Tuesday @4:30pm - Live from the Lab
The Lab in a Bag team will walk through how to make an origami frog and discuss the concepts of potential and kinetic energy. |
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Wednesday 10am - Hooey Stick with John Moran & Cole
Wondering what those additional sticks in your Week 3 Bag are? Check out this video about Hooey sticks and vibration! |
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Wednesday @4:30pm - Out & About
We visit the origami sculptures at Wellfield Botanic Gardens with Executive Director Eric Garton and learn more about the science behind origami! We also do origami with Braelyn in the Rex & Alice A. Martin Foundation Children's Garden! |
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Replanting your Garden in a Glove
It's time to transfer your Garden in a Glove into soil! Check out this video from Amy and Braelyn from Wellfield Botanic Gardens who walk us through how to look after our plants. |
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