Before Thanksgiving Break we spent some time looking closely at cranberries and experimenting with them. We first predicted if they would sink and float. It turns out that cranberries float. We then cut them open to find out why. Cranberries have air pockets inside of them. Farmers use this to their advantage when they harvest them through the use of cranberry bogs.
We then explored with heating cranberries. When the heat fills the air pockets, it causes the cranberry to rupture, with a "popping" sound.
Next, we looked at dried cranberries. We examined their surface and compared it to that of a regular cranberry. When we dropped the dried cranberry in clear soda, the air bubbles would catch on the ridges and bring the dried cranberry to the surface. The air bubbles would pop and then the cranberry would fall back down. The cranberry's movement up and down made the cranberry look as if it were dancing!
We ended our exploration by building catapults that would launch cranberries. The goal was to make adjustments after each trial to launch the cranberry further!
The winning catapult launched a cranberry almost 20 yards!
