Mr Rawlings and his Science Project
Mr Rawlings (Lily's dad) visited Unit One to talk about a fantastic science project that he organised earlier in the year. He actually put a toy rat into space. This was superb for Unit One who are learning all about space. Mr Rawlings was able to talk about gravity, air pressure, condensation, meteorology as well as space and he showed some great photographs of his toy rat as it made its journey.
He explained that he used a helium balloon to facilitate the trip out of Minsterworth and into the earth's atmosphere. Attached were cameras on 45 second timers, a polystyrene protective box, GPS transmitter, a parachute and the rat.
As the balloon progressed higher it got bigger and, after 26 miles, it made it into near space. Air pressure was then responsible for bursting the balloon, but this also deployed a parachute which brought the equipment safely back down. The photos taken were amazing and showed the rat safely returning to a farmers field in Newent where it was promptly mauled by the farmer's dog!
Unfortunately the GPS transmitter couldn't send a signal from the area it had fallen into but Mr Rawlings had thought to include his phone number on the equipment and the farmer gave him a call. Unit one were fascinated by his tale and Powerpoint presentation which helped to enrich their study of space.Many thanks for an interesting afternoon.
