Sunday, October 31, 2010

Shibaura Institute of Technology Writing 1B: Task 5 Lab Report

Hi Everyone,
Yesterday we learned how to write a process paragraph. Your next task is to apply the lesson by writing a lab report. Some good examples of lab reports are below. Shibaura Institute of Technology students wrote the lab reports.
Enjoy!

A Comparison between Strong Acid and Weak Acid by Fumihisa T.

     You can do a simple experiment to prove that strong acid is a better conductor of electricity than weak acid. All you need is a suitable quantity of hydrochloric acid (strong acid) and acetic acid (weak acid), 2 test tubes, 2 light bulbs, 4 conductors and 4 electrode bars. First, fill half of a test tube with hydrochloric acid and another one with acetic acid. Second, connect a light bulb and 2 electrode bars with 2 conductors like in the diagram below. Do this once more. Then soak the electrode bars of one set in the hydrochloric acid and the electrode bars of the other set in the acetic acid. You will see that the light bulb connected to electrode bars that were soaked in hydrochloric acid flashes more brightly than the one connected to electrode bars soaked in acetic acid. This proves that strong acid is a better conductor of electricity than weak acid.
Image by Fumihisa T.


Specific Heat Experiment by Kimihiro O.

Purpose: To show that aluminum has a higher specific heat than steel.
Materials: 2 cans - 1 made of steel and 1 made of  aluminum, 2 thermometers, a refrigerator
Procedure:
1. Fill the can with water.
2. Put the cans into the refrigerator for 5 minutes.
3. Check the temperature of the water in the cans and compare
4. Repeat 2~3 times every 5 minutes
Result: The water in the aluminum can gets cold quickly.

Image by Kimihiro O.

     You can do a simple experiment to prove that aluminum has a higher specific heat than steel. All you need are 2 cans: one made of steel and another made of aluminum, 2 thermometers, and a refrigerator. First, fill the can with water. After that, put the cans into the refrigerator. After 5 minutes, check the temperature of the water in the cans and compare and repeat the process 2~3 times till the time water in the cans become the same temperature. You will see the water in the aluminum can gets cold quickly. This proves that aluminum has a higher specific heat than steel.


Note for teachers: As usual, I have reformulated the students' writing to make it grammatical and a bit more natural sounding. Scott Thornbury has written a great article about reformulation. You can see the abstract here: Reformulation and reconstruction: Tasks that promote 'noticing'.

No comments:

Post a Comment