Space Shuttle Tiles and Density
Students calculate density to explain its importance in space exploration, specifically in the context of using porous silicon in Space Shuttle tiles.
Overview
Students study density through the materials used to protect the Space Shuttle during re-entry. The lesson opens with a re-entry video and a tennis ball and baseball comparison, leading to a discussion of why shuttle tiles should be low density. Students read a NASA article on the tiles and list their properties. They then calculate the density of unknown plastics to identify them, and convert units to compare their samples with a shuttle tile in a density table. Pairs test how aluminum foil and Styrofoam limit heat transfer, and students close with a written reflection and a final measurement challenge using an object of unknown measures.
Lesson Objectives
- Understand the concept of density and its importance in space exploration, specifically in the context of using porous silicon in Space Shuttle tiles. They will learn to calculate density and analyze data to determine the suitability of materials for specific applications, such as protecting the Space Shuttle during re-entry.
- Describe how material densities affect a space shuttle launch.
- Generate data to determine the identity of unknown substances based on density.
- Apply an understanding of density.
Standards
NGSS · 3
- MS-PS1-1Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.
- MS-PS1-1Each pure substance has characteristic physical properties (for any bulk quantity under given conditions) that can be used to identify it.
- MS-PS1-3Students calculate the density of eight different cubes, all with the same volume but different masses. Students use illustrations of the atoms and molecules that make up the different cube materials to begin to understand how the atoms and molecules of a substance determine its characteristic properties, including density, and can be used to identify it.
CCSS Math · 3
- HSA-SSE.A.1Interpret expressions that represent a quantity in terms of its context.
- HSA-SSE.A.2Use the structure of an expression to identify ways to rewrite it.
- HSA-REI.A.1Explain each step in solving a simple equation as following from the equality of numbers asserted at the previous step, starting from the assumption that the original equation has a solution. Construct a viable argument to justify a solution method.