{"id":139,"date":"2011-01-29T13:41:54","date_gmt":"2011-01-29T20:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/2011\/01\/whats-in-a-golf-ball\/"},"modified":"2011-06-22T14:45:29","modified_gmt":"2011-06-22T20:45:29","slug":"whats-in-a-golf-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/2011\/01\/whats-in-a-golf-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"What&rsquo;s in a Golf Ball?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/andrew_golfball2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;\" title=\"Sawing golfball\" src=\"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/andrew_golfball_thumb2.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Sawing golfball\" width=\"244\" height=\"197\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>My son asked us, this past summer, what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inside a golf ball.<\/p>\n<p>This experiment is extra fun because you can tie it into your golf game (I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t play golf, so I did not), geology (I am a geologist, so I did), and good mechanical\/shop skills.<\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Purpose:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Find out what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the middle of a golf ball.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Background Research:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Analyze the golf ball. Does it float or sink in water? Does it bounce? What does the surface appear to be made of? Can you think of other tests to perform on the golf ball?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hypothesis:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The hypothesis simply states what your child thinks she will find in the center of the golf ball, based on her background research.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Materials:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>golf ball<\/li>\n<li>vise<\/li>\n<li>hack saw with new blade (you may need two-three blades)<\/li>\n<li>safety goggles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Procedure:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Wear goggles. Your child has her hypothesis, but she can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be sure what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inside the ball. YOU should have some idea*, but she won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. This is part of the fun.<\/li>\n<li>Clamp the golf ball into the vise (if possible, let your child do this herself).\u00c2\u00a0 Ideally, it shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be too tight because that will make it more difficult to cut. However, it needs to be tight enough that it won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wiggle around.\u00c2\u00a0 Fiddle with it a bit. Kids love playing with vises so let her take her time.<\/li>\n<li>Show your child how to change a blade in the hack saw. One side is sharp. You know this, make sure she knows this. The properties of a hack saw are not enhanced, to any appreciable degree, by the addition of blood.<\/li>\n<li>At this point your child may be feeling quite mechanically accomplished. If this is her first foray into your shop\/garage, you may be feeling quite parentally accomplished. Give each other a high five.<\/li>\n<li>Start cutting. I started the cut for my son, just because the hacksaw can slide around before the first ridge was cut.\u00c2\u00a0 <strong>Your child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fingers shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be anywhere near the ball or saw blade<\/strong> (please see above photo), so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s up to you, but be sure to stay nearby.<\/li>\n<li>Adjust the position of the ball as necessary to get entirely through the ball.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<blockquote><p>*<em>There are two probable golf-ball gut scenarios. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<ol>\n<li><em>solid core<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>liquid (non-toxic) core<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Results:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/DW-Golfball21.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;\" title=\"DW Golfball2\" src=\"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/DW-Golfball2_thumb1.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"DW Golfball2\" width=\"264\" height=\"218\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>After your child finishes cutting the golf ball open, have her analyze it again. What does she see?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Your child based his hypothesis by analyzing exterior properties of the ball (density, bounciness, etc.). Have her restate her hypothesis now that she has seen the interior of the ball. Was her reasoning sound? Was her hypothesis correct? If it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s okay!<\/p>\n<p>Science-y Parallel\/Parable of the Day: Geologists can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t cut the earth in half to learn about about the earth. Just as your child couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t scratch very deeply into the plastic shell of the golf ball, a geologist can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u0153scratch\u00e2\u20ac\u009d much of the Earth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s surface and must gather information from the surface.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>A small junior hacksaw and extra blades can be picked up very cheaply from Walmart or Harbor Freight.\u00c2\u00a0 Since hacksaws are good for other noble pursuits, such as building PVC Marshmallow Shooters, you should persuade yourself that they are a good addition to your child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <a href=\"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/2011\/01\/diy-young-inventors-kit\/\" target=\"_blank\">Young Inventor&#8217;s Kit<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Visiting from Skip to my Lou?  Be sure to let me know what you think!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My son asked us, this past summer, what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inside a golf ball. This experiment is extra fun because you can tie it into your golf game (I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t play golf, so I did not), geology (I am a geologist, so I did), and good mechanical\/shop skills. Purpose: Find out what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the middle of a &#038;hellip <a class=\"read-excerpt\" href=\"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/2011\/01\/whats-in-a-golf-ball\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&raquo;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[16,44],"tags":[90,97,95,96],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desertwind.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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