The Ski Trip:
A (scientific) tale of friends and (energy) lessons learned.
The Spring Break ski trip was coming up in two days, and best friends Ella and Lyn were in the middle of a fight.
Ella's hands were waving around while she gestured in Lyn's direction.
"Why did you tell Chriss that she can room with us? Now she's going to slow us down. You know she doesn't know how to ski!"
Lyn looked right at Ella, saying confidently, "We both know that Chriss has had a hard time with school this semester. Let's be grown ups about this. She's rooming with us, and that's that. Now drop it."
Ella couldn't find words. That was the first time for Lyn to speak to her so affirmatively. Several other students from Science class were watching from afar. But she was right. Chriss' brother had just deployed to Afghanistan, and her family was still getting used to the idea of not having Philip around.
"Ok, Lyn. You're right. Let's go to science. That project's due today."
Ella and Lyn walked in to find that projects were already being set up. They skipped over to their lab table to catch up.
They set up their Newton's cradle and placed a timer next to it. They proudly stood by their project until it was their turn.
Ella and Lyn were ready to present. They even recorded a short video podcast of themselves using the Newton's cradle. When Mrs. Cooper came to their station, she smiled at them and told them to begin with their presentation.
The girls had their file pulled up and pressed play. On the screen, the class watched, as Ella started with, "Hi. I'm Ella, and this is Lyn. We are going to show potential energy and kinetic energy." Lyn begins, "This is called a Newton's Cradle. It demonstrates the transfer of energy. As you see, when you pull back the first ball, the energy is transferred through each sphere, causing the last one to move, and so on."