How Strong Is It? · Discovery Education and 3M assume no liability for your use of the...

A good scientist is a safe scientist. Do not conduct any experiment without adult supervision. This content is provided for informational purposes only;Discovery Education and 3M assume no liability for your use of the information. 3M, O-Cel-OTM, Post-it® and Scotch® are trademarks of 3M.

Published by Discovery Education. © 2010. All rights reserved.

How Strong Is It?

Lesson Overview:Overview: Students frequently use Post-it® Notes but seldom give thought to using a Post-it® Notes to learnand practice the skills of inquiry. Post-it® Notes readily stick to most surfaces and require a small, butmeasureable, force to remove them. In this lesson, students will work in small groups to gather quantitative dataabout the amount of force needed to pull a Post-it® Notes from the surface of a CD along the plane of the CD.They will initially be offered the chance to explore the adhesion conditions and properties of the Post-it® Notesin an open inquiry setting. Later, in a more directed inquiry approach, students will focus on two variables thataffect the degree of adhesion on a Post-it® Note, the force used to attach the Post-it® Notes to the CD and thesurface area of the adhesive part of the Post-it® Notes that is attached to the CD. Students will continue theirinquiry at home by involving their parents in additional investigations of Post-it® Notes in everyday situationsaround the house.

Learning Objectives:Students will be able to:

work with other students to discover some adhesive properties of Post-it® Notes. test Post-it® Notes for their adhesive strength interpret student-collected data in order to draw conclusions

Academic Standards:National Science Education Standards (SCES)

Science as InquiryContent Standard A

Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry Ask a question about objects, organisms, and events in the environment. Employ simple equipment and tools to gather data and extend the senses. Use data to construct a reasonable explanation.

Physical Science

Properties of Objects and MaterialsObjects have many observable properties, including size, weight, shape, color,temperature, and the ability to react with other substances. Those properties canbe measured using tools, such as rulers, balances, and thermometers.

Benchmarks for Science LiteracyScientific investigations may take many different forms, including observing what things are likeor what is happening somewhere, collecting specimens for analysis, and doing experiments.1B/E1*

The earth's gravity pulls any object on or near the earth toward it without touching it. 4G/E1*



Time Frame: One 40-minute session to engage students and demonstrate how to set up the materials and a 50-minute session for students to carry out the investigation themselves.

Background for the Teacher:Due to the fact that Post-it® Notes easily stick to most surfaces, they are a handy item students can use toinvestigate adhesive forces between two surfaces. Through such investigation, students can develop andpractice their inquiry skills. Any adhesive material (glue, tape, Post-it® Notes) allows one surface to stick toanother through either mechanical binding or molecular attraction. In this lesson, students will measure thisadhesive force by using weights to pull a Post-it® Notes off the surface of an ordinary CD. The amount of forceneeded to remove a Post-it® Notes from a surface is determined by factors such as the amount of force firstused to stick the Note to the surface, the nature of the surface, the angle and style with which the Note is peeledfrom the surface, the surface area of the adhesive part of the Note, and of course the proprietary nature of theadhesive itself. To make this investigation practical for students and allow them to collect some quantitativedata, the directions provided below will suggest a standard procedure for students to use regarding how they areto pull the Post-it® Notes from a surface.

Materials for the teacher: pad of Post-it® Notes black board marker

Materials for each group of students: Post-it® Notes, four 3”x3” squares* CD** 3M™ Masking Tape, several 4” sections string, 2’ long scissors paperclip weights*** vertical surface such as a door, wall, or side of a desk or table one worksheet and pencil for each student in group

* If your school has generic adhesive notes available, it is recommended you use Post-it® Notes for their stronger adhesiveproperties.** Any CD will work; students could be encouraged to bring in unused CDs from home.*** Examples include batteries, heavy washers, full boxes of paperclips, etc. Provide extra string and 3M™ Masking Tape tomake loops so the weights can be hooked over the paperclip. Groups could share these weights if necessary. You could have somestudents make these ahead of time. You might want to test the setup as described below in order to choose weights that are heavyenough to actually pull the CD from the Post-it® Note



Classroom Activities:

Engage1. Ask students how they got to school today. Find out the different methods and write the name of each

method on the board (e.g. walk, bus, car, bicycle, other). Produce a pad of Post-it® Notes and ask howmany students walked to school. Write the number of students who walked on a Post-it® Notes andstick the Note to the board next to the word “walk.” Do the same for the other methods.

2. Suggest to students that Post-it® Notes are an easy and convenient way to record and displayinformation like this. Ask students if they’ve ever thought about why Post-it® Notes stick to things likeblackboards. In the ensuing brief discussion, focus more on the amount of adhesion or stickinessbetween the Post-it® Notes and the board than on the molecular mechanism of the adhesion.

3. As you pull off a Post-it® Notes from your pad and hand one to each student, tell students you wouldlike them to explore the stickiness of their Post-it® Notes for any surface of their choosing. Allow asmuch freedom for this initial exploration within the classroom as you feel comfortable. After studentshave had sufficient time for this activity, gather them together to share and discus their discoveries. Didthey discover what, if any, factors might affect how hard it is to pull a Post-it® Notes off of a surface?Make a list of their suggestions on the board or chart paper to refer to later. Since investigating some ofthese factors is the goal of this lesson, encourage students to brainstorm how they might determine theforce or amount of stickiness between a Post-it® Notes and a surface.

Explore1. Tell students you are going to provide them with some materials and give them the chance to measure

the force of stickiness between a Post-it® Notes and a surface. Refer to the list you made of theirsuggestions of factors that might affect the stickiness and if “surface area” and “how hard you press” arenot on the list, add them. Those will be the two factors or variables they will investigate. If you have notused the term “variable” with your students before, use this opportunity to introduce the concept,provide some examples including the two here, and discuss the role of variables in a scientificinvestigation. Otherwise, it would be appropriate to review the concept now.

2. Using the figure provided1, demonstrate how to attach a paperclip to a string and tie the other end of thestring to a CD. Pull the knots tight so they don’t come undone. Using 3M™ Masking Tape, tape thenon-stick edge of the Post-it® Notes to a vertical surface, i.e. essentially upside down, with the stickyside towards the vertical surface. Allow room below for the weights to hang down just off the floor.Next slide the CD with string and empty paperclip attached up under the Post-it® Notes so the entireadhesive portion of the Note will make contact with the CD. Lightly press the Post-it® Notes against theCD so that when you let go of the CD and string, it does not fall. Demonstrate how when you pull downon the string with enough force, the CD will suddenly pull away from Post-it Note™. Reattach the CDto the Post-it® Notes and demonstrate how the string can exert a force on the CD when you add weights



to the paperclip one at a time. You might stop after adding one or two weights so as to leave the surpriseof the weights falling to the students when they are doing this. See photo for example.



3. Show students how they are to change the values of the two variables for this investigation: 1) theamount of force used to stick the Post-it® Notes to the CD and 2) the surface area of the adhesive part ofthe Post-it Note™. The size or value of the first variable is difficult to quantify, whereas the secondvariable is easy quantifiable and can be tied to a math lesson on surface area if appropriate for yourstudents. As you again press on the Post-it® Notes to stick it to the CD, demonstrate how you can pressgently, with a moderate force, and finally with a large force. These then will be the three values of the“force” variable: soft, medium, and hard. They are subjective terms and therefore not standard; i.e. noteasily comparable from one group to another. You might use this concern to suggest that within eachgroup, the same student should be the one to press the Post-it Note to the CD each time. This willminimize changing the value of force due to different students and keep the value the same as much aspossible from one trial to the next. It also is a talking point to emphasize the importance of trying tokeep all variables in an investigation the same except for the variable deliberately being changed.

To illustrate the second variable, make a large sketch on the board of the back of a Post-it Note™,highlighting the part or area that contains the adhesive. Depending on the math experience of yourstudents, tailor your presentation to their understanding of area. If your students have had little expose toarea, you could simply call the amount of adhesive on the back of one Post-it® Notes one unit. Studentscould then cut the Post-it® Notes in half vertically to produce a Note with one half a unit of adhesiveand in quarters for a Note with one-fourth a unit of adhesive. If your students are capable of measuringand calculating area, let them quantify area this way.

4. Hand out a student worksheet to each student and go over it with the class. Identify and modify the unitsas necessary. Before distributing the materials, have students make predictions about the outcomes theyexpect concerning both variables. This could either be done individually or in their assigned groups.Distribute materials and let students begin; assist as needed.

If you have time and your students can work with averages, you could ask groups to repeat each trialmore than once so they can gather statistical data for this investigation. For this, you will want toprovide additional Post-it® Notes so they can use a new one for each trial. Model how they couldmodify the data tables to accommodate this additional data.

5. When the groups have collected their data and cleaned up their materials, encourage them to examinetheir data to look for cause/effect relationships and to revisit their predictions. Can they explain theirdata? Did they discover any logical trends and patterns in their data? Can they extend their data to higheror lower values than what they tested?

Explain1. Gather students together to summarize and discuss their results and conclusions. Can they develop

hypotheses to explain their data? What parts of their procedures could they improve upon? Can students



articulate a model or comparison to explain their results? Can students make a bar graph to communicatetheir findings to others?

Extend1. Generally, the principle underlying this investigation involves fasteners or ways to hold two materials

together. Challenge students to apply their findings to other situations.

2. With your supervision, some students might want to investigate the effect of heating (with a hair dryer)on the Post-it® Notes’ ability to stick to a surface and hold up weight.

3. What factor does time play on Post-it® Notes’ ability to hold up weight? How long can a Post-it® Notesstick to a CD before losing it’s grip?

4. Try the exploration steps again and compare Post-it® Super Sticky Notes to traditional Post-it® Notes.How do the results change?

Evaluate1. Which two variables did you investigate when you worked with the 3M Post-it® Notes ?2. What did the weights represent in this investigation?3. Summarize what you found out about each of the two variables as they influenced the ability of a Post-

it® Notes to stick to a surface.

Home Connections:Parent Background Information

Materials such as 3M™ Masking Tape, Scotch™ Tape and glues and Post-it® Notes that adhere tosurfaces work because of the adhesive forces between two surfaces. Students make use of such items intheir everyday lives and by investigating some of their properties of adhesion, these items can be used todevelop and practice student inquiry skills in a fun manner. Children learn inquiry skills throughcuriosity, asking questions about the world around them, making observations and gathering data, andworking to make sense of this data. Practicing these skills at home will greatly benefit your child incountless ways.

Activities to do with your child



1. If you have an old CD, some string and weights, and 3M Post-it® Notes, have your child demonstratehow she or he conducted their investigation at school. You could discuss what they found out and try toduplicate those findings at home.

2. One of the factors or variables your child investigated at school had to do with surface area, specificallyhow much area on the back of the Post-it® Notes was covered with adhesive. Practice finding andcomparing area with items found around the home such as place mats, pictures, rugs, newspaper, etc.Area can be calculated using this equation: A = length x height.

3. Can you and your child find situations around the home where area is a factor in performance?Snowshoes or skis? Holding a heavy object on the refrigerator with fewer or more magnets?

4. Investigate what affect the type of surface has on a Post-it® Note’s ability to stick to that surface. Isthere any way you and your child could assign a number to this ability to stick?

5. There are a wide range of Post-it® Notes from 3M that have the potential for numerous inquiryactivities.

Scoring Key for Evaluate

1. We investigated the effect of how hard you press on the Post-it® Notes on how much weight the Post-it® Notes could hold. We also looked at how the surface area of the sticky part of the Post-it Noteaffected how much weight it could hold.

2. The weights we used provided a force to pull the CD away from the Post-it® Notes.

3. As we pressed harder on the Post-it® Note, it could hold up more weight. The larger the surface area ofthe Post-it® Notes sticking to the CD, the more weight it could hold.



Student Worksheet

Data Tables

Weight Held vs. Force Applied

How Hard Post-it® Notes Is Pressed Weight Post-it® Notes Holdssoft

mediumhard

Weight Held vs. Surface Area of Adhesive

Surface Area of Adhesive Weight Post-it® Notes Holds

How Strong Is It? · Discovery Education and 3M assume no liability for your use of the...

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