THE SCIENCE OF SAVING DAYLIGHT originally by Kevin Hainline with 826LA

What is science? Science is the search for knowledge. It is how we (humans) try to understand the world around us.

How do we do science? This has been standardized as the scientific method. We ask questions! We make predictions! We test our predictions! We make claims based on those tests! ?

The Scientific Method Hypothesis: An “educated guess.”

How do we report our results?” Papers Magazine and Newspaper Articles Science Talks

Here are ways we can talk about science.

1. Ticklish Rats!

2. Colors!

What are we going to be doing, today? We want to answer a simple question: Why do we move our clocks ahead by an hour every year for Daylight Saving Time? ?

Now here is the real (boring) reason. 5:00 PM (BEFORE)

Now here is the real (boring) reason. 5:00 PM (AFTER) Daylight Saving allows for more sunlight in the afternoon than in the morning.

That’s why! But…let’s pretend we’re scientists. Let’s pretend we want to know the real reason we lost[/gained] an hour last night. Our Question: Why do we change our clocks by an hour every year for Daylight Saving Time? What is your theory?

Here are the key steps in our investigation: First, you will have to come up with a scientific theory as to why we move our clocks ahead an hour. You’ll choose a part of your theory to test, and this will be your hypothesis. Then, you’ll come up with an experiment that you could carry out to test this hypothesis. Next, your partner will help you run the experiment and will write up the results. Finally, you’ll interpret your results, figuring out what they mean (and reporting on everything via a small presentation). Confused? (A little, yes.) Here’s an example.

Scientist: Kevin Hainline Hamster Wheel of Time The Science of Saving Daylight 826LA

Question: Why do we change our clocks by an hour every year for Daylight Saving Time? Theory: Time changes when the hamster eats.

Question: Why do we change our clocks by an hour every year for Daylight Saving Time? Theory: Time changes when the hamster eats. Better Theory: A giant hamster, the Great Core Hamster, is running in a Hamster Wheel of Time at the core of the Earth. This makes time go. Every year we have to give it an hour break to get off the wheel and eat, so we move our clocks by an hour to compensate. The Great Core Hamster, sadly, is hungry pretty much for the rest of the year. Hypothesis: There really is a Great Core Hamster that’s responsible for gaining/losing an hour! [transition to add this second part] If we send food a hamster likes to the core of the earth, then time will shift (because it’ll distract the Great Core Hamster). Experiment: *Note the time on a clock. *Send food to the center of the earth by throwing it into a volcano. It must be food that a hamster likes (e.g. apples slices). *Count “One on thousand, two one thousand…” all the way up to “sixty one thousand.” *Note the time on a clock again to see if time shifted (it’s not exactly one minute later) or not (it is exactly one minute later). …

Results: When food was added, time slowed down. The more food was added, time slowed until it stopped. Sweet food caused time to speed up after the food stopped!

Conclusions: When food was added, time slowed down because the Great Core Hamster got distracted. When more food was added, time stopped entirely because the Great Core Hamster got so distracted it got off the Hamster Wheel of Time! When we tried the experiment again, this time with sweeter hamster food, time became extra fast when time started again—we think this happened because the Great Core Hamster got a sugar rush!

Results: When food was added, time did not change at all.

Conclusions: Maybe there is no Great Core Hamster. Or maybe the Great Core Hamster has really strong will power, or didn’t like the food we put in the volcano (apple slices). We need to run more experiments.

Results: When food was added, there was an earthquake, and a really loud voice yelled, “Ouch! My eye!” Time stayed the same.

Conclusions: Maybe there’s a giant cyclops in the center of the earth, but maybe there was no time change because the cyclops doesn’t make time go. Maybe there is a Great Core Hamster, but the cyclops protects it. We really, really need to run more experiments.

Now it’s your turn! Follow along with your packets! Good luck!

Question: Why do we change our clocks by an hour every year for Daylight Saving Time? Hypothesis: A giant hamster is running in a wheel at the core of the Earth. Every year we have to give him an hour break, so we move our clocks ahead an hour to compensate. Our Test: We put apple slices and other hamster food down the drain, which goes to the core of the Earth, and measured how time changed. Results: When food was added, time slowed down. The more food was added, time slowed, until it stopped when the Great Core Hamster had eaten too much. Sweet food caused time to speed up when the Hamster got a sugar rush! Conclusions: There is actually a Great Core Hamster who controls time!

scientific theory: A mysterious master thief steals the Hour every spring. hypothesis: If we were to keep the Hour in a maximum security vault, the thief would not be able to get his prize, and we would get to keep the Hour! experiment: We are going to put the Hour into Fort Knox to keep it safe, and monitor it at all times with armed guards and vicious attack dogs. No thief will ever be able to crack our security! results: After a fairly uneventful night (where some of the guards fell asleep) we were able to successfully capture the thief! We got to keep the Hour safe, and I used it to get a little more sleep. presentation: (next two slides)

Kevin Hainline Collaborators: Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Kip Thorne Daylight Saving…Crime!

Question: Why do we change our clocks by an hour every year for Daylight Saving Time? Theory: Every year, at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday of March, a mysterious master thief steals the Hour (the one we lose in the spring). Because the thief isn’t all that bad, the Hour is returned in the fall at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of November. (The thief steals the Lost Hour from the master clock at the US Naval Observatory; security is light because lots of guards are sick from all their Halloween candy.) Hypothesis: If we were to keep the Hour in a maximum security vault, the thief would to be able get the prize, and we would get to keep the Hour! Experiment: *Move the USNO master clock to Fort Knox. *Monitor it at all times with armed guards and vicious attack dogs so that no thief can crack the security. *Check the time after the thief’s traditional theft. If the Hour is still there, we were right!

Results: After a fairly uneventful night (where some of the guards fell asleep) we were able to successfully capture the thief! We got to keep the Hour safe, and we used it to get a little more sleep. Conclusion: Our hypothesis was correct! A thief was taking our Hour every year!