Popcorn Neutrino Lab

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Hook
Does the thought of trillions of tiny parcticles passing through you sound interesting? Does it make you even more curious to know that they parcticles not only pass through you, but the entire planet? If we cannot see these parcticles, and they pass through objects like ghosts, how can we ever capture them? How did we even predict their existance? The answers to these questions will be revealed over a bag of popcorn.

Materials
Notebooks Calculators

Procedure
1. Measure 40.00 grams of popcorn kernels.

2. Determine the mass of an individual kernel.

3. Record data.

4. Predict what the mass of the kernels will be after they are popped.

5. Pop all of the kernels.

6. Remeasure the mass of the popped kernels.

7. Record data.

Discussions Questions/Extensions ......
1. Did the masses of the unpopped kernels and popped kernels agree?

2. If not, offer an explanation.

3. If mass is missing, design an experiment that will capture the missing mass.

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