Year 3 have had lots of fun the past couple of weeks trying to lift melons in one hand! Yep, you heard that right. For our last science investigation of this term, we were testing the question, “Does hand span affect grip strength?”
We started by measuring the children’s hand spans and separating them into groups based on size. We then did an experiment where the children attempted to lift fruit of increasing size in order to see which was the largest fruit they could successfully lift from above, in one hand, for 3 seconds. We discovered that indeed, there is a relationship! The children had predicted that those with larger hand spans would be able to lift the larger fruit – in our case, the cantaloupe – because larger hand spans would provide more points of contact, therefore more friction between the surfaces. Our prediction turned out to be correct!
The following week we took our investigation further: Would gloves help or hinder our grip? We experimented with gloves of varying materials including gardening gloves, rubber gloves, medical gloves and woolen gloves. We even had a go with oven gloves! We determined that certain types of glove are rougher and therefore increase friction. Many children were able to lift the cantaloupe when they hadn’t been able to with their bare hands! We did have some near misses with melons on the carpet when they tried with the very smooth oven gloves, however…
What did we do with all that leftover fruit, I hear you ask? Don’t worry – fruit never goes to waste when there are hungry children about. It was chopped up at the end of the experiment and enjoyed in a well-deserved buffet!
Michael Faraday 