Density

Day one was a course introduction and coverage of the technology used in the course.

Soap for the first laboratory was acquired at Yoshie. The loss of both floating Ivory soap and the absence of other square bars of soap led to the decision to use Lux 80 gram bars. The six pack was not previously seen on island. Sixty-five cents a bar, $3.90 for the six pack.

Three six packs were purchased. Petty cash was not used for this purchase. With an enrollment of 31 a week out from class, 18 bars were acquired. Students working in pairs provides sufficient soap for 36. Fresh soap is necessary each term as fresh soap is softer, easier and safer to carve. Old soap hardens making carving harder. The soap also tends to fracture and crumble.

Since volume errors almost always lead to overestimates of the density, no group should obtain contradictory results. The soap will be predicted to sink and will sink.

Day two

Day two covered measurement, units of measurement, and density.

This followed the sequence first used spring 2026. The stub of a presentation was built just prior to class.  The arc of the lecture can be seen above. Just as in January 2026, a bar of Lux soap was butchered into a shape that could barely be called rectanguloidal. That still led to a sinking density calculation. A glass dish was used to show that the soap would indeed sink. 

Above is the equipment for the laboratory on day three. 

This term the demonstration was carried through to all five measurements.

The demonstration included Desmos. The report layout wasn't introduced until all of the students had five measurements to work with.

Coverage of the report structure. 

Marvin makes a measurement