Days Four and Five of our Voyage of Discovery were dedicated to collecting the data the students would need to test their hypotheses. While some data was gathered while the Half Moon was underway from Haverstraw Bay to Athens, NY, the majority of our data was collected during our layover in Athens Channel.

During the data collection phase, each student established a procedure and work schedule for gathering data, collected and analyzed samples, and recorded their findings. In some cases, students also revised their initial hypotheses as they gained familiarity with their testing procedures.

You can scroll down or use the links below to jump directly to a section.

Celestial Tracking

Students: Grayson & Jamie
Instruments: Quadrant & directional compass.

Grayson and Jamie will use a quadrant to track the altitude of the Sun and a directional compass to determine its bearing. To determine true local noon, they will record the moment when the Sun reaches its highest altitude. At true noon, the Sun's compass bearing at that moment will determine true south.

Back to Top

Students: Alexis & Derrick
Instruments: Lead line, wood chips, stopwatch, calculator.

While the Half Moon was moored at a fixed location in Athens Channel, Alexis and Derrick spent their time measuring the current's speed and direction as well as sounding the water's depth. When combined, their readings will reveal the tidal patterns present in the channel.

Back to Top

Dissolved Oxygen

Students: Devin & Elora
Instruments: Titration kit, Zodiac, sample jars.

When the Half Moon arrived at Athens Channel on Day Four, Devin and Elora went out in the ship's tender to collect surface water samples from a transect of the channel. They then spent Day Five performing titration tests on each sample to determine the present levels of dissolved oxygen.

Back to Top

Mechanical Advantage

Students: Cheyenne & Nicole
Instruments: Spring scale, lead ballast ingot, block & tackle system.

As the Half Moon arrived at Athens Channel on Day Four, Cheyenne and Nicole -- with the assistance of their advisor, Ms. Smith -- constructed an adjustable block-and tackle simple machine on the weather deck. They then spent the layover rigging different combinations of pulleys and leads to see how they affected the force needed to lift a 60-pound lead ballast ingot. With each configuration, they recorded the force needed to lift the ingot (as measured on the spring scale), and the distance the line needed to be pulled to lift the ingot a set distance.

Back to Top

Salinity

Students: Ryan & Tyler W.
Instruments: Refractometer, titration kit.

During our data collecting layover at Athens Channel, Ryan and Tyler took the surface water samples the crew had collected between Haverstraw Bay and Con Hook and subjected them to a new round of salinity testing, using two different methods on each sample: the refractometer and titration tests.

Water Temperature in a Column

Student: John
Instruments: Van Dorn sampler, wet thermometer.

While the Half Moon remained moored in a fixed location for our data collection layover, John spent his time using the Van Dorn sampler to collect water samples from the surface and from depths 6 and 12 feet. He then used a wet thermometer to take a temperature reading from each sample.