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the basketball court

Vocabulary

​​Bark: This is the protective outer layer of a tree,.
Bulking agent: In the context of humans, a substance, such as cellulose, that adds volume to the material in the digestive system.
Carbon-based: A substance or compound contains carbon as its primary element.
Cell walls: These are rigid structures that surround the cells of plants, fungi, and some bacteria, providing support and protection.
Cellophane: This is a transparent, thin film made from cellulose, often used as a packaging material.
Composite: A material made up of two or more different substances that are combined to create new properties or characteristics.
Fibrous: Something that has a thread-like structure. In the context of wood, it refers to the arrangement of cellulose fibers within its structure.
Grains: In the context of wood, grains refer to the direction and pattern of fibers within the wood.
Matrix: It’s the surrounding substance or structure in which something is embedded or enclosed.
Organic compounds: Chemical compounds that contain carbon atoms bonded to other elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, etc.
Porous: It means having small holes or spaces that allow fluids or air to pass through. In the context of wood, it refers to its ability to absorb and release moisture.
Structural tissue: The specific type of tissue in plants that provides support and structural integrity.
Wood pulp: This is a fibrous material derived from wood, primarily used in the production of paper.

Knock on Wood

The most popular choice for indoor basketball courts, hard maple flooring can be found in most NBA stadiums and premier NCAA arenas. Hard maple is a dense wood with fine fibers, making it particularly resistant to splintering. The wood’s tightly packed grains also yield a smooth surface with no room for dirt and grime to hide. As a result, hard maple courts offer exceptional durability and require little maintenance.

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What is Wood?

Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees, and other some plants. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers which are strong in tension embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression. In a living tree lignin performs a support function, allowing trees to stand up.


Wood has been used for thousands of years for fuel, as a construction material, for making tools and
weapons, furniture and paper.

 

What is Organic Material?

Organic material refers to the large pool of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that has come from the remains of living things such as plants and animals and their waste products in the environment. Organic molecules can also be made by chemical reactions that don't involve life. Organic matter is very important in the movement of nutrients in the environment and plays a role in water retention on the surface of the planet.

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What is Cellulose?

Cellulose is an organic (carbon based) compound with the formula, C 6 H 10 O 5 (six Carbon atoms join with ten Hydrogen atoms and five Oxygen atoms). The cellulose content of cotton fiber is 90% that of wood is 40–50%. Cellulose for industrial use is mainly obtained from wood pulp and cotton. It is mainly used to produce paperboard and paper. Smaller quantities are converted into a wide variety of derivative products such as cellophane.

 

In humans, cellulose acts as a bulking agent for feces and is often referred to as "dietary fiber".

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What is Lignin?

Lignin is a type of organic compound that forms important structural materials in the support tissues of plants. Lignins are particularly important in the formation of cell walls, especially in wood and bark, because they lend rigidity and do not rot easily. Lignin does not dissolve in water.

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STEM 05: Problem Set - 1

  1. ​Chet has a piece of wood measuring 1 2/3 cm. He needs to cut it into pieces measuring 3/4 cm long. How many full sized pieces can he cut

  2. a. Find the number of pieces of length 2 3/5 meters that can be cut from 26 meters of wood.
    b. How long is each piece in feet and inches? Use 1 meter = 39.4 inches.

  3. Calculates the number of 4 inch pieces that can be cut from a 7-foot long piece of wood is:

  4. If Louis has a rope that is 9 meters long and he cuts it into pieces measuring 1 1/8 meters long each, how many pieces does he get?

  5. If one of the pieces is 5 2/3 meters long, and the total length of the wood was 10 meters, then the length of the piece that remained?

  6. If the bamboo is 26 2/5 meters long and it is cut into 12 pieces, each piece will have a length of?

  7. If half of the cut pieces were 1 meter long and a quarter of the pieces were 2 meters long, and  then the remaining 8 meters of the beam were cut into two equal parts, what was the original len gth of the beam?

  8. The student will use 3 1/3 yards of paper for one box and 5/6 yards of paper for the other box, find the total length of paper used, and express the result in feet and inches. 

  9. If a piece of licorice is 2/3 yards long and it is cut into ten equal pieces, each piece will have a length of how many inches?

  10. If the raspberry pie is divided into 48 pieces, and your best friend ate 1/24, Tariq ate 1/12, and Jake ate 7/48, how much pie is remaining?

  11. If the metal rod is 51/64 inches long and you cut 1/64 inches from one end and 1/32 inches from the other end, the total amount remaining is

  12. If a PVC pipe is 12 feet long and it is cut into 1 1/2 foot pieces, we can divide the total length of the pipe into how many pieces?

  13. If a rope that is 6 meters long is cut into 24 pieces of the same length, how long is each piece in inches?

STEM 05: Problem Set - 2
Stem 5.png

  1. Right Sizing the Court
    a.         What is the length & the width of a standard court?
    b.         Who is you favorite player?
    c.          What is the ratio in height between your favorite player and yourself?
    d.         How big (length & width) should the court be so that you would have the same proportional relationship to the court as your favorite
    player?
    e.         How proportionally high should the basket be?
    f.           Assume that your favorite player has an 11 inch (measured as a grip in a full spread from thumb tip to the end of pinky) hand. If the standard ball has a 29.5 circumference, how big should the ball that you handle to have that type of control. What should be the radius of that ball?

  2. Basketball court wood can be made out of strips of wood or in parquet sections which are square pieces made up of strips. If each parquet section measures 9” by 18”, how many parquet sections are needed to cover the entire floor?
    Note: Any partial piece can be used as part of the out-of-bounds area so round to the nearest whole number.

  3. The flooring on a basketball court is ¾ of an inch thick. Using the whole numbers provided by the number of parquet pieces found in problem above, what is the total volume of wood required in cubic feet?
    Note: Round to the nearest cubic foot

  4. In a major arena the basketball floor has to be removed periodically for other events such as concerts or hockey games.
    a.          Assuming that space is at a premium what type of shape would take up the minimum amount of volume when the basketball floor is in storage?
    b.         What are the dimensions of that volume to the nearest whole cubic foot?

  5. What is the area of the “donut” whose inner boundary is the smaller center circle and whose outer boundary is the larger center circle?

  6. What is the area of the free throw lane?

  7. What is the area of The Key also known as The Paint?
    Note: Use the nearest whole foot dimension if there is an inner edge of the line versus outer edge difference. the   has a length of 16 feet and a width of 19 feet. What is the area of the key?

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