FALLING BALL

 Falling Ball

How will balls dropped from different height affect plasticine when they drop on to it?

Hypothesis:

I think if the ball is higher the mark in the flosorb solution will be deeper than if you through it lower, because the higher the falling ball is the more it speeds up, so it will accelerate making the depth of the flosorb solution deeper.

The size of the crater varies with the kinetic energy of the ball at impact. In this research, the relationship between the kinetic energy of ball, dropped into flosorb  from a fixed height, and the diameter of the crater formed will be investigated. We think that the size of the ball crater is related to the amount of energy the ball possesses as it hits the ground. The more energy it possess, the larger the crater diameter.

In conclusion if the drop height of a ball increases then the crater depth will also increase because the ball has more time to accelerate. We thought that this would happen because of our basic knowledge of falling objects and forces of impact.

The force due to gravity is given by

Where m = mass of the body and

g = gravity.

Variables:

-     Independent variable (what you will change): height in m from where you through the ball measures with a metre.

-     Dependent variable (what you will measure): depth of the plasticine measured in mm with a ruller.

-     Controlled variables (what will you keep the same): the mass of the ball (5.3 g ball), and the size (1.5 cm ball)

Materials:

1. 5.3 g ball
2. Metre
3. Ruler
4. Sodium polycrylate (Flosorb) 7 g
5. 250ml water

Method:

1. First I’m going to take the ball of 7 cm of diameter

2. Then I’m going to measure 1m with a metre and put a solution of Sodium polycrylate (Flosorb) 7 g in 250ml water in a beaker (on the floor)

3. To make the mixture of Flosorb, we need to take a beaker, add 250mL of water and 7g  of Sodium polycrylate (Flosorb), afterwards we need mix the solute and the solvent to create the solution

4. After I’m going to put the ball 1 m above it and drop it

5. And I’m going to measure from the bottom of the marble the depth of the flosorb solution with a ruler (in cm)

6. Now I’m going to repeat from step 1 to step 4 with 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3 m. Always using the same ball.

7. I am going to do it 5 times for each height and put the data in a table like the one in the next page.

8. I am going to calculate the average, and see if my hypothesis is correct. 

Table for results:

		height from where you through the ball (m)
		1.0	1.5	2.0	2.5	3.0
depth	1st time	1.0	2.0	4.0	4.0	4.5
of the	2nd time	0.5	1.5	4.5	5.0	5.0
plasticine	3rd time	1.0	2.5	5.0	5.0	5.0
(cm)	4th time	1.0	3.0	4.5	4.4	4.5
	5th time	0.5	2.0	5.0	4.0	5.0
	Average	0.8	2.2	4.6	4.5	4.8

References:

• Formulas.tutorvista.com. 2014. Acceleration due to Gravity Formula | Formula for Acceleration due to Gravity | Formulas@TutorVista.com. [online] Available at: http://formulas.tutorvista.com/physics/acceleration-due-to-gravity-formula.html [Accessed: 12 Mar 2014].
• Haverford.edu. 2014. ACCELERATION DUE TO GRAVITY. [online] Available at: http://www.haverford.edu/educ/knight-booklet/accelarator.htm [Accessed: 12 Mar 2014].
• hyperphysics. (2014). Retrieved from http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/imgmec/flobj.gif
• Gcps.desire2learn.com,. (2014). Ball Falling. Retrieved 5 May 2014, from https://gcps.desire2learn.com/d2l/lor/viewer/viewFile.d2lfile/15524/6392/ball%20falling%20from%20cliff.gif