2. Name: Jaffer
Partners: Bong Hee and Jung Min
Date of experiment: Dec.8.2010
Dropping balls from different heights
Aim: Our aim is to see whether height would affect the force or not. We are going to do
that by dropping a ball from different height on a force plate and see how the different
heights affect the force. We are going to be using the force plate to measure the Newton’s
and then see which height affected the force the most.
Hypothesis: I think that the higher the ball is dropped from the more force it will have. I
think this is going to happen because he higher the ball is in the air the harder it will hit
the surface
Variables:
Input variable: The height of the ball is thrown from. We are going to change
that by changing the height we throw the ball from. We are going to be throwing the ball
from different heights during our experiment.
Output variable: We will measure the force of the ball. We are going to measure
it by dropping the ball form different heights then onto the force plate and see the results
we get in Newtons.
Control variables:
3. Control variable 1: We will keep the size of the ball the same.
Throughout the whole experiment we are going to be using
the same ball.
Control variable 2: The force plate. We are going to keep the force in it’s
same positions. The only thing were not going to change is
the size of the ball.
Materials:
- 1 Force Plate
- 1 volleyball
- 1 Computer
- 1 retort stand
- 1 Stand and Clamp
- 1 Meter stick
Diagram 1:
4. Method:
1. Set up equipment as shown on diagram 1 (Heights needed- 25m,50m,75m and 100m)
2. Prepare your clamp and stand
3. Measure the height from where you want to drop the ball
4. Drop the ball from 25m onto the force and record the information into your data table.
5. Drop the ball from 50m onto the force and record the information into your data table.
6. Drop the ball from 75m onto the force and record the information into your data table.
7. Drop the ball from 100m onto the force and record the information into your data table.
8. Do steps 3-7 for another 3 more trials for an accurate answer.
9. After your data table has been filled, CLEAN UP!
Graph:
Graph 1: Dropping ball from different heights
300
225
Forces (Newtons) 150
75
0
Trial 1 (N) Trial 2 (N) Trial 3 (N) Trial 4 (N)
25 50 75 100
Heights (cm)
5. Conclusion:
I think that my hypothesis was correct because the higher the ball is dropped from (100
cm) the more force it will have when it hits the surface of the force plate. For this
experiment we had 4 trial enable for use to get relevant and it will be easier to average the
result. There were several patterns I found, according to the graph in each trial when the
ball was dropped from 100 cm it had more force. So that means that height would effect
the force of an object. During this experiment my group and I were struggling to get our
measurements right, however ever the retort stand help us in keeping it stable but we
weren’t sure we dropped the ball from the exact height therefore we decided to have 4
trials instead of 3. Another problem that occurred during the experiment when dropping
the ball onto the force plate sometimes it would either bounce of the force plate or the
force plate wouldn’t record the data which caused us the repeat the experiment one more
time. Because of the problems that occurred during our experiment I don’t think we the
result and data we got was reliable.
Evaluation:
The results we got during our experiment was not reliable because during this experiment
my group and 1 were struggling to get our measurements right and our group was not
sure if we had dropped the ball from the exact height. Also, while we were dropping the
ball on the force plate it would either bounce of it or not give us relevant result which
caused us to repeat the experiment. Concluding from that I don’t think our experiment
was successful. We could improve our experiment by first,making sure that we drop the
ball from the exact height we were planning on to and another way to improve on this
experiment is to drop the directly on the center of the force place to give us a much more
accurate and reliable result. For further investigations I could do instead of having a
volleyball which we did use for this experiment instead we could use different type and
sizes of balls and see whether the size of the ball will affect the force when it hits the
surface
