I prediction is that the higher the ball is dropped from the grater the diameter of the creator will be. This is due to the chemical, which is used in my arm to put the ball at the height it is placed at. The larger the height of the ball the larger the force of G.PE which will be adding grater energy to the ball giving the ball more K.E energy to move the sand making a larger diameter of the crater.
To make my investigation safe I will use goggles to protect my eyes from flying sand as the ball hits. Also I will be careful drop the ball on anybody’s toe. What I will do in my investigation is I will get a tray fill it will sand and place it under the boss and clamp. I will them measure the height between the top of the sand and the clamp for my selected heights, then I will drop the ball from the clamp in to the sand. Then I will use a _________ to measure the diameter of the crater; I will then put this information in to a table.
Here is what I will do in my investigation: -
Equipment used: -
- Steel ball
- Tin tray
- Ruler
- Sand
- Goggles
- Boss
- Clamp
-
What I will do in my investigation is I will get a tray fill it will sand and place it under the boss and clamp. I will them measure the height between the top of the sand and the clamp for my selected heights, then I will drop the ball from the clamp in to the sand. Then I will use a caliph to measure the diameter of the crater; I will then put this information in to a table.
What I will do is, will set up my equipment that is shown in the diagram above. I will drop the steel ball into the sand from where the clamp is set to (selected locations). I will then use a caliph to make accurate measurements of the diameter of the crater that is left in the sand. I will then record these results in a table. I will drop the ball from 9 different heights, from each point I will measure the diameter of the crater and put it in a table to show my results. I will repeat my investigation 3 times to give a good average. To make my investigation safe I will use goggles to protect my eyes from flying sand as the ball hits. Also I will be careful drop the ball on anybody’s toe. To make it a fair test I will I will use a caliph, which will give me a accurate recording of the crater diameter. I will use the same ruler to measure the height each time, use the same sand in case of a change in sand grains size affecting the movement of the sand. Therefor affecting the crater size and the ball will remain the same all the way throughout. Also I will use a boss and a clamp to make sure that the height it is dropped from will remain the same for my repeats. Plus this will give me a point over the top of the sand to drop the ball from when with a ruler it would be to the side of the sand and would make it difficult to make a accurate drop. I will repeat my investigation 3 times to give a good fair average.
These diagrams show how I will take measurements: -
I will drop the ball from the clamp situated at the selected location and at the right height.
Into the sand where the ball will hopeful leave a crater of which I will measure with a caliph.
I will then put the results I get into the table below: -
From earlier preliminary results I found that a would not be able drop the ball from higher than 120cm’s due to the fact that the ball will become buried and it is not possible to make a accurate recording of the crater
I will take 9 readings and repeat it 3 times I will do this to make it fair, and make the measurements more accurate. And so I can have an accurate average to put into a graph.
The science behind this is, the chemical, which is used in my arm to put the ball at the height it is placed at. The larger the height of the ball the larger the force of G.PE which will be adding grater energy to the ball giving the ball more K.E energy to move the sand making a larger diameter of the crater.
I carried out my investigation in a safe and fair way.
The trend of my results shows that the greater the height that the ball is dropped from the grater the diameter of the crater and that there is a steady increase in the crater diameter. I did a graph of my results it is shown on the next page.
Here is my result table: -
Here are my results from the experiment: -
I made my measurements accurate by using a caliph to measure the crater diameter. And by making sure that the sand remained still to stop the crater diameter from enlarging or decreasing. I took all my measurements in millimetre’s to make then very accurate.
On the back page there is a line graph of best fit to show my result averages. There were to my surprise no anomalous results. The trend of my results shows that the greater the height that the ball is dropped from the grater the diameter of the crater and that there is a steady increase in the crater diameter. In conclusion to the problem I set out to do ‘Does the height of a ball affect the diameter of the crater where it lands?’ I can now say that my results show that the height of the ball does affect the diameter of the crater where it lands.
In conclusion I came to agree with my prediction because the hypothesis ‘Does the height of a ball affect the diameter of the crater where it lands?’ Is correct.
The science behind this is that the chemical energy I put in to the ball was changed to G.P.E and converted into sound, K.E, and heat energy. Which in turn left a crater in the sand, which was crated by the K.E energy as the ball hit the sand changing the G.P.E into K.E.
This shows what energy changes took place from when I picked the ball up and put it to the selected height to when I dropped it into the sand.
Chemical > G.P.E > Sound (very little energy was used in sound)
> K.E (most of the energy was used in K.E)
> Thermal (again very little energy was used in thermal)
I made my investigation fair by using the same ball, same ruler, same sand, and by making accurate measurements with a caliph. The things I did particularly well where making sure the height the ball was dropped from was accurate, and remained the same for repeats.
I feel that there was nothing much that I did not do to a high level. I could have made my investigation more accurate by doing it more times getting a better average.
I think my results are accurate because, I was very careful with taking my results. I kept all the components that could have varied the same so that it would not affect my results. E.g. I kept the same ball so that the surface area and mass would not change because these could affect the diameter of the crater. Also I had no anomalous results, which leads me to think that all the components of the investigation was carried out in an accurate way. I can be sure on my conclusion because of the number of times that I did the experiments. To become more sure of my results I would do it more times to clarify my results. I could improve my results by using more accurate measuring devices. To confirm my conclusion I would do the experiment again. To extend my investigation I could measure the volume, or circumference of the crater.
