VARIABLES-
The squash ball will be dropped onto the same surface each time so the bounce height will not vary according to the surface. The temperature will also affect the height of the bounce; this is because squash balls have air inside them so if the temperature is cold the ball will not bounce as high because cold air is denser than warm air. We chose the bench as the surface to do the experiments on as in our preliminary experiments we found it was the surface with the highest average of bounce height.
PREDICTION-
I think that in the experiment the bounce height will increase at the same rate as the drop height. The ball will not bounce up to the same height it was dropped from as there is no gravitational push or enough potential energy to get it back up.
Table of results
Analysis
From my results the graph shows that the higher the ball is dropped from the more bounce height there will be. From my results I made an average to do this I added all three results together and divided by three to give me an average. Generally the bounce height increased about 4cm at each drop.
The science that explains my results as the ball has different energy changes during the process of the drop. The ball starts in the air with potential energy, this is because it is held high up in the air. When the ball is dropped this potential energy turns into kinetic energy because the ball is moving. When ball hits the ground it stops for an instant, energy is then stored in the ball because its squashed this is ‘stored elastic potential energy’ this is when energy has been stored in an object because it has been stretched or squashed. Also heat and sound energy are given off when the ball hits the ground this is due to the movement in the particles creating some heat also when the particles vibrate they are carried by sound waves. When the ball goes back up it does not bounce back up to the same height it was dropped from, as there is no gravitational push and not enough potential energy.
My prediction was nearly correct, the bounce height did increase at the as the drop height increased, however not at the same rate. I think this is because the readings of the bounce height were not accurate enough to calculate this.
EVALUATION
I think that my results are fairly good, as most of them seem to have a good relationship. However there are a couple of anomalous results, the first one being at the 80cm height drop the average turned out to 10cm whereas I would have expected it to be around 17cm. This anomalous result is probably because of not having an accurate enough reading.
I do think my results are good enough to make a probable answer that the bounce height increases at the same rate as the drop height.
The method for taking the measurements was okay but not very accurate, to solve this I would have had one person dropping the ball and two people taking the measurements. Or a video camera could have been placed and recorded the drops, so we could then put the tape onto slow motion and take more accurate results but this would be too complicated.
