Why do squash players
warm up the ball before they play?
Hypothesis
Warming up the squash ball helps it bounce higher.
Variables:
Type of Surface
Height of Drop – Independent variable
Temperature of Ball
Material of Ball
Acceleration Due To Gravity
Mass
Angle of Surface
Air Resistance
Diameter of Ball
Height of Bounce – Dependant Variable
Plan
I aim to find out if warming up squash balls before bouncing them affects the height of its bounce. I will need a squash ball, a meter ruler, goggles, a Bunsen burner, a heat proof mat, a tripod, a beaker half full of water, a thermometer, wire gauze and some tissue.
I will set up the apparatus as shown in diagram and then drop the ball from 100cm and measure how high it bounces. I will do the first test before heating it so that I have one result at room temperature. I will then heat the ball to 30°c and drop it again from 100cm and measure its bounce. Then I will repeat this process for 40 °c, 50°c, 60°c and 70 °c and measured the bounce height of the ball. I will repeat the experiment for each temperature another 4 times to gain an average. I will have to be careful with the Bunsen burner, so I will wear goggles. To keep the experiment fair the only thing, which we changed each time, was the temperature. We used the same ball through out the experiment and checked the ball was at the same temperature each time. We dropped it onto the same table from the same height as well. Some of the results needed to be repeated to make sure that they were accurate.
