Does the height of a crater affect the diameter of the crater produced?

Craters

Introduction

A crater is formed when a meteor for outer space strikes the lunar surface. The force of the impact obliterates the meteorite and displaces part of the moons surface, pushing the edges surrounding rock. At the same time, more displaced material shoots outward from the crater.

I will simulate this in the classroom by using a margarine tub full of sand and using different heights to represent the distance it travelled. I will then drop the balls from my chosen heights.

The sand = The moons surface.

The balls =The meteors

Variables:

All the variables that I can change and what can affect my experiment are;

The height in which I drop the ball from.
The amount of sand in the tub.
The size of the different individual balls.
The weight of the balls.
Speed of which the balls are travelling at.
The surface type
The angle of which the ball hits the ground.

All of these changes could affect my final results. I will have to take these into consideration when doing my experiment.

Aim:

I have chosen to do the different heights that I drop the ball from. I will use only one type of ball to keep my results the same. In the experiment I will be measuring the diameter of the crater and see how the height effects this.

Labelled diagram:

I will measure the diameter of the creator using a compass then measure the width of the compass against an accurate ruler.

Equipment list.

1 X Retort stand.

1 X Margarine tub.

1 X steel ball bearing 16.7g

1 X 1 metre ruler.

1 X compass.

2 cm of sand in a 50g margarine tub.

Method:

Collect all the equipment that is listed in the apparatus list
Set the equipment out as in the labelled diagram.
In the experiment I am going to be changing the height of which the ball is dropped from.
I am going to be using the ball bearing to do this investigation.
You will then raise the ball to the required height. The required heights are going to be 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 cm.
For each height measure the diameter of the crater that is formed.
After doing this, repeat the experiment twice again to make sure the results are around the same so I can check if the results are right.
After doing all the heights and writing the results down you then need to make an average of the results from using this equation:

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Add the three results together

3 (the number of tests)

Fair test

In order to make this investigation as fair as possible I am going to keep everything the same in the experiment.

E.G.

The amount of sand in the tub.
The size of the different individual balls.
The weight of the balls.
Speed of which the balls are travelling at.
The surface type.

The only thing I am going to be changing is going to be the height of the ball in which it is dropped.

Prediction:

I predict that in this ...

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Add the three results together

3 (the number of tests)

Fair test

In order to make this investigation as fair as possible I am going to keep everything the same in the experiment.

E.G.

The amount of sand in the tub.
The size of the different individual balls.
The weight of the balls.
Speed of which the balls are travelling at.
The surface type.

The only thing I am going to be changing is going to be the height of the ball in which it is dropped.

Prediction:

I predict that in this experiment, the higher the ball bearing the greater the size of the creator. The scientific knowledge which supports this is that the ball bearing has gravitational potential energy and so when it is even higher up it gains even more energy and this has a greater force on the sand when it hits the sands surface.

Scientific theory:

When on object is in the air it has potential gravitational energy the higher up the object the more energy it gains. When a falling object hits the ground kinetic energy that it has is transferred to the ground and if the force of the fall is large enough, a crater would be created. In this investigation I am going to try to find out the effect of the height of the object is dropped from on the size of the crater formed in a tub of sand.

This is showing the energy transfer that happens when a falling object hits the ground.

In essence we are going to change the amount of potential energy.

In the object that we are dropping to see and observe its affect on the craters produced.

Energy cannot be destroyed it can only be changed into a different form.

The heights that I have chosen to do are 10 20 30 40 50 and 60. I have chosen to do these because I think that these will give me my best results when I come to do my experiments.

Preliminary work:

Before I can obtain my results from the investigation a trial run needs to be made to verify that the experiment is set up the right way and we could make our results even more accurate with improvement. After setting up the equipment I have found that the way my experiment is set up is a very good way for my experiment. It is going to be set up just as in the labelled diagram.

Preliminary results:

To see which ball gives me the best results I have chosen these three different types of balls. I have chosen a wooden ball because I think that it is very light in weight, I have chosen steel because it is the heaviest out of all the choices and I have also chosen glass because it weighs between the other two balls.

Table of results:

Diameter of crater im cm.

From looking at this it shows me that the steel ball bearing has given me the best results because from this table it shows me that it gives me a wider range of results. I have chosen to use this ball as I said in my method earlier on. The experiment the way it is set up is a good way. I have chosen to change my heights because I think this will give me a wider range of results.

The heights I have chosen to do are

20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90.

The final results of the experiment.

Diameter of crater in CM

I have chosen to work out the potential energy as well so then this will let me prove my prediction more and also to check it is correct with the scientific theory.

This is the higher the object the bigger the potential energy.

To work out the potential energy you have to use this sum:

Potential energy = Mass X Height X Gravity

Pe=MHG

Gravity is always 10N/KG unless it is stated otherwise.

Analysis:

From this experiment I have learnt that the higher an object is the more potential energy it has. I have also learnt how the energy is used and given off like in the energy transfer diagram. I have also learnt that a lot of things can affect the diameter of the craters produced.

From looking at the graph it shows me that when the ball gets higher the diameter of the crater gets bigger. When it reaches the 50cm mark the results start to level off maybe reaching its maximum diameter.

My prediction was ‘I predict that in this experiment, the higher the ball bearing the greater the size of the creator. The scientific knowledge which supports this is that the ball bearing has gravitational potential energy and so when it is even higher up it gains even more energy and this has a greater force on the sand when it hits the sands surface.’

This was right because from looking at the two graphs they both show me that the higher the ball the bigger the crater gets and also the bigger the potential energy that it gains. Also the graph I drew looks a bit like the one in my prediction the only thing is that on the results graph is it starts to level off but in the one I drew in my prediction it doesn’t.

This is because when on object is in the air it has potential gravitational energy the higher up the object the more energy it gains. This is what the potential energy graph has shown me. An object will reach its maximum amount of energy at one stage like as in my graph when it starts to level off I should have improved this by doing more results in my experiment to see where its maximum amount of energy is.

This experiment was good because it tells me all the things that I needed to know for this experiment which it ‘Does the height of a crater affect the diameter of the crater produced?’ the answer to this is yes because the higher the ball is dropped from the bigger the crater is that is produced.

Evaluation:

The investigation / experiment worked well I did not have any problems with the experiment the hardest thing was keeping everything fair. I had problems with measuring the width of the craters because with using the compasses it was not really an accurate way of measuring because I couldn’t really see where the edges of the craters started and finished. I could improve this by using a different material instead of sand, which will indent like the same but keep its shape so you can take it out and the shape will still be there indented in so then it will be easier to measure the diameter of the crater. Also instead of using a ruler then I will then be able to use the

Vermeer Callipers, these will then measure the crater diameter more accurately to the nearest mm also I could measure the depth of the crater with these. These could be more observations that I could look at with the affect of the height of the balls are dropped from. If I was not able to uses any of this equipment then I would then get a bigger margarine tub to put the sand into so then I will then be able to get the ruler in the tub and do a straight measurement from that instead of with the compasses. To improve this investigation I could do it in more detail I could use light sensors to do the experiment because then I will be able to see what speed they travel at before it hits the ground this will then join in with the other results I have obtained.