To investigate if a squash ball will bounce higher than its average room temperature bounce, once the temperature inside of the ball has increased.

   Then the ball will reshape to its normal round shape as the pressure increases in order to make it push off the ground.

   When the ball is heated, the molecules will vibrate faster causing the atoms to hit the sides more, and the ball will have a higher pressure and a harder, more rigid ball because of the increase in the volume, (The volume is proportional to the pressure). The height of the ball’s bounce will increase because of the amount of lift increase that the ball produced once it hits the floor, thus making the ball go up.

Plan:

1. First you must set up a clamped ruler that is in a vertical position.
2. Someone must drop
3. We have to drop the ball from the top of the ruler to the bottom while our partner measures its bounce from the bottom of the ball.
4. We record our results from a ball at room temperature.
5. Then we gradually increase the temperature of the ball from room temperature by heating it in a water bath and recording the results and at a temperature increase at 10°C every-time, then bouncing the ball to aid our experiment results.

Method

Kian Jafari

Results:

Squash ball results – yellow dot squash ball (we used ball no.2)

Please observe the attached graph

Analysis

We found out what happens to the ball once it is heated in a water bath, the height of the ball will increase in height and the more you increase the temperature of the ball, the higher it will bounce every time. We know this because air molecules inside the hollow ball which causes them to bump into each other more, and more quickly, creating energy. As a result of this, we cannot lose or gain energy, the energy level is all the same. The ball uses gravitational potential, elastic and kinetic energy. We learnt this from the moment the ball is dropped and bounces up. The more the ball is heated, the less squashiness, thus causing the ball to bounce more, as it doesn’t absorb its bounce (if it were squashy). Less energy is wanted during the squashing of the ball.

Observe the chart and see that the height of the ball increases the more warmer the ball is.

Evaluation

We have now conjured up that the higher the temperature of the ball, the higher the bounce. There are some sources and errors that can be cause and can be fixed. The ball has little time before its starts to cool off, so you must be quick but accurate. Also you must wipe the ball because air can be attracted onto it causing it to cool off. It may also slightly cushion the bounce or make the ball heavier. Human errors can occur when your eyes reaction cannot be precise about where you have seen the ball bounce up to. The solution to this maybe ‘practicing’ in watching its bounce by bouncing it a several times before recording the results or it can even be solved by letting the partner view the bounce after you have yourself, so you know if you have not made a mistake. Minor mistakes can include the water bath not being accurate. You will also find out that you cannot get accurate results when experimenting on one surface (odd surfaces). Different surfaces would cause a different bounce. I.e.on a table, on the floor or on the carpet. Make sure that the surface is rested and does not move when the ball hits it, the floor would be a good place to do this. These are several ways in approachingadditional and accurate results in this experiement