Efficiency lab

Materials:

• golf ball
• tennis ball
• field hockey ball
• a flat surface
• 2 meter sticks
• tape
• electronic balance

Procedures:

1. Mass each of the spheres using the electronic balance and record the mass
2. Use two meter sticks and tape one end of each together forming a 2m stick
3. Position the two meter sticks perpendicular to the ground and parallel to the wall, station them by taping them onto the wall
4. Drop one of the three spheres selected from 2m off the ground or the very top of the meter sticks
5. Watch and then record the height of the sphere’s first bounce
6. repeat step 4-5 for the other two spheres

Observation:

Analysis:

Average Mass of Each of the Spheres Used

Average Height of Each Sphere’s First Bounce When Dropped from Two Metres

Conclusion: The efficiency of the golf ball is 72%, which is the most efficient amongst the three balls, the efficiency of the tennis ball is 54%, and the field hockey ball is 27% efficient making it the least efficient amongst the three. The hypothesis was correct about the order in which the efficiency should be in. The size and mass may possibly have an effect on how efficient each ball each. Another factor that is also very important, but however not considered in the analysis is the material that each ball is made of. The amount of elastic energy of each ball was not considered in the experiment, and should be included. To find out how much the elastic energy of a sphere affects its efficiency, one has to find out the relationship between the elastic energy, the mass and the height of the ball and calculate to see how much difference this will make, and how important the elastic energy of a sphere is. An important error is that the height of each ball’s bounce may not be entirely accurate since the ability of the human eyes is limited and can’t tell exactly how many metres the ball bounced. To minimize the effect of this error, several trials and the results of many people can be combined, and then the average amongst the results can be calculated.