Bouncy BallsA Comparison of three kinds of super balls.

1-20-2011By Calum, Dayton, and Regan Hoblet

With help from Ward Walker

Summary

The three False Pass primary school students, Calum, Regan and Dayton Hoblet tested to see which kind of super ball would bounce the highest.

They found that a ball that was clear inside bounced the highest, while one that was lumpy did the worst. The opaque one was in the middle.

Question:

Are super balls all the same or are some better than others?

Which one is best?

Hypothesis:

The lumpy ball will bounce the lowest.

The clear ball will bounce the highest.

Research:

A ball picks up energy and speed as it falls. When it hits the ground it changes shape, stretches, and comes to a stop. Then the ball goes round again and this pushes the ball back up.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_does_a_ball_bounce

Materials:

Three different super balls: clear, cloudy and lumpy.

Ladder

Tape measure

Ruler

Tape

Procedure: (how to do something)

Drop each ball from 8 feet high three times and measure how high it bounces back.

Make a table and record the results.

Average the three results and compare them.

Graph the results

(See photo for setup)

Data:

Solid Clear Lumpy

1 5’ 1” = 61” 5’8”= 68” 4’3”= 51”

2 5’ = 60” 5’9”= 69” 4’4”= 52”

3 5’ = 60” 5’7”= 67” 4’4”= 52”

Total 181” 204” 155”

Average:(Total /3)

60 1/3” 68” 51 2/3”

Graph of data

Calum drops the solid ball

Dayton drops the clear ball

Regan drops the lumpy ball

The three super balls: clear, solid, and lumpy.

Summary of Results:

The clear ball bounced the highest all three times.

The lumpy ball bounced lowest all three times.

Hypothesis confirmed.

Conclusion:

Clear balls bounce the best, and lumpy balls bounce the worst.

Solid balls bounce in the middle.

Journal Entries:

Date:1-18-2011

What was accomplished: We planned our experiment.

We came up with a question, hypothesis, materials and procedure.

Date: 1-19 2011

What was accomplished: We did the experiment.

We made a graph and made a summary of the results and a conclusion.

We took pictures.

Date:1-20-11

What was accomplished: We recorded our data in a table and made a graph.