By: Will Schubert

The Bouncing Ball

Determine how the height you drop a ball from affects the height the ball bounces back up.

Problem

The independent variable was the height

Independent Variable

The dependent variable was the height the ball bounces back up

Dependent Variable

The constants were- the bouncy ball, and the area I drop it from.

Constant Variables

The higher I drop it from, the higher the ball will bounce.

Hypothesis

My control group was 1 meter.

Control Group

1. Obtain materials.

2. Create your tables for each group at each drop for a total of three tables.

3. Label each ball--- 1,2,3

4. Tape 6 sheets of paper together, end to end.

5. Mark lines that cross the paper at the 50,100,200 cm marks.

6. Tape the paper to a wall so that the bottom is touching the ground.

7. Stand a meter stick against the wall in front of the paper , with the 0 cm end on the ground.

8. Person #1 is going drop the first ball from the 100 cm mark.

9. Person #2 will observe its bounce height

10. Person #2 will put his fingers on the paper at the height of the bounce, and make a mark to show the location

11. Person #1 will measure the height of the first bounce and record it on the data table.

12. Repeat the steps 8 through 11 2 more times from the 100 meter mark for trials 2 and 3

13. Repeat steps 7 through 12 by using the drop height of 50 cm.

14. Repeat steps 7 through 12 by using the drop height of 200 cm

15. Use the calculator and figure the average bounce height for each ball in each of the trials.

16. Use the calculator and the total average bounce height for each table

Procedures

1 meter stick

3 of the same kinds of balls

1 pencil

1 calculator

9 sheets of paper

1 roll of tape

Materials

My Results

In conclusion the balls dropped from 2 meters bounced back up the highest

Conclusion

I could improve this experiment by using different types of balls such as bouncy balls and soccer balls. I could have also used different heights to drop the balls from.

How I could improve this experiment

Some possible errors I could have had are not correctly measuring the height that the ball bounced to the exact cm.

Dropping the balls with the same amount of force.

Possible errors