Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Physical Science Bounce Lab

Pre-lab questions                          Name ______________________

Question to be investigated – How high does a ball bounce?

When a ball is dropped from a higher location, do you think the ball will bounce higher or lower?   ___________________   What have you seen or experienced that makes you think that? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In this experiment a tennis ball will be dropped from different heights and you will record how high the ball bounces. 

The independent variable is what you, the experimenter, will vary in the different groups or trials.  What is the independent variable in this experiment? ____________________________________________

The dependent variable is what you will measure in the results.  It is called “dependent” because it will DEPEND on the independent variable of the experimental set-up. Of course, you expect it to vary based on your differences between groups.  What is the dependent variable in this experiment? _____________________________________
 
The hypothesis is your STATEMENT of what you predict will happen.  How do you think height will affect the bounce of the ball?   Write a statement of what is your predicted answer to the question __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Check your statement to see if it includes your independent and dependent variables.  Your independent variable is the height from which the ball was dropped.  Your dependent variable is the height of the bounce.

Lab instructions:

Hold a meter stick vertically, with the zero end on the ground.  Drop a tennis ball from the 50-centimenter, 75-centimeter, and 100-centimeter marks and record the heights that the ball bounces for each.  Repeat for accuracy. 









Data Chart


Height from which ball is dropped
Height that ball bounces
Trial 1
Height that ball bounces
Trial 2
50 centimeters


75 centimeters



100 centimeters




Post Lab Conclusions:

Which ball bounced the highest? _____________________
Which ball bounced the lowest? ______________________

What conclusion can you reach about how high a ball will bounce when dropped from different heights? ______________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

Which ball had the greatest energy? ____________________
Where did the ball’s energy come from? _____________

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