Squash Ball Experiment Essay, Research Paper

Squash Ball Experiment

Input Variables:

Pressure Of Air in Ball

Type Of Surface

Height Of Drop

Temperature of Ball

Material of Ball

Acceleration Due To Gravity

Mass

Angle Of Surface

Air Resistance

Diameter of Ball Outcome:

Height Of Bounce Prediction The squash ball will bounce higher as the temperature gets warmer. This is because as it gets warmer the atoms in the ball vibrate more. This means that when it hits the ground the atoms push each other way forcing the ball to bounce higher. When the temperature is lowered the opposite occurs because the atoms have less energy and therefor push each other further away. The graph would look like this:

The graph begins to level out because parts of the ball begin to melt at certain temperatures as the atoms get more energy and break their bonds turning the ball into a liquid. A theory, which links into this experiment, is the kinetic theory. This is because the kinetic theory deals with atoms vibrating as they receive more energy and they then break their bonds. This is linked to this experiment as the squash ball’s atoms get more energy and vibrate more before breaking their bonds to become a liquid when the ball hits a critical temperature. I don’t think the graph will go through 0,0, as even when the ball is at 0 degrees it will still bounce. I am using a large range of results as well. Diagram

Method We set up the apparatus as shown in diagram and then heated the ball to a set temperature. We then dropped it from 70 cm high and measured the bounce. We then repeated that temperature another 4 times to gain an average. We had to be careful with the Bunsen burner and so we wore goggles. To keep the experiment fair the only thing, which we changed each time, was the temperature. We used the same ball through out the experiment and checked the ball was at the same temperature each time. We dropped it onto the same table from the same height as well. The range of temperature we used was from 5 degrees Celsius to 70 degrees Celsius. Some of the results needed to be repeated to make sure that they were accurate.Results Temperature (c)Measurements (Cm)

Result

1Result

2Result

3 Result

4Result

5Average

5101113121111.9

10152120191317.6

20202321262422.8

30252926262325.8

40212122262823.6

50303029282528.4

60313332353633.4

70373133353734.6

Conclusion From my results I can conclude that as the temperature of the ball rises the height of the bounce gets higher. This is in line with the kinetic theory, which defines that as the ball gets hotter the atoms get more energy and vibrate more. When the ball hits the surface then the atoms are pushed together and because they are vibrating more they push each other further away causing the ball to bounce higher. In this experiment the kinetic theory only lasts for a specific set of temperatures. This is because when the ball hits a certain temperature it starts to melt. At 0 degrees Celsius the ball will still bounce as the atoms are still vibrating. The graph proves that the theory works for this experiment, as it is a straight line to start with. However as the ball gets nearer the critical temperature the extra height it bounces becomes less and less. This is shown as the graph levels off. The sketch graph I drew in my prediction matched the real graph showing that the science I used to explain my prediction was correct. Evaluation Looking at my results I can say that they were quite reliable and accurate. I had one anomalous result even after an average over five measurements. I can say that looking at my results when I repeated results they were quite close together. I think that I did the experiment quite well although I found it hard to spot where the ball bounced too. This is why I did an average over 5 measurements. To improve the experiment I would need to use specialist equipment like lasers so I could be sure where the ball bounced too. Ways in which I could extend this experiment are to use a different kind of rubber in the ball so that it doesn’t melt at such a low temperature this way I could carry on to see whether the kinetic theory is still right at higher temperatures. Also I would like to see what happened when the ball was at 0 degrees Celsius. I would like to do this to see whether the atoms still vibrated causing the ball to bounce. If it did I would like to carry on getting lower and lower to see whether there was a temperature where the atoms no longer vibrated (Absolute Zero)