Our hypothesis was that the golf ball which was the one with the most mass would hit the ground faster, causing it to have a higher amount of force and velocity. We were correct in half of our hypothesis because the golf ball did have a larger amount of force, but the average time that it took for it to hit the ground was slower than the ping pong ball when it was dropped from a height of 3 meters. Some of the materials that we used were a golf ball, a ping pong ball, a meter stick, the Vernier Motion Sensor, a computer, tape, a stopwatch, and a chair.
| golf ball force | 447.468 N |
| ping pong force | 24.5 N |
The mass of the golf ball was 45.66 g and the mass of the ping pong ball was 2.5 g. In the table above the force of each ball is shown. We figured out the force by using the formula
force=mass x acceleration.
Results from every test that we did.| test | 1 meter drop | 2 meter drop | 3 meter drop |
| golf ball 1 | .30 s | .89 s | 1.04 s |
| ping pong 1 | .44 s | .75 s | .95 s |
| golf ball 2 | .30 s | .84 s | 1.06 s |
| ping pong 2 | .60 s | .70 s | .80 s |
| golf ball 3 | .43 s | .49 s | 1.22 s |
| ping pong 3 | .40 s | .80 s | .90 s
|
Averages for the tests that we did. | golf ball | ping pong ball |
| 1 meter drop | 0.34 seconds | 0.48 seconds |
| 2 meter drop | 0.74 seconds | 0.75 seconds |
| 3 meter drop | 1.1 seconds | 0.88 seconds |
In this table the averages are shown. These were the results from the rest that we did by hand, with out the motion sensor.
| Average Velocity |
| 1 meter drop | 12.291 m/s2 |
| 2 meter drop | 0.917 m/s2 |
| 3 meter drop | -9.036 m/s2 |
These were the results that we collected using the motion sensor. When we used the motion sensor we did not have a lot of luck because when we raised it to about 3 meters it said that it was only 0.7 meters so our results were not accurate.
| test | 1 meter drop | 2 meter drop | 3 meter drop |
| golf ball velocity | .96 m/s/s | .90 m/s/s | .90 m/s/s |
| ping pong velocity | .69 m/s/s | .88 m/s/s | 1.13 m/s/s |
This table shows the velocity that we calculated by hand and it is more accurate then the motion sensor because the motion sensor was very sensative to motion and to noise, and because everyone in the room was talking to their table partners so that caused the test readings to not be accurate.
This bottom graph showed the results of when we drop the ping pong ball from a height of 3 meters measuring with a motion sensor. It didn’t work at all, since it said we only dropped it from a height 2.3 meters to begin with. This graph is basically a failed trial of what our class was hoping would work.
