Physics H

Science Fair - Bouncy Balls

For our 9th grade science fair, we decide to test and find out why different balls bounce back at different heights. First, we choose three different balls: rubber, ping pong, and lead. Then, we choose different heights to drop these balls at and we recorded their bounce heights afterwards. We recorded these data on a dot graph and drew lines of best fits.

From this project, I learned how to draw line of best fits. I learned that different materials have different chemical compositions that makes them bounce differently. I like the project because it is a simple lab with a lot of science behind it.

In this project, we calculated the momentum of a low speed RC car and a low friction cart on track. Momentum is the quantity of motion of a moving body, measured as a product of its mass and velocity. The formula for momentum is P=MV. It is similar to the formula for kinetic energy which is KE=1/2M(V*V). We calculate the mass of both the cart and the RC car first. Then we use a meter stick and a stopwatch to calculate the velocity for the RC car, and then we multiplied the velocity and the mass to get momentum of car.

From this project, I learned how to find the velocity of objects. I learned the formula for momentum. I learned about collaboration with random partners. I liked how much science could be inside of a simple RC car and low friction cart.