The Dent Stoppers 2020-2021

In this experiment we were trying to answer the question, “How does the acceleration of a door and the type of paint used to cover a drywall affect the depth of the dent in the drywall when the door hits it at different accelerations?” For our hypothesis, we thought that if we open a door into a drywall twenty times, then the greater the acceleration, the deeper the dent, and the water-based painted wall will have the smallest dent. We thought this because our research shows that water-based paint is more flexible than oil-based paint, making it less susceptible to cracking or denting. Upon analyzing the data, we found the water-based paint is the most durable out of the two because even though it has the highest acceleration average (4.5m/s^2), it has the lowest dent depth average (0.827mm). Based on the data that was collected during the experiment, our hypothesis was supported.

During this experiment, several possible sources of experimental error occurred. First of all, if the door was a different distance from the drywall each time, the experiment would not be fair making the results inaccurate. Also, when measuring the depth of the dents, if we had typed in a number into our calculator incorrectly, the dent depths would be wrong. Lastly, if we used different types of paper clips that were various sizes and widths, it could affect how many paper clips we stacked to measure the dent depth which affects the data.

By avoiding or fixing the experimental errors, the results would be more reliable. In the future we could investigate the durability of different paint finishes. We could also test the different types of water-based and oil-based paints. 

Many people are getting their walls dented because of doors slamming into them. So, to solve this problem, The Dent Stoppers answered the question, “How does the acceleration of a door and the type of paint used to cover a drywall affect the depth of the dent in the drywall when the door hits it at different accelerations?” Utilizing our engineering skills, we researched and informed ourselves about the different types of paints and how they are made. This information helped us form our hypothesis, using science, that if we open a door into three different drywalls, (one unpainted, one painted with water-based paint, and one painted with oil-based paint) twenty times each, then the greater the acceleration, the deeper the dent, and the water-based painted wall will have the smallest dent. To answer this question, we slammed a door into three different drywalls, (water-based painted, oil-based painted, and unpainted) twenty times each, and utilized technology by using the “Arduino Science Journal” app and our math skills to measure the door acceleration. Then, also applying our math skills, we used clay to measure the dent depths. Our data conveys that the water-based drywall had the smallest average dent depth of 0.827 millimeters while the oil-based painted drywall had an average dent depth of 1.112 millimeters, and the unpainted drywall had an average dent depth of 1.258 millimeters. Thus, our hypothesis is supported by our data.