SongheeChang

Grade9Science

Ms.G.Buijsman

November11th2014

MotiondownaSlope

Introduction:
Inoursurroundingstherearemanyunexplainedmovementshappeningto
objects.Howeverthosemovementscanbeexplainedusingthetheoryofscience.One
particulartheorythatcanhelpuswithuncoveringtheseunexplainedmovementsisNewtons
firstlawofmotion.Inthislawitisstatedthat,iftheforcesactingonanobjectarebalanced
ornoforcesact,theobjectsspeedremainsthesame.Iftheforcesactingonanobjectare
unbalanced,theobjectacceleratesinadirectionoftheunbalancedforce.(Section1:ON
THEMOVE).Fromthestatementabovewecanconcludethatanobjectcanmoveifitis
givenacertainamountofforcewhichmayresultindifferentspeedsofmovement.Inorderto
knowthedifferentspeedofanobjectwemustconductanexperimenttodiscoverthefactors
thataffectstheunexplainedmovements.Thefollowingisanexperimentthatinvestigatesthe
motiondownaslopeofaballormarbletoprovethatchangingtheheightcanaffectonthe
timeandtheaveragespeedofanobjecttoreachitsdestination.

Aim:
Inthisexperimenttheaimistodiscoverhowtheheightisrelatedtothetime,whenthe
objectisreachingitsdestinationandhowitrelatestotheaveragespeedoftheobject.

Variables:
Thevariablesofthisexperimentcanbedividedinto
IndependentVariables:
Theheight(meters)

DependentVariables:
Theaveragespeed/velocity(m/s)

Prediction:
Thehighertheplatformispositionedtheshorteramountoftimeittakesforthe
balltoreachitsdestination.Byhavingashortamountoftimeitmeansthattheaverage
speedoftheballisslowlyincreasing.

Materials:
Amarblewitharound1020grams.
Aplatformwiththesize100cm*20cm.
Astopwatchthatrecordsinseconds.
AnA4pieceofpaperwithrecordingtables.

Awritingmaterial(pencil,pen)
Arulertomeasurethedistanceandheight,preferablyameterruler.
Aheavywoodencubetostopthemarble,around100grams.

Diagram:

Method:
1. Firstlywemustpreparealltheneededmaterialsandmakesureitisaccurateand
precisefortheexperiment.Thetrailswillbedone3timeseachperchangeandthere
willbe6changesoftheindependentvariable.
2. Secondly,wemustarrangeallthematerialsasshowninthediagramabove.
3. Thirdly,wemustrecordallthedatathatwehaveconducted.
Theindependentvariablewillbemeasuredbyusingameterruler(therangeofthe
heightwillbeevery15cm/0.15m).
Thefirstdependentvariablewhichisthetimewillbemeasuredusingastopwatch.
Thestopwatchwillstartwhenthemarbleisrolledontotheplatformandwillbe
stoppedwhenitreachesthecube.Afterknowingallofthetime,thevelocitywillbe
measuredbydividingthedistanceoftheplatformandthetime.
Theconstantvariableswillbekeptconstantbyusingthesamemarble,sameplatform,
andsamesurfacedistance.
Theexperimentwillbereallysafebecauseitdoesinvolveanyflamingobjectsorany
harmfulobjects.Itonlyrequirestheaccuracyoftheexperimentconductor.

4. Fourthly,wemustanalyzethedataandfindtheresult(thetimeandthevelocity).
5. Fifthly,wemustrevisitourhypothesisandobservethedifferencesbetweenthe
hypothesisandthefindings.
6. Lastlywedrawaconclusionofhowheightaffectsthetimeandspeedofthemarbleto
reachitsdestination.

SongheeChang

Grade9Science

Ms.G.Buijsman

November11th2014

MotiondownaSlope

Data:

Table:
No.

Height(cm)

Time(sec)(2sgf)

AverageTime(sec)(2sgf) AverageVelocity
(m/s)

15cm

1.5

10

1.1

27

1.0

45

0.9

67

1.5
1.4
1.5

30cm

1.1
1.1
1.1

45cm

1.0
1.0
1.0

60cm

0.9

0.9
0.9

75cm

0.8

0.7

107

0.5

180

0.7
0.7

90cm

0.4
0.6
0.5

LineGraph(ExponentialTrendline):

DataAnalysis
:
Fromthetableabovewecanobservethatthesetoftimeineachheightslowlyincreases.
Whentheballisputintotheheightof15cm,itsaveragetimetakenfortheballtoreachits
destinationwas1.5seconds,whiletheaveragevelocityoftheballwas10m/s.Thenwhenwe
changethepositionoftheplatformtoahigherheightwhichwas30cm,theaveragetime
takenfortheballtoreachitsdestinationwas1.1seconds,whiletheaveragevelocityofthe
ballwas27m/s.Asevery15cmisaddedtotheheight,anincreaseoftheaveragevelocity
canbeseen.Ifwecomparethelastdatacollected(90cm)andtheveryfirstdatacollected
(15cm)youcanseethatthevalueofthevelocityhadincreasedfrom10m/sto180m/s
(18010=170).Meaningithadincreased170m/sfroma75cmheightincrease.

Conclusion:
AfterIhaveconductedthisexperiment,Icanconcludethatheightofthestartingpositionof
certainobjectdoesaffectthetimeittakesforthatobjecttoreachitsdestination.Thisposition
willalsoaffecttheaveragespeedthatobjecthasinwhichitwilldecrease.Scientificallywe
canstatethatthehigherthestartingpointoftheobjectis,thefasteritwilltaketoreachits
destination,aswecanobservefromthedataandlinegraphabove.Meaningifwechanged
theindependentvariable(height),thedependantvariable(averagevelocity)wouldincrease.If
wetakealookatthelinegraphabove,wecanseethattheexponentialtrendlineisbecoming
acurvemeaningthedependantvariableisincreasing.Somespecificexampleswouldbethe
15cmheightwiththe10m/saveragevelocity,the45cmheightwiththe45m/saverage
velocityandlastbutnotleastthe90cmheightwiththe180m/saveragevelocity.Thisoverall
supportsmyhypothesisasIhavestatedthatthemorehighertheplatformwaspositionedthe
averagespeedoftheballwouldslowlyincrease.

Evaluation:
Therewasenoughdatatoanswermyhypothesisclearlythroughclearevidencesuchas
exactheightmeasurementsalongwithnearlyexacttimingforwhentheballreachedits
destination.Asforthedifferencebetweenthetrialstherewerentanymajordifferencesin
betweenthedataasithasbeenroundedoffto2significantfigurestomakesureitsmore
accurate,whichcanbethereasontowhythereweren'tanymajordifferences.Thelineof
bestfitinthelinegraphalsosuggeststhatthepointsweresomewhataccuratetothe
increasingdataasmostofthepointshavetouchedorareneartheline.ThemethodthatI
haveusedforthisexperimenthelpedmealotmorethanIhaveexpectedsinceithadmade
thisexperimentfeellikeaneasyjobinsteadofachallenge.Allthemeasuringandequipments
werewellpreparedexceptforthefactthattheballwassupposetobe10gbutinsteadsinceI
couldntfindanyuseda20gball,butthatdidntexactlyaffectanyofmyvariables.The
samples/trialsthatItooktocreatethelinegraphwaswelldoneandIwouldnthavedone
moretrailstomakesureitwas100%accurateasIcouldobservethatthedatawasslowly
increasingthroughnumbers.IfIhadtoredothisexperimentagainbutwithdifferent
dependentandindependentvariables,Iwouldchangetheindependentvariablestoslopeand
keepthedependentvariablesthesame.Overall,Ihaveenjoyedthisexperience.