The independent variable will be the surface area of the different sized balls we are
testing. We are testing a baseball, a softball, a ping pong ball, and a basketball.
Its worth justifying why youre doing the experiment. What are the possible applications of
what youre studying? Why should someone else care about this experiment?
Sports teams have to take into account the different drag forces at different altitudes. For
an example, the MLB team in Colorado had to change their field in order to make playing
conditions more fair. The air is less dense the higher in altitude you go, therefore the ball
would potentially travel farther with less drag force acting on it. Someone else should
care about this because it can adversely affect the way games are played!
The relationship between surface area and force of drag is shown in the equation:
F drag = p * S A * v 2
Based on this equation, there is a linear relationship between surface area and drag
force. We expect that the drag force should be be greater on the objects with a greater
surface area. Physical principles that are important in our experiment is dropping the
balls from a height high enough to reach terminal velocity and keeping the recording
device at the same place for each trial.
Experimental Design
The fun but tricky part.
How are you actually going to measure the relationship between your independent and
dependent variables?
Surface area can be calculated manually by us by using:
S A = * r2
Force of drag can be calculated by using Tracker to calculate terminal velocity and using
the calculated surface area and the known drag coefficient of air.
How many measurements do you need to make to determine the relationship between your
variables and to minimize your uncertainty to an acceptable level?
We need ten total measurements, so one trial per ball that you have.
What are the possible sources of uncertainty in your design, and how will you minimize them?
Sources of uncertainty in our design could include having problems with the Tracker
software, potentially not reaching terminal velocity, and not properly calculating the
surface area of the objects we are using.
Your final project design is due by 5pm on Friday (11/4). Upload a document which addresses
these points to Google Drive.