Simple Physics Motion of a Bowling Ball Place a bowling ball on top of a ramp that you make with a whiteboard

on the floor. Walk beside it and when you hear the signal, place sugar packets to mark the locations of the ball each second. Write the following in your report:

a) Decide where you will choose the origin. Measure the positions of the sugar packets relative to that origin. Record the data. b) Do you think that if you repeat the experiment you would get the same results? Is it worth repeating the experiment again? c) How would you classify the objects motion: motion with constant rate, increasing rate/decreasing rate? How would you know from the data? d) Now imagine that you want to describe the experiment to Bob, so that Bob can understand the procedure and the results. Is it better to use words or there is another, more concise way? Think of what components of the experiment and the result are important and what are not. After you thought of these questions, describe the outcome to Bob in the most efficient way. Drawing a motion diagram Draw a motion diagram for the bowling ball. Remember to include dots, v arrows (velocity) and delta-v arrows. Repeat the experiment with a tennis ball. How is the motion diagram different from your written description of the results of the two experiments? Which is more informative? Which is more efficient? Testing experiment: Does an objects motion always occur in the direction of the unbalanced force exerted on it by other objects? The goal of the experiment is to test two ideas: 1) whether an object always moves in the direction of the unbalanced force exerted on it by other objects: 2) whether the objects always changes its motion in the direction of the unbalanced force exerted on it by other objects. Available equipment: Bowling ball, ruler, sugar packets a) First, think of the two competing ideas that you need to test. Think of how you use the available equipment to design experiments relevant to both of them. (Hint: The rulers are really good for pushing bowling balls.) Also, think what the words test an idea mean in real life. Does testing mean trying to prove or trying to disprove an idea? When you come up with possible experiments, call your instructor. b) After the discussion with the instructor, record what experiments you are going to perform. Draw pictures and free body diagrams for each situation.

c) Make predictions of the outcome of each experiment based on both ideas. d) Make a table to record the following information for the ball: 1) the direction of the motion; 2) the direction of the change in motion 3) the direction of the unbalanced force. Then perform each experiment, record the outcome in the table and decide whether one or both of the ideas gave you the predictions that matched the outcomes of the experiments. Make a judgment about each idea. e) How would you convince Bob in your judgment? f) Experiment 1 was called an observational experiment and experiment 3 was called a testing experiment. How do these names reflect the difference in experimental approaches? (Think of predictions.) g) Design, perform and describe two more experiments in which the object moves in such a way as to lend further evidence to your conclusions. (This is yet another type of experiment.) Draw a motion diagram and a free body diagram for each experiment. h) You have represented motion and forces in different ways. Explain how there representations helped you find a pattern. Why did we do this lab? a) In a paragraph, summarize what you have learned during the first lab in terms of physics content and in terms of scientific abilities. b) Describe how your understanding of the relationship between force and motion is different from your understanding before. Results: Bowling Ball, first trial: 151 centimeters at first sugar packet 141 at second 159 at third 142 at last Second trial, Use this data for motion diagram, more precise: 212 centimeters 167 centimeters 164 centimeters 160 centimeters Tennis Ball: 174 centimeters

108 centimeters 148 centimeters Testing Experiment: Push ball with ruler in straight line, then change opposite directions (front to back, back to front direction) and push it with the ruler. Dont actually have to do, already know what it does. Shows how unbalanced forces act.

Doesnt need to be a formal, fancy lab write up. Grading rubric is (guidelines) is able to identify the hypothesis to be tested, is able to design a reliable experiment that tests the hypothesis, is able to distinguish between a hypothesis and a prediction, is able to make a reasonable prediction based on a hypothesis, is able to identify the assumptions made in making the prediction, is able to determine specifically the way in which assumptions might affect the prediction, is able to decide whether the prediction and the outcome agree/disagree, is able to make a reasonable judgment about a hypothesis, and is able to revise the hypothesis if necessary.