Kim+and+Eleni

Kim and Eleni How do the shapes, sizes, and materials of different balls affect the horizontal range when kicked? What role does air resistance play?

Soccer ball Basketball Balloon Exercise ball Four bricks Video camera Three or four meter sticks Force plate Scale
 * Materials**:


 * Procedure:**
 * 1) Find the mass of each of the four balls (balloon, soccer ball, basketball and exercise aerobics ball).
 * 2) Set up four bricks to place each of the balls on so they are kicked from the same angle.
 * 3) Kick the force scale a few times to ensure that the force used to kicked each ball is roughly the same.
 * 4) Set up a video camera to record each time the balls are kicked.
 * 5) Kick each of the balls with (about)119.5 Newtons, three trials for each.
 * 6) Measure where each ball hits the ground to find the distance travled.
 * 7) Make a data table for the four balls.
 * 8) After all the trials are done, find the average distance traveled for each ball and find the trial closest to each average.


 * Data:**
 * || **Trial 1** || **Trial 2** || **Trial 3** ||
 * = **Balloon** ||= 5.31m ||= 4.8m ||= 3.66m ||
 * = **Soccer Ball** ||= 6.27m ||= 6.65m ||= 7.57m ||
 * = **Basketball** ||= 5.21m ||= 3m ||= 4.37m ||
 * = **Exercise Ball** ||= 6m ||= 6.67m ||= 6.05m ||

The set up of the lab should look exactly like the one in the video below.

Theoretically when objects have a force acting on it, the horizontal range should be the same regardless of the mass of each object. While the mass typically does not affect the horizontal range, we found in our lab that due to air resistance, the material and shape of each ball affected the course traveled. For example, the soccer ball was kicked and traveled about 7.0 meters, the furthest of all four balls. Unlike the soccer ball, the balloon traveled a mere 4.0 meters, the shortest of all the balls. These balls were the two lightest but traveled completely different distances. As you can see in our videos, each of the balls were kicked from the same angle and force, but the paths they each traveled in the air were extremely different because of the air resistance and material. Air resistance typically slows down objects in motion when they are traveling through the air. We learned in this lab just how much this came into play. Theoretically, the balloon should have soared through the air, because of its light weight. We found, however, that because of the thin material and airy consistency, its light weight actually did the opposite because of air resistance. Because most of the balloon’s mass is air, it is harder for it to travel through the air without slowing down. Unlike the balloon, soccer balls and basketballs are smaller and denser. Most of the mass of these balls come from the material, rather than the air inside of them, so it takes longer for air resistance to slow them down. Similar to both the balloon and soccer ball, the exercise ball is filled with air, but has thick, rubbery material like a soccer ball. This is why it traveled about 6.0m. While we always knew air resistance played some kind of role on projectiles, we were not aware of just how big this role was. Air resistance slows down all objects in the air, but at different speeds depending on the material of an object.
 * Conclusion:**

Although we came to this conclusion, there were some sources of error that could have caused our data to be incorrect. For example, when we kicked the ball we could have kicked each ball with different forces even though we should have kicked each ball with exactly 119.5 newtons. We could have fixed this by finding a way to make sure that each force is hit with exactly 119.5 newtons. Another error could have been that we measured the distances incorrectly because we had to estimate where a ball landed and how many meters each ball traveled. This also affected our data because it may have given us false data that could affect the way we interpret it. We could have fixed this by getting a tape measure and using the it to get a more accurate reading on the distance.
 * Sources of error:**