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Physics Practical

This experiment investigates how the drop height of a table tennis ball affects its rebound height. The independent variable is the drop height from 0.1m to 0.5m. The dependent variable is the rebound height, measured using slow motion video and a graph paper scale. A table tennis ball will be dropped from each height three times, and the average rebound height of the first three bounces will be calculated and plotted against drop height. If the plot has a positive gradient, it will support the hypothesis that higher drop heights produce higher rebound heights. Controlled variables include the angle of the graph paper and ball, and the type and properties of the ball.

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YAMAMOTO Keiji
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228 views

Physics Practical

This experiment investigates how the drop height of a table tennis ball affects its rebound height. The independent variable is the drop height from 0.1m to 0.5m. The dependent variable is the rebound height, measured using slow motion video and a graph paper scale. A table tennis ball will be dropped from each height three times, and the average rebound height of the first three bounces will be calculated and plotted against drop height. If the plot has a positive gradient, it will support the hypothesis that higher drop heights produce higher rebound heights. Controlled variables include the angle of the graph paper and ball, and the type and properties of the ball.

Uploaded by

YAMAMOTO Keiji
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Physics Practical (ACS International)

Name  :   Keiji Yamamoto                          


                    Date :  3  / 25  / 2022

EXPERIMENT 2104:

Factors that affect the “bounciness” of table-tennis


balls

Time: 1 hr

Exploration

Aim:
In this experiment you will investigate one factor that
you think will affect how high a table tennis ball will
rebound when dropped.

Research question

How does an increase in height from where the table-


tennis is dropped affect the rebound height of table-
tennis?

Background information:

As we know, when a table-tennis ball collides with the


floor, the table-tennis ball deforms. A fraction of its
original energy is lost, thus the tennis ball bounces
with lower energy with every collision. This
phenomenon occurs as energy gets converted to
heat/sound when the tennis ball collides with the floor.
Therefore, the tennis-ball will not return to its original
height. As energy can only be converted and never
destroyed or created , concept of conservation of
energy is applicable in this experiment where kinetic
energy after the collision is equal to gravitational
potential energy  minus energy lost in the process of
collison . (mgh=1/2mv ) Also, understanding that the
2
gravitational acceleration of earth at flat surface to be
9.81m/s (according to NASA) is important as it
2

allows us to understand why table-tennis drops at an


increasing rate. To understand why the ball bounces
back, we have to have a glance at the structure of
table-tennis ball. As table-tennis ball is made out of
flexible plastic and filled with air, it has the capability
to compress itself for a moment until it repulsively
returns to its original shape causing it to push off of
the surface it hits. I had chosen photogrammetry as my
method as photogrammetry allows me to obtain
rebound height accurately. By using slow motion
technology I can obtain the maximum height that the
ball had rebounded. Also, to reduce random error in
this experiment, I had decided to find the average
rebound height over three drops. Therefore, the
average rebound height will be equal to (h +h +h )/ 5
1 2 3

where h is the rebound height for the first drop and h


1 2

is the rebound height for the second drop and so on.

The hypothesis
The hypothesis for this experiment will be :“The
higher the drop height, the rebound height of the table-
tennis ball increases.”
Source:
https://www.markedbyteachers.com/gcse/maths/how-
does-the-height-from-which-a-table-tennis-ball-is-
dropped-affect-its-bounce.html

I came up with this hypothesis when I came across


this graph during my research process. Although this
graph only represents how drop height had affected
bounce height for tennis balls, I was thinking that a
similar graph could be drawn with table tennis balls.
As tennis balls and table-tennis balls both have similar
physical properties, I realized that this graph could be
useful. From this graph, I can understand that when
drop height increases, bounce height also increases.
Thus, I made the hypothesis “The higher the drop
height, the rebound height of table-tennis ball
increases.”

Apparatus list:

-Slow motion camera (Iphone 13) ± 0.5s


-Meter rule ± 0.5cm
-Table-Tennis ball (Nittaku Premium 40)
-Retort stand
-Clamp
-A4 graph paper x2 (Acs international ver)
-tripod
-paper stand

Controlled variables (how you control them)

Controlled
variable
Angle of A4 Angle of A4 paper relative to the floor
paper relative must be controlled as if the angle
to floor changes the rebound height could be
altered.  When the A4 paper is
slanted, the y axis will also be slanted
downwards thus the height obtained
from the camera will most likely be
less than theoretical maximum height.
In order to control this variable, we
can use a protractor and ensure that
the A4 paper is perpendicular to the
collision floor at all times.
The type of As different table-tennis balls have
tennis ball different smoothness, material, and
quality, changing the type of table-
tennis could lead to inaccuracy in
rebound height. Due to this reason, I
had decided to use NIttaku premium
40 as my table tennis ball.
Angle of The angle that the table-tennis ball
table-tennis dropping is important as dropping at
ball dropping different angle will cause the table
relative to tennis ball to bounce off the floor with
floor different angle. When they bounce off
with different angles, the maximum
height observed by the camera will be
less than the theoretical maximum
height. To control the angle, I will
turn off aircon in the room as well as
use retort stand and clamp to drop the
ball. Dropping with human hands are
also possible however, it is very
difficult for an individual to drop
exactly 90 degrees to the surface.

Distance of The camera should be placed at a


camera relative fixed height to ensure that the video
to the table recorded is fair and equal amongst
tennis ball and all the experiments. The angle should
its angle also be fixed so that parallax error
relative to the could be reduced. To control this, we
floor can set a tripod and lock the height
and angle of the camera so that the
angle becomes constant.

Independent and depend variables

Independent variable: Drop height of table-tennis

Range of independent variable:


(0.1m,0.2m,0.3m,0.4m,0.5m) ± 0.005m

I had chosen this 5 range as the retort stand cannot go


any further than this and it is easier to control height
and drop angle at lower height level. When table-
tennis is dropped from higher distance, the motion of
table tennis ball dropping may not be vertically
downwards as air resistance exists. Due to the fact that
table-tennis is light, air resistance could alter the path
of table tennis which changes the angle of landing.
Hence, lower height is more suitable for this practical.

Dependent variable: rebound height

Unit= meters, uncertainty= ±0.001m


Procedures (how data can be collected)

Step 1: Attach the table tennis ball onto the clipper.


Step 2: Using the meter rule, adjust the height of the
clipper so that the distance between the bottom of the
table tennis ball and the contact surface is 0.5 meters.
Step 3: Place the A4 graphing paper against the paper
stand so that it is perpendicular to the surface and
place in such a way that the paper is 1-2 cm behind
from the tennis ball.
Step 4: Using meter rule, place a tripod attached
Iphone 50 cm away from the table tennis ball
Step 5: Start recording the footage and loosen the
clipper gently until the table tennis falls.
Step 6: After 4 collisions, stop the recording and
analyze the video to identify the height that the table
tennis ball had rebounded to.
Analyze: ( Height can be obtained by comparing with
the graphing paper. We have to identify the frame that
shows maximum height that the rebounded table
tennis ball had reached and since we know the
smallest scale of the graphing paper is 0.001m, we can
identify the height that it had reached. Once the
rebound height after the first collision is identified,
repeat the same process for rebound height after
second collision and rebound height after third
collision.)
Step 7: repeat step 1~6 two more  times and find the
rebound height for each drop.
Step 7: Repeat step 1~7 with the 4 other value of
independent variable (0.4m/0.3m/0.2m/0.1m)
Step 8: Insert the obtained values into the equation
“(h +h +h )/3”
1 2 3

Step 9: Plot a graph of average bounce height for the


first three bounce against drop height.

If the gradient of the graph of average bounce height


for the first three bounce against drop height is
positive, the hypothesis is proven as inorder for
gradient to be positive the y axis should go up.
Increase in y-axis means that rebound height is
increasing.

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