SCI 201 Journal

Title Falling Objects

Autho Caitlin Gifford

r

Group Members Score

Cassandra Bostjancic

Stage of CCM Developing Proficient Exemplary

(1) (2) (3)
Stage 1 The description of the Journal includes an Journal includes a thorough
(becoming investigation(s) lacked adequate description of description of what
aware… sufficient detail to inform what investigation(s) investigation(s) was/were
the reader. was/were about but some about.
committing to
detail may be missing.
an outcome)

This week’s journal was about the motion of falling objects, the forces that act upon them
and what factors determine certain outcomes. For this experiment we had an array of
objects including a small washer, a large washer, a flat piece of paper, a tightly wadded
paper and a loosely wadded paper. These objects are obviously all different sizes, shapes,
and weights. We dropped two of the objects simultaneously and recorded which object
reached the ground first. Below is the list of objects we dropped together. When we
dropped our objects we consistently dropped them parallel (the most surface area down)
to the ground like demonstrated below.

a. Big Washer vs. Small Washer

b. Big Washer vs. Paper
c. Big Washer vs. Loosely Wadded Paper
d. Big Washer vs. Tightly Wadded Paper
e. Small Washer vs. Loosely Wadded Paper
f. Small Washer vs. Tightly Wadded Paper
g. Paper vs. Tightly Wadded Paper
h. Paper vs. Loosely Wadded Paper
 Stage of CCM Developing
(1)
Author states and his/her
Stage 2 predictions about what will
(exposing beliefs) occur in the event(s) under
investigation but fails to
provide an explanation.
Proficient Exemplary
(2) (3)
Author states and his/her Author clearly states and
predictions about what will explains his/her predictions
occur in the event(s) under about what will occur in the
investigation but fails to event(s) under
provide an explanation in investigation.
sufficient detail.

I had predicted that the washers would always reach the ground first because they were
smaller and denser than all the other objects. I also thought that the flat piece of paper
would always be the last object to reach the ground because it is more likely to react to a
breeze because it has a lot of surface area. I figured the loosely wadded piece of paper
would hit after the tightly wadded paper just because the tight paper was more compact
and had less surface area. For the most part my predications came out to be correct
although there was a lot of discrepancy in the class as to what the outcomes really were, I
figured that everyone would get very similar data but I didn’t think about different ways
to drop them, I think if everyone would have dropped their objects the same way the data
would be more consistent.

An object in motion stays in motion, an object at rest stays at rest.

Inertia - the tendency of an object to resist a change in motion

An object will move at constant velocity when its acceleration is 0

 When it’s at rest
 When it is moving at constant speed, its acceleration is 0, it is not
slowing down or speeding up
 When the sum of all forces are balanced
An object will accelerate when it is not a constant speed or at rest
 When the sum of all forces are not balanced
 Acceleration is directly proportionate to the unbalanced force on an
object inversely proportional to its mass and in the direction of the
unbalanced force on an object.
Objects with greater mass are more likely to continue doing what they are doing
 Acceleration is directly proportionate to the unbalanced force on an
object inversely proportional to its mass and in the direction of the
unbalanced force on an object.
We don’t know where forces come from but there are 2 theories
 Einstein - curved space-time, General Relativity
 Quantum Physics - the exchange of virtual particles (also: this line led to the
discovery of the strong and weak forces and the subsequent theory that the weak
and electromagnetic forces used to be the same, hence 3 instead of 4)
 There is a considerable amount of evidence to support both theories (i.e. a lot of
phenomena can be explained by both)
 Physicists are working on a Grand Unified Theory (GUT)
 One promising line of inquiry - Super String Theory
 There has been a lot of time/money invested in this… it is a dominant theory but
not a particularly powerful one at this time
 Stage of CCM Developing Proficient Exemplary
(1) (2) (3)
Stage 3 Author provides a Author provides a Author provides a rich
(confronting beliefs) description of how the description of how the description of how the
events unfolded but the events unfolded and events unfolded and
description lacks detail compares and contrasts compares and contrasts the
and/or comparisons the results to his/her own results to his/her own
between the results and predictions in some detail. predictions in detail.
his/her own predictions
lack detail.

• First we dropped the Big washer and the little washer, it seemed that they reached
the ground at the same time, we dropped the objects two more time and came to
the conclusion that they hit at approximately the same time. We decided to drop
each set of objects two or three times just to get the most accurate data. The big
washer undoubtedly hit the group before the sheet of paper especially due to how
we dropped out objects. The big washer also beat both wadded pieces of paper.
The small washer also beat out both wadded pieces of paper, the drops with the
small washer were hard to determine because the washer was very small. In the
last two drops obviously the paper lost to the wadded pieces of paper.
• The data we collected was pretty accurate to what I had thought would happen,
although I wasn’t sure which washer would hit the ground first I thought the
smaller one would just because it was dense but not as large. I figured the washers
vs. the tightly wadded paper would also be close, and it was.
• We decided that the flat paper always lost because it had the most surface area
therefore hit the most air residence. As we looked over our data we decided to do
the small washer vs. the tight wadded paper and the big washer vs. the paper again
just to be sure after we saw the data from the other groups.

a. Big Washer vs. Small Washer

b. Big Washer vs. Paper
c. Big Washer vs. Loosely Wadded Paper
d. Big Washer vs. Tightly Wadded Paper
e. Small Washer vs. Loosely Wadded Paper
f. Small Washer vs. Tightly Wadded Paper
g. Paper vs. Tightly Wadded Paper
h. Paper vs. Loosely Wadded Paper

*Bold and Underline=Winner

*a.=Same

Motion (the act of changing position) can be described by its…

o Position-the location of an object at any given time
 o Direction of motion
o Speed-the rate of change of position

Constant velocity- an object in constant motion has an acceleration of 0, this means the
object could be at rest, or it could be moving as long as it is not getting faster or slower

Changing velocity- an object in changing motion will either be accelerating or

decelerating meaning its acceleration is anything but 0

Force=A push or pull, the cause of all motion.

Stage of CCM Developing Proficient Exemplary

(1)
Stage 4 Author interprets results
(resolving conflicts, and is able to articulate an
accommodating the explanation about the
phenomenon under study
new concept)
but many aspects of the
explanation are incorrect.
(2)
Author interprets results
and is able to articulate an
explanation about the
phenomenon under study
but some aspects of the
explanation are incorrect.
(3)
Author accurately
interprets results and is
able to correctly
articulate an explanation
about the phenomenon
under study.

In our small group before we did any of our experiments we discussed what we
thought would happen and we agreed on which objects would fall faster. After our
experiment one of our group members wanted to double check some of our data so we
repeated two drops and found that our data was correct. Also in our small group we
thought that our data was more accurate than the other groups in the class. In the class
there was a lot of discrepancy over what objects really did fall the fastest. Some of the
groups thought that all the objects including the flat paper fell at the same rate as all the
other objects which we as a group agreed that was not the case.
Also in the class discussion we discussed the reasons to why some objects fell faster
than others and the weight of the objects had nothing to do with it. We learned that the
main reason why some objects fall faster than others has to do with the surface area, the
denseness of the air, the acceleration, and the aerodynamics of the object, which are all
factors that determine air resistance. We watched a video clip from an experiment done
on the moon with a feather and a hammer, both were dropped and hit the ground at the
same time because there is no air on the moon therefore there is not air resistance. We
learned that when you take air resistance out of the equation anything will hit the ground
at the same time. Dr.Cullin got rid of air resistance here on earth by putting another
object in front of the falling object. This is just like when a Nascar racer drafts behind
another car to cut down on air resistance.
Dr. Cullin also explained to us why a heavier object does not fall faster, even though
the object has more mass it also has more forces pushing against it, the less weight an
object has the smaller amount of forces that push against it. That is why when air
resistance is not a factor objects with different weights will fall at the same speed.
 When we started this experiment I thought I understood what determined how quick
an object fell and through the investigation I was assured that I did know how falling
objects were affected.

Stage of CCM Developing Proficient Exemplary

(1) (2) (3)
Author provides a few Author provides a few Author provides numerous
Stage 5 (extending examples of applications examples of applications examples of applications
the concept, making of the concepts/principles of the concepts/principles of the concepts/principles
under study but the under study. under study where
connections)
examples are not truly possible and/or
applicable. appropriate.

I can relate the phenomenon of air resistance to many aspects of my life.

• In high school I ran track and I found as I became more experienced in running
that it wasn’t always the best idea to run in the front of the pack, but if I could set
my pace behind another runner they would take all the wind (especially if it was
cold) and I would save my energy but not having to fight my exhaustion and the
wind, usually I could beat the person I was running behind too.
• I also drive quit often and I know that when you drive behind another car or a
tractor trailer the air resistance is cut way down if you draft behind the car in front
of you. A shape of the car can also cut down on the air resistance.

Gravitational forces -Every object in the universe is attracted to every other object in the
universe by a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and
inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

• What is air resistance and what factors influence it?

o The particles of air that are all around us, air resistance is what causes
object to fall at different speeds
 Denseness of air
 Surface area
 Acceleration
 aerodynamics

Stage of CCM Developing Proficient Exemplary

(1) (2) (3)
Stage 6 Author describes aspects Author describes aspects Author clearly articulates
(going beyond) of the concepts/principles of the concepts/principles aspects of the
under study about which under study about which concepts/principles under
 they are unsure or about they are unsure or about study about which they
which they have additional which they have additional are unsure or about which
questions or a desire to questions or a desire to they have additional
investigate further but investigate further in questions or a desire to
only in a cursory fashion. limited detail. investigate further.

• I am still unsure of what objects actually hit the ground first, we did our best to
observe which hit the ground first using our eye sight and thinking logically
which one should have hit first.
• I would like to do this experiment with more similar objects like different shaped
objects that are made out of the same material. But if the materials were similar I
would also like to have a more consistent way to drop the objects and an easier
way to tell which object hits the ground first, something like a slow motion
camera would make this experiment more accurate.

Position - the location of an object at any given time

Motion - the act of changing position
Distance - the amount of change of position
• Calculating distance (d = x2 - x1), where the symbol “x” represents position
Reference point - an arbitrary point on an object used to establish its position
Speed - the rate of change of position
• v = d / ∆ t where v is the speed, d is the distance, and ∆ t is the time
change
• Distance can be calculated if speed and time are known using d = v X ∆ t
Displacement -the difference between an object’s initial and final positions
• How far you traveled vs. how far you are from where you started… a trip
to the grocery store… distance vs. displacement
Velocity - rate of change of displacement (speed and direction)
Acceleration - rate of change of velocity
• Constant velocity - equal amounts of distance traveled in equal amounts of
time
• Accelerated motion (acceleration) - differing amounts of distance traveled
in equal amounts of time
Force-the push or pull on an object
Unbalanced Force-when there is more push than pull or more pull than push
Inertia- the tendency of an object to resist a change in motion
Mass- the measurement of inertia
 SI units - kilogram
 Other metric units - gram, milligram
 British units - the slug
Centripetal Force- Any force that is directed consistently at a right angle to the
motion of an object will cause the object to follow a circular path path. This kind of
force ends up being directed toward the center of the circle (i.e. it is “center-seeking”
 and is called centripetal).
Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation- Every object in the universe is attracted to
every other object in the universe by a force that is directly proportional to the
product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance
between them.

• Newton's first law of motion is often stated as-An object at rest stays at rest and
an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction
unless acted upon by an unbalanced force
• Newton's second law of motion explains how an object will change velocity if it is
pushed or pulled upon.
o Firstly, this law states that if you do place a force on an object, it will
accelerate, i.e., change its velocity, and it will change its velocity in the
direction of the force.
o Secondly, this acceleration is directly proportional to the force. For
example, if you are pushing on an object, causing it to accelerate, and then
you push, say, three times harder, the acceleration will be three times
greater.
o Thirdly, this acceleration is inversely proportional to the mass of the
object. For example, if you are pushing equally on two objects, and one of
the objects has five times more mass than the other, it will accelerate at
one fifth the acceleration of the other.
• Newton’s third law For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
o The statement means that in every interaction, there is a pair of forces
acting on the two interacting objects. The size of the forces on the first
object equals the size of the force on the second object. The direction of
the force on the first object is opposite to the direction of the force on the
second object. Forces always come in pairs - equal and opposite action-
reaction force pairs.
• **Acceleration=force/mass
o a = FUB/m where “a” is the acceleration, “FUB” is the unbalanced force, and
“m” is the mass
o It is often written: FUB = m X a

Stage of CCM Developing Proficient Exemplary

(0) (1) (2)
Quality organization or neatness ideas are somewhat organized,, neat, well
Writing needs attention organized and neat thought-out ideas