Science | Lab Report

Lab Report
Title: The bounce of a ball based on temperature

Introduction
This labs purpose is to find if there is a difference in bounce depending on the temperature of the ball and the
elasticity of a ball. Well what is elasticity and what does it have to do with temperature, but also what even is
elasticity? Elasticity is a objects ability to remain the same shape after being stretched or compressed. Well how
would temperature impact the balls elasticity? Lets answer that question, when the rubber of the ball is heated it
causes the molecules of the ball to move or another way to say it is bounce around more, which as you might
expect cause a ball to bounce higher and as you might think the exact opposite for when its colder.Lets get
started In this lab the materials used/required if you want to test this lab are 3 balls, a fridge, and a oven. You will
also a require a space that is room temperature and a thermometer to conclude the temperatures of the balls,and
lastly a marker, a piece of paper,and a ruler.
Experimental Methods :
To start this experiment you will want to start the night before by taking a marker and 3 balls and marking on them
to tell the difference, then place one of the balls in the freezer and to continue pre-heat the oven to 40 degrees
Celsius. When the oven is done and when you are done separating the remaining balls place them in there
required areas. One of the balls should be placed in the oven and the other ball should be placed in a room
temperature environment and all of them should be left to sit overnight. The next morning you will continue the
actual lab to start the next part of the experiment the following morning gather all your materials together. Take all
the balls out of their areas and take their temperatures and write them down on a piece of paper. Next drop each
of your balls from 70 meters up 3 times and write the height it bounced to. Then compare your findings and
calculate the mean of what you found.
Data and Observations
The Ball The height of the bounce on each drop.
Drop 1. 65 meters
-Ball 1 (oven) Drop 2. 65 meters
Drop 3. 65 meters
Average: 65 meters
Drop 1. 10 meters
-Ball 2 (fridge) Drop 2. 10 meters
Drop 3. 10 meters
Average: 10 meters
Drop 1. 35 meters
-Ball 3 (room Drop 2. 35 meters
temp.) Drop 3. 35 meters
Average: 35 meters
To calculate the overall mean you add all the averages together and divide by 3. The overall Mean for
this experiment is : 36.6 but if rounded 37 meters.

Discussion and Conclusions

The warmer the ball is the higher the ball will bounce is my observation, i believed this is because when the ball is
cold it causes the object to be more dense since the molecules will be closer together the opposite of how a hot
ball is affected. When the ball is hot the molecules are more spread out and cause the ball not not be dense at all
making the other ball bounce higher, and as for the room temperature ball it bounces at a normal rate sense the
molecules are just as the same. Errors that could have happened in this lab would be that the temperatures could
have been off or you might not have gotten exact measurements of meters the balls bounced. To improve on this

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 Science | Lab Report
you could check the temperature as soon as you get the ball and not all together as the hot ball wont be as hot
when you first got it out of the oven. So there for you should measure one ball at a time and then after you
measure temperature and height move on t the next ball. Maybe you could also record the bouncing of the ball in
slow motion so you can see exactly where the highest it hit in meters was. In conclusion you can improve the lab
but over all it was successful.

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Copying or distributing without K12’s written consent is prohibited.