Laboratory Experiments: AstroBlaster
Materials for all Experiments
Excercise 1
Setup: The AstroBlaster is the small device shown that consists of 3 rubber balls on a small plastic stick, and a 4th removable plastic ball. The entire device is dropped from a small height (1 foot). Students must predict what will happen.
Hypothesis: The small red ball will bounce higher than the elevation from which the 4 balls are dropped.
Scientific Principles: Conservation of Momentum, Conservation of Energy.
Potential Energy (PE) = mgh
M = mass of apparatus
g = gravitational constant
h = height of object above datum (or reference height)
Experiment: Drop the device and observe what happens. Record results.
Analysis: Explain the results of the experiment in scientific terms. Use scientific principles.
Exercise 2
Hypothesis: We can use the principles of conservation of energy to predict the height the bounce of the red ball.
Scientific Principles: Potential energy will be conserved.
PE of the device at start = PE of the red ball at highest point
mdevice * g * hdevice = mred ball * g * hred ball
Use simple math to show that the
height of the red ball = height of the device * mdevice/ mred ball
Experiment:
- Measure a height of 1 foot.
- Drop the device from this height trying to be as vertical as possible.
- Catch the red ball at the top of its bounce
- Measure the height at this location
Analysis: Did the results compare favorably with the theory? Was the result more or less than theory? Explain why.
Hypothesis: Different surfaces will affect the height attained by the red ball.
Scientific Principle: Different surfaces will absorb more or less energy from the device when dropped. This will affect the height obtained by the red ball.
Experiment: Repeat previous experiment on a hard surface and on a soft surface. Measure height obtained on each surface.
Analysis: Did the ball bounce higher on the soft or hard surface? Why?
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