LBR.AsiaKE09

__ How the mass of a marble affects the diameter of a crater __ Asia K.   Earth Group: Asia K., Taylor C., Kristina B.   3/21/09 __ Question: __ How does the mass of the marble affect the diameter of the crater? __ Independent Variable: __ weight of the marble __ Dependent Variable: __ diameter of crater __ Hypothesis: __ If the weight of the marble is greater, then the crater will be bigger because the impact of the marble would be more forceful. __ Procedure: __ __ Materials: __ Ruler Sand Container 3 marbles (4, 10, and 22g.) Diameter of Craters (cm) Of Marble (g) || Trial 1 || Trial 2 || Trial 3 || Average || __ Analysis: __ In each trial, the diameter of the crater increased by at least 1cm. So when the mass of the marble increased, so did the diameter of the crater. __ Conclusion: __ In my hypothesis, I stated that if the weight of the marble is greater, then the diameter of the crater would be bigger. By the results of the table and the graph, my hypothesis was correct. In each of the 3 trials, the crater’s diameter was larger when we tested marbles with different masses. This is because the impact of the heavy marble was greater than the others. A few problems that occurred when we were testing were: 1. When we dropped the marble, it didn’t always fall straight into the sand. Sometimes it would hit the edge of the container. 2. When the crater was made, some of the sand would go back in, and it wouldn’t be the original diameter. 3. When we dropped the marble, it would sometimes fall to the farthest side, making a faulty crater. This mainly means that the sand would just cover it all up. These issues could’ve made our results false because the diameters of those craters weren’t originally the way they were meant to turn out. Our data could be trusted because we did do the trials over a few times to double-check the data and make sure none of the diameters were faulty information. Another question that could be tested is: How does the type of surface effect the diameter of the crater?
 * 1) Put the ruler inside the sand against the wall of the container
 * 2) Drop the marble (4g., 10g., 22g.) from the designated height (50cm.)
 * 3) Measure the crater and record data
 * 4) Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each trial (3 trials)
 * Mass
 * 4g || 1.5cm || 1.5cm || 1.75cm || 1.58cm ||
 * 10g || 2.5cm || 2.5cm || 2cm || 2.3cm ||
 * 22g || 3cm || 3.5cm || 3.75cm || 3.42cm ||