University School of Milwaukee Science Fair
FORM #3
Step 5
Due date: Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
Creating your
Experimental Design
Your Name: Meredith Jeffers
Partners Name: Sarah Severson
Science Period: 6
Focus Question: How does the weight and temperature of the curling stone
affect the speed or curl of the stone?
Hypothesis: There is a direct relationship between the weight of the stone and
the curling stone’s speed. There is an indirect relationship between the
temperature of the stone and the curing stone’s speed.
How You Will
Measure?
(Tool)
Variable
What is it?
Independent
The weight of the curling stone
will vary
Units of Measurement
(metric)
Pounds
“What will you
control?”
Dependent
The speed and distance the
curling stone goes
“What will you
measure?”
Meter stick
stopwatch
Constant Variables: (Variables kept the same to make this a fair test)
1The force applied to the stone
2.The angle we throw the stone
3.The conditions (inside)
4. The angle of the ramp
5. The temperature of the ice
6.
Meters/sec
Step 5 a. Writing a Step by step Procedure
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Put the ramp on the ice
Center the ramp on the target closest to you
Hold the 39 pound stone on the top of the ramp
As your partner starts the stop watch, release your grip on the stone at the same
time
Stop the stop watch at the same time to curling stone comes to a halt
Measure the distance from the bottom of the ramp to the front of the stone with a
meter stick
Record your data
Repeat steps 1-7 with the weight of the curling stone being 25 and 17
Step 5 b. Developing a Material List
-Curling Rink
-Smooth Ramp
-39 pound granite curling stone
-25 pound granite curling stone
-17 pound curling stone
-Stop watch
-Meter Stick
Step 5 c. Developing a Data Table
Trial
1
Distance (m)
Trail Trial Average
2
3
Trial
1
Time (s)
Trail Trial Average
2
3
Speed
Average Distance
Weight of
Curling
Stone
(lb)
Temperature
of Curling
Stone
Average Time
39
25
17
Warm
Warm
Warm
3.96
1.98
2.24
4.06
2.26
1.98
3.81
2.11
2.35
3.94
2.12
2.19
5.16
2.40
2.81
5.68
2.69
2.84
5.43
2.60
3.04
5.42
2.56
2.90
.73
.83
.76
39
25
17
Cold
Cold
Cold
6.60
2.49
4.32
5.23
2.13
2.86
5.97
2.16
5.23
5.93
2.26
5.93
8.22
3.19
5.41
6.73
2.69
5.13
7.59
3.06
5.12
7.51
2.98
5.22
.79
.76
.78
(m/s)
Graphs:
Warm Stones Distance
4.5
4
(
3.5
m 3
e
2.5
t
e 2
r 1.5
39 lb
25 lb
17 lb
)
s 1
0.5
0
1
2
(Trials)
3
Warm Stones Time
6
(
s
e
c
o
n
d
s
5
4
39 lb
3
25 lb
2
17 lb
)
1
0
1
2
(Trial)
3
Cold Stones Distance
7
(
6
m
e
t
e
r
s
5
4
39 lb
3
25 lb
2
)
17 lb
1
0
1
2
3
(Trials)
Cold Stones Time
(
s
e
c
o
n
d
s
)
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
39 lb
25 lb
17 lb
1
2
(Trials)
3
Cold Stones Average
8
7
6
5
39 lb
4
25 lb
3
17 lb
2
1
0
(seconds)
(meters)
1
Average Distance
2
Average Time
3
Average Speed
Warm Stones Average
6
5
4
39 lb
3
25 lb
2
17 lb
1
0
(meters)
Average1Distance
(seconds)
2
Average Time
(m/s)
3
Average Speed
Discussion:
In every trial the heavier of the three stones, the 39 pound stone, always went the furthest.
The colder stones always went further. The average speed of the stones were generally
equal. Our results contradict our hypothesis a bit. We had said that as the weight of the
stone increases, the speed will increase. According to our data, the cold, heaviest stone
went the fastest, but the 17 pound stone went faster than the 25 pound stone. The warm,
25 pound stone went the fastest out of the warm stones, then the 17 pound and then the
39 pound stone. The average speed of the cold stones is faster than the speed of the warm
stones by a slight margin. Some sources of error might have been the force in which we
dropped the stone down the ramp. Even though we dropped the stone down the ramp
without putting any extra force onto the stone, there might have been a difference in the
trials. Another error might have been that the ramp was not smooth enough. The speed of
the stone might have been diminished when it slid down the plastic ramp.
Conclusion:
We definitely thought lighter stones would go the farthest because of its weight, but
instead the heavier stones went the farthest. We also thought the colder stones would go
farther, so we were correct. One thing that really surprised us was that the cold stones
average for trial 3 was practically the same. That was especially surprising because the 39
pound stones always went much farther than the other pound stones. It was difficult to
measure the distance with a ruler, but we did find out that a broom used in curling was 3
meters long, which helped us a lot. In conclusion this project gave us surprises, accurate
responses, and interesting answers.
Abstract:
Our project concerns the speed of curling stones. We were interested in this
project because curling is very close to us. Our project will help our ability to curl and
understand the difference of curling stones. In our project we were able to experiment
with the temperatures of stones and how that affects the speed. The weight of the stones
was another way we could test a curling stone’s speed. Through our project we acquired
knowledge about the way curling stones slide across the ice, thus informing us on the
stones we should use for curling.
We are fortunate enough live close to a curling club. We took a trip down to the
Milwaukee Curling Club to run our experiment. We measured the weight of the curling
stones were going to use for our project. We used six stones weighing 39, 25, and 17
pounds, three were cold and three were warm. By placing a smooth ramp onto the ice we
were able to let the stones slide across the ice with a constant force. We measured the
distance the stone slid and the amount of time it took for the stone to stop. This procedure
was done three times for the six different stones.
We learned that on average colder stones cold travel farther. On average heavier
stones travel farther as well. The result of the differing speeds was that the stones all
generally slid at the same speed. This surprised us because we were expecting a larger
difference in speed between the stones. Although we were expecting different results, this
experiment influenced us to be better scientists