Physics 25 IB
May 17, 2022
Efficiency of a Bouncing Ball Lab
Hypothesis
Determine the efficiency of a ball after dropping it on the floor and measuring how high it bounced.
Variables
Controlled: Height ball is released at, Surface ball is dropped on
Manipulated: Type of ball used
Responding: Height of the ball’s bounce
Materials
- Meter Stick
- Tennis Ball
- Baseball
- Pool Ball
- Wiffle Ball
- Paddle Ball
- Level surface
- Recording Device
Procedure
1. Hold the meter stick perpendicular to the floor.
2. Set up the recording device in front of the meterstick so it is level with the ball’s initial drop
height.
3. Hold the bottom of the ball at the 75cm mark on the meter stick.
4. Start the recording device.
5. Drop the ball.
6. Stop the recording device, and analyze video to see the highest point the ball has reached after the
first bounce.
7. Record the data collected in a table (shown below):
Table 1.0: Final height of each ball after dropping
Trial #
Tennis Ball
final drop
height,
ℎ𝑓 (m)
Baseball
final drop
height,
ℎ𝑓 (m)
Pool ball
final drop
height,
ℎ𝑓 (m)
Wiffle Ball
final drop
height,
ℎ𝑓 (m)
Paddle Ball
final drop
height,
ℎ𝑓 (m)
Uncertainty
in final
height (m)
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Trial 4
Trial 5
8. Repeat steps 3-7 until 5 trials are completed.
9. Change out the ball and repeat steps 3-8 until all balls have had 5 trials.
10. Using each ball's respective five trials, take their mean values and enter them into a table.
11. Using the initial drop height (0.75m, ℎ𝑖) and final mean drop height of each ball (ℎ𝑓), calculate
the percent efficiency using the formula
ℎ𝑓
ℎ𝑖
= eff%.