Bouncy Balls
A Comparison of three kinds of super balls.
1-20-2011
By Calum, Dayton, and Regan Hoblet
With help from Ward Walker
Summary
 The three False Pass primary school students, Calum,
Regan and Dayton Hoblet tested to see which kind of
super ball would bounce the highest.
 They found that a ball that was clear inside bounced the
highest, while one that was lumpy did the worst. The
opaque one was in the middle.
Question:
Are super balls all the same or are
some better than others?
Which one is best?
Hypothesis:
The lumpy ball will bounce the
lowest.
The clear ball will bounce the
highest.
Research:
 A ball picks up energy and speed as it falls. When it hits
the ground it changes shape, stretches, and comes to a
stop. Then the ball goes round again and this pushes the
ball back up.
 http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_does_a_ball_bounce
Materials:
 Three different super balls: clear, cloudy and lumpy.
 Ladder
 Tape measure
 Ruler
 Tape
Procedure: (how to do something)
 Drop each ball from 8 feet high three times and
measure how high it bounces back.
 Make a table and record the results.
 Average the three results and compare them.
 Graph the results
 (See photo for setup)
Data:
Solid
Clear
1
5’ 1” = 61”
5’8”=
68”
4’3”= 51”
2
5’ =
60”
5’9”=
69”
4’4”= 52”
3
5’ =
60”
5’7”=
67”
4’4”= 52”
181”
204”
155”
60 1/3”
68”
Total
Average:
(Total /3)
Lumpy
51 2/3”
Graph of data
Calum drops the solid ball
Dayton drops the clear ball
Regan drops the lumpy ball
The three super balls: clear,
solid, and lumpy.
Summary of Results:
 The clear ball bounced the highest all three times.
 The lumpy ball bounced lowest all three times.
 Hypothesis confirmed.
Conclusion:
 Clear balls bounce the best, and lumpy balls bounce the
worst.
 Solid balls bounce in the middle.
Journal Entries:
Date:1-18-2011
 What was accomplished: We planned our experiment.
 We came up with a question, hypothesis, materials and procedure.
Date: 1-19 2011
 What was accomplished: We did the experiment.
 We made a graph and made a summary of the results and a conclusion.
 We took pictures.
Date:1-20-11
 What was accomplished: We recorded our data in a table and made a
graph.