The Great
Bouncing Ball
Experiment
So Far, all of our work
on graphs has been
directed towards linear
relationships.
y = mx + b
Linear relationships
represent only a small (but
important) part of the
overall topic of modeling.
There are numerous other
models you will study in
your high school career
The Quadratic
E = mc2
The Cubic
The Quintic
Periodic Functions
Cardioid
Four Leaf
Lemicon
Mobius Transformation
A bouncing ball provides
and excellent
illustration of a nonlinear relationship.
Our work with nonLinear Relationships will
be limited to
observation and
recognition
Copy and complete the chart below:
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average
of 3 trials
Height (cm)
Initial Height
NA
Height after 1 bounce
173
Height after 2 bounces 154
Height after 3 bounces
Height after 4 bounces
Height after 5 bounces
Height after 6 bounces
(no decimals)
NA
NA
171 178
151 160
205
174
155
Copy and complete the chart below:
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average
of 3 trials
Height (cm)
Initial Height
NA
Height after 1 bounce
Height after 2 bounces
Height after 3 bounces
Height after 4 bounces
Height after 5 bounces
Height after 6 bounces
(no decimals)
NA
NA
Draw a graph of Height VS Number
of Bounces
H
0
1
2
3
B
4
5
6
Copy and complete the chart below:
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average
of 3 trials
Height (cm)
Start Height (0)
NA
Height after 1 bounce
173
Height after 2 bounces 154
Height after 3 bounces
Height after 4 bounces
Height after 5 bounces
Height after 6 bounces
NA
NA
171 178
151 160
205
174
155
Questions
1. How would the graph change if you
used a bowling ball?
2. How would the graph change if you
threw the ball down as hard as you
could instead of dropped it.
3. How would the graph change if you
did the experiment on the moon?
Hand in the
completed graph
and answered
questions once
you finish.