Open-Ended Engineering Experimental Project I
EGN 4930 - Foundations of Engineering (Spring 2000)
Goal/Purpose
Apply some of the fundamentals of engineering to a group experimental project similar to an experiment
that a quality engineer would perform at a manufacturing plant to determine the quality of their product.
Objective
Perform an experiment to evaluate the rebound height and time between bounces of tennis balls. Each
group will test tennis balls from two different manufacturers (the tennis balls will be provided to each
group). The experiments will be performed under different environmental conditions (6), that is,
 New (out of the package),
 Heated (placed in oven for specified time),
 Cooled (placed in freezer for specified time),
 Punctured,
 Wet (soaked in water for specified time), and
 Sixth condition at each group's discretion (e.g., heated then cooled).
Each group will be responsible for developing an experimental set-up such that data can be accurately
taken and replicated.
Experimental Parameters, Measurements, and Calculations
The following experimental parameters, measurements, and calculations should be closely adhered to:
 Each group will receive 4 cans (2 cans from each manufacturer with 3 balls per can) of tennis balls.
Each group will also receive a stopwatch that will have to be returned after the project is completed.
 Each tennis ball should be labeled and documented.
 The weight, diameter, etc. should be accurately measured and documented for each tennis ball.
 4 tennis balls should be tested for each treatment condition. Note that a treatment condition
consists of a tennis ball from a specific manufacturer under a certain environmental condition. This
results in a total of 48 tests [i.e., (# of manufacturers = 2) X (# of environmental conditions = 6) X (#
of tennis balls tested for each trial = 4) = 48]. Note that you will only receive 12 tennis balls, so you
will repeat the same environmental condition three more times using the same tennis ball as the
first time.
 No tennis ball should be used more than four times and never use a tennis ball from one
environmental condition to the next.
 For each treatment condition, a tennis ball should be dropped from a group defined initial height.
The rebound height and time between bounces should be measured for 3-4 bounces depending on
the initial height.
 Once all of the data is taken, analysis should be performed to determine basic statistics (e.g., mean
and standard deviation) of rebound height and time between bounces for each of the treatment
conditions. Excel can be used to tabulate data and perform the statistics. Based on the statistics
of the 4 tests for each treatment condition, the initial height and rebound height should be plotted
versus time (12 curves on one plot - 6 environmental conditions and 2 manufacturers) showing a
comparison of the effects of enviromental conditions and manufacturers.
 Note that you are performing a scientific experiment and everything should be recorded (e.g.,
humidity, ambient temperature, heating temperature & time, cooling temperature & time, amount of
water used to wet tennis balls, etc.).
Presentation (4 weeks, however, section professor determines date)
Each group will make a short (time to be determined by section professor) formal presentation (e.g.,
PowerPoint transparences) on their experimental set-up with schematic, data taken, graphs, statistical
results, conclusions, etc.
Technical Report (4 weeks, however, section professor determines date)
A technical report presented as an executive summary in memorandum format to the professor is required.
The report (between 3 and 4 pages) should include a problem statement, description of experimental setup with schematic, tabular data taken, graphs, statistical results, conclusions, etc.
Grading
Grading of the project is up to the section professor.