Free Fall Lab Gw

Experimenting with Newtons First Law of Motion Research question How can I get a coin into a water bottle using Inertia without touching it? Will that change if use a different sized coin?

Materials     

1 penny 1 playing card 1 quarter 1 nickel 1 water bottle

Introduction The purpose of this experiment is to see if I can get a coin into a water bottle using Inertia without touching it and whether that will change if use a different sized coin. I am testing the basic theory of Inertia. The theory of Inertia states that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion until acted upon by a stronger force. To test this I will put a series of coins on top of a playing card to test whether this theory will work to get the coins in a cup.

Hypothesis If the type of coin is changed, then I think that they will still go in the cup when I use Inertia.

Procedure 1. First, center the playing card on top of the water bottle. 2. Then, put the penny on top of the playing card so that it is centered over the opening on the top. 3. Next, hold your hand horizontally and flick the card sideways. 4. After that, record what happens. 5. Repeat steps 1-4 two more times so that you have data for Trial two and three. 6. Repeat steps 1-5 two more times but replace penny with Nickel, then Quarter

Table Did the coin go into the water bottle? Coin (Independent Variable) Trial 1 Trial 2 Penny

No

Yes

Trial 3 Yes

Nickel Quarter

Yes Yes

Yes Yes

Yes No

Graph sometimes it is easier to see patterns when you graph your data. Insert your graph here. This section should be organized in a way to show the pattern/relationship between your independent and dependent variables easily.

Times that the coin went in the water bottle. 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Penny

Nickel Yes

Quarter

No

Conclusion The reason for this experiment was to see whether the theory of Inertia would work to help me do a task. My hypothesis was mostly correct because it worked more times than it didn’t. I think that the reason it did not work all of the time was because I may have messed up in flicking the cards correctly or I may have also accidentally flicked the bottle as well. This is shown where I only got two of the pennies in out of the three times I tried. This was caused because I flicked the card wrong. Next time I do the experiment I will be more careful so as to hold my hand more horizontally when flicking the card. One thing

that I learned from this experiment where I tested the theory of Inertia is that it is really interesting and that it is a fundamental scientific principal to everyday life.