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John Guo

Mrs. Stevens

Life Science

31 January 2018

Will Water or Sand Roll Faster?

Once I went to the beach and was sitting on the sand, I was building a sandcastle on the

seashore. When I was holding the sand. I suddenly found out that the sand in my hand felt good

when I was massaging it. So I thought “You know that water and sand are two different kinds of

substance, so they can roll at different speeds.”​ I hypothesized that by putting sand and water

into 2 water bottles and put the water bottle on a slope, than push them together, the water will

roll faster (Speed).

What is Gravity?

On the earth, the power that object received from the earth’s core is called gravity.

Anything that has weight has gravity. And the heavier object will get stronger gravitation.

Gravity pulls objects toward each other, therefore someone jump up will not enter into the

universe. There also have gravity in the universe. Like gravity keeps all the planet rotate around

the sun and an object can have different weight on different planet. (What).

Do All Objects Fall at the Same Rate? Why or Why Not?

The answer will be no. Every different object fall at the different rate. The most

important reason depend on the object’s weight. The heavier object will faster than the lighter

object. The surface area also can affect the speed of the rolling object. The object has more

surface area will has more friction, and the rate will get lower. (Free Fall).
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What is Friction? How Does it Affect of Rolling Object?

When an object rub with another object’s surface, the force that hinder their relative

movement are called friction. How does it affect of rolling object? While there are two possible

can affect the object. First one is the surface. The object can roll faster on a smooth surface. And

second is the more pressure that object get, the more friction it will produce (Ghose).

How Does Weight Affect the Speed of Rolling Object?

Weight in fact can not affect the speed of rolling object. When an object is rolling on a

surface, this kind of friction are called rolling friction. There are only two possible can affect the

rolling object. One is the surface’s smooth degree, like when an object is rolling on a rough

surface, it will slow down its speed until stop. And another reason is pressure. The more pressure

to the object, the more power will release. (Does).

How Does Gravity Affect the Speed of Rolling Objects?

Gravity is the force attract the object and let it has weight. In this experiment it need a

slope. When the object is on the top of the slope, gravity let the object perpendicular to the slope

and let the object slide in standards. And because of the object slide in standards, gravity also

give the premise of friction. Without gravity, the object will out of control, it can not stay on the

slope. So gravity is the premise of all of this experiment. (How)

How do You Accurately Measure the Speed of a Rolling Object?

In this experiment, first find a slope and use a ruler to measure its length. Then put the

object on the top of the slope. Prepare a timer before someone push the slope. Start the timer

when the object start rolling and record the seconds it expend. After that, use the length of the

slope divided by the seconds it expend. Like the length of the slope is 10 m, and the object uses
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10 seconds to roll it, then the speed will be 1m/s. (Seedy).

​ I hypothesized that, If I push 2 bottle down to the slope at the same time, (one bottle

with water and one with sand), then the bottle with water will roll faster. ​When the slope is 1

meter long and it’s gradient is 35 degrees, the speed of the bottle with water will be 1.5 second.

The speed of the bottle with sand will be 2.5 seconds and the bottle with sand is slower than the

bottle with water. It is lower because the sand had multiple friction when it was rolling. My

conclusion is that water can roll faster than sand.

Works Cited
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“What Is Gravity?” NASA Space Place, NASA, 11 Oct. 2017,

spaceplace.nasa.gov/what-is-gravity/en/.

“Free Fall and Air Resistance.” The Physics Classroom, 23 Oct. 2017,

www.physicsclassroom.com/class/newtlaws/Lesson-3/Free-Fall-and-Air-Resistance​.

Ghose, Tia. “What Is Friction?” LiveScience, Purch, 4 June 2013,

www.livescience.com/37161-what-is-friction.html​.

Does Mass Affect the Speed of a Falling Object?, 3 Nov. 2017,

www.csun.edu/scied/4-discrpeant-event/how_fast_do_things_fall/​.

“How Gravity Affects the Acceleration of an Object on an Inclined Plane.”

Dummies, 24 Oct. 2017,

www.dummies.com/education/science/physics/how-gravity-affects-the-acceleration-of-a

n-object-on-an-inclined-plane/​.

Buddies, Science. “Speedy Science: How Does Acceleration Affect Distance?”

Scientific American, 6 Nov. 2014,

www.scientificamerican.com/article/speedy-science-how-does-acceleration-affect-distanc

e/​.