Physics

project
Aim
To find out the relationship of the
coefficient of restitution between initial
height and the height the ball bounces.

Materials
required
 Ladder
 Yard stick
 Measuring tape
 Camera
 Computer with Logger Pro and Excel
 Roof
 Flat surface
 Step ladder
Theory
The coefficient of restitution is the
ratio of the differences in velocities
before and after the collision, which
indicates is how much kinetic energy
remains after the collision. If the
coefficient of restitution is high, or
close to 1, then very little kinetic
energy was lost. If the coefficient is
very low, or close to 0, then a large
amount of kinetic energy was
converted to heat or otherwise
absorbed.

When a moving object, like a rubber

ball, collides with an immobile surface,
like a cement floor, the rubber ball will
rebound with some fraction of it’s
original energy. If the collision is
perfectly elastic, then the ball will
rebound with all of its original energy.
In that case, the coefficient of
restitution would be one. On the other
hand, the coefficient of restitution will
be close to zero then the ball will
rebound with less energy then it
originally arrived with if there is a
permanent deformation of either the
ball or the surface.
The size of the balls being used
(lacrosse balls, racquetballs, and tennis
balls) are part of the independent
variables. Therefore, the weight of the
balls could be relevant in this
experiment. The lacrosse ball weighs
five ounces. The racquetball weighs 1.4
ounces, and the tennis ball weighs two
ounces.

The formula to calculate the coefficient

of restitution

Procedure
To being our experiment we must first
gather all materials. Next, we set up
the experiment in a flat part of the cul-
de-sac (see diagram). To collect our
data points we are going to use video
analysis, so we moved camera back
twenty feet from the experiment site
then zoomed. Using the tape measure,
we measured the first height (.5
meters). One of the group members
then held the ball at measured height
(.5 meters). The camera operator
started the camera recording and
signaled for the ball to be dropped.
The person holding the ball then
dropped ball from the measured
height (.5 meter).
The camera recorder ended the camera
recording. To make sure our data is
accurate we are going to take five trials
of each height, so we repeated the ball
dropping from the first height for
another four trials with the camera
recording each trial individually. To
start the next height, we measured the
next height of 1 meter. The camera
person then started the camera
recording again and signaled for the
ball to be dropped. The person holding
the ball dropped the ball from the
measured height (1 meter). The camera
recording was then ended.
We then repeated the ball dropping
from the second height for another
four trials with the camera recording
each trial individually to get our
accurate data. We continued these
steps of measuring the next height,
begin recording, dropping the ball,
ending the recording, and repeating
for four more trials for the next seven
heights (1.5 meters, 2 meters, 2.5
meters, 3 meters, 3.5 meters, 4 meters,
and 4.5 meters). Once we were done
with collecting the data, we uploaded
all the videos to a computer and open
Logger Pro. We collected the height
from which the ball was dropped and
the height the ball bounced to, using
Logger Pro. We entered the collected
data in an excel sheet. We used excel
to calculate the coefficient of
restitution by dividing the bounced
height by the initial.

Observations

To calculate our coefficient of

restitution we divided the bounced by
the initial height. Our results supported
our hypothesis because the coefficient
of restitution was similar for the nine
heights we released the ball from.

RESULT
The ratio between the initial height
and the bounced height will be equal,
regardless of the change in height. Our
results support our hypothesis
accurately; however there are slight
changes in the coefficient of
restitution. The highest coefficient of
restitution is .855399 and the lowest is
.676307, so the difference is very small
at .179092.
MANAN AGGARWAL

XII - A