Bouncing Ball

[Sewanee, Physics Class]

For our physics project, we conducted the bouncing ball experiment,
in which we used a sine wave generator as the input and the speaker
as the output to observe how the frequency and the amplitude affect the
behavior of the following objects: a Ping Pong ball, a paper ball, a Styrofoam ball, and a penny.

The Experiment

How high will each of the variables bounce in thirty seconds
with a frequency of 30.0 Hz and a low amplitude?

Each experiment was conducted with a measurement that began with a
measurement of 20 cm. This means that to obtain a true height from each variable
or object, one has to take the difference of the value found from 20 cm.

Styrofoam – 23 cm

23-20 = 3 cm

Paper – 22 cm

22-20 = 2 cm

Penny – 20 cm

21-20 = 1 cm

Ping Pong – 33 cm

33-20 = 13 cm

Data

· If you turn the dial for the frequency all the way up
and the amplitude is all the way down, the ball will not do anything.

· If you turn the dial for the amplitude to the maximum and keep the frequency at the minimum,
the ball reaches equilibrium (it moves with the oscillator, but it does not actually bounce).

Conclusion

We observed that the amplitude is the factor that determines how the ball will stay on
the generator. With the amplitude and frequency turned up on a higher level,

the ball will bounce higher.

Students

Jennilyn Belleza

Rashel Triplett

Marina Salama

Randyl Cochran