Engaging in Guided Inquiry

Actual Scientific Inquiry

Question:

How do different surfaces affect the momentum of marbles?

Hypothesis:

A marble that measures one inch in diameter will roll faster on concrete than asphalt.

Experiment:

·         Materials – 1 3inch marble, a ramp, stop watch, chalk, measuring tape

·         Controlled variables – ramp and marble

·         Manipulated variable – concrete and asphalt

Process:

1.)    Select two level surfaces, one concrete and one asphalt

2.)    Set up ramp (I used a wedge that had a grove down the middle with a 30degree incline.

3.)    Draw a finish line fifteen feet away from the base of the ramp. (Use tape measure.)

4.)    Position marble at the top of the ramp and release.

5.)    Start timer as the marble reaches the bottom

6.)    Stop timer as the marble crosses the finishes line

Data:

	Trial One	Trial Two	Trail Three	Average Time
Concrete Trials	11.1seconds	10.7seconds	9.56seconds	10.45seconds
Asphalt Trials	9.85seconds	10.9seconds	9.23seconds	9.99seconds

Conclusions:

After averaging the data I found that the marble rolled faster on the asphalt than the concrete.

In all everything went well. I only had blue and purple chalk on hand so my finish line was not as visible as I would have liked. Other than the chalk I would not make any design changes. Though, I could use different size marble to see if the results are the same. To do this with my students I could create it on a larger scale and many different types of balls like playground balls, base balls, and golf balls, with two ramps set up. They would really enjoy this.

I would like my students to understand that mass and friction effect momentum.