Sand Crater LabAim:How does the height of a marble ball falling on a sand box affects the size of crater itcreates?Introduction:If I drop a marble ball on a sand box the ball will displace the sand at the place in which ithits the sand thus forming a crater. I believe that the height at which the ball is dropped mayaffect the size of the crater. By the "size of the crater" I mean the horizontal diameter of thenearly circular crater that it forms. These are the variables for this experiment:Independ ...view middle of the document...
I'll attach a meter ruler to a ringstand and I'll make sure that the ruler sits just above the sand so measuring the height is easier.The height is going to be measured from the bottom of the marble to the surface of the sand inthe box. The same ball shall be used in every trial as to control the size and mass of the objectbeing dropped. I'll drop the ball at the same spot on the sand box by releasing the ball at about 2cm away from the meter ruler. In order to repeat trial under identical condition (same surfaceand same amount of sand) I'll rake the sand smooth between trails.Method:1. Set up a sand box with a ruler attached to a ring stand and make sure the surface of thesand is smooth.2. Hold and drop a marble ball from 5 cm above the surface of the sand (hand drop).3. Carefully remove the marble ball from the crater it created (ignore the trial if by removingthe ball I have interfered with the size of the crater).4. Measure the horizontal diameter of the crater using a small ruler and record the value inthe raw data table.5. Repeat steps 2-4 another 2 times.6. Repeat steps 2-5 but now dropping the ball at a height of 20cm, 35cm, 50cm, 65cm,80cm and 95cm for a total of 7 trials.