The home experimentation kits that we will send you will allow you to do simple experiments at home in support of your online lab. Doing these simple experiments at home will give you a better understanding of the concepts. The kits are provided free of charge and will be used in support of all 6 experiments.
Experimentation Kit includes:
- Geometry set
- 10 ml glass graduated cylinder
- 10 precise stainless balls – 5 small & 5 large
- 3 colored magnetic balls
Note: All balls are packaged as shown inside the graduated cylinder. Pull the paper plug. Do not put all 13 balls back together in the graduated cylinder – 3 magnetic balls must be kept separate!
Instructions:
The instructions for the home experiments that you will perform using your kits are provided below. For each experiment, please include your results and pictures in a Word file and submit it to the corresponding assignment on Canvas. You will receive 5 bonus points for each experiment.
Experiment 1:
The stainless steal balls provided with your kits are all made of 440 grade alloy and have a density of 7.7 g/cm3.
Q1: Using Archimedes’ method, determine the average volume of small and large stainless steel balls. Include a picture of your experiment in your report.
Q2: Calculate the average mass of small and large size balls.
Q3: Calculate the average diameter of small and large size balls.
Make sure to show your calculations and include errors in your results. So for example you should report the diameters as d(small) = xxx +- yyy mm & d(large) = xxx +- yyy mm.
Experiment 2:
Q1: You will use the graduated cylinder to launch stainless steel balls (provided with your experiment kit) from a horizontal surface such as a desk. You will also need some catching surface, like a duct tape shown in the video or a thick carpet. Setup your experiment as shown in the video and include a picture of your setup in your report.
Q2: Launch steel balls from two different heights (y1 and y2) and measure the distances that they travel in the horizontal direction (x1 and x2). Report your y and x values in a table with proper units.
Q3: By using your measurements, calculate the ratios r1 = y1/x12 and r2 = y2/x22. Are these values comparable (within 10% of each other)? Explain why that might be the case.
Experiment 3:
Q1: Place one of the stainless steel balls in the graduated cylinder and swing it back and forth on a flat surface. You will see that as long as you swing the graduated cylinder fast enough, the ball stays in the graduated cylinder. But when the swinging stops, it quickly rolls out. Try this with your kit. Take a picture while swinging the graduated cylinder and include it with your report.
Q2: Why does this happen? Try to explain it by using a free body diagram.
Q3: Assume that for simplicity instead of swinging the graduated cylinder, you spin it around its tip at a constant angular speed as in the drawing. What is the minimum angular speed required for the ball to stay in the graduated cylinder?
Experiment 4:
Q1: Place a small object (such as a bottle lid) on your ruler. Slowly lift one end of the ruler while keeping the other end stationary. The object will start sliding only after the angle between the ruler and the table is large enough. Try this with your kit. Take a picture of your setup and include it with your report.
Q2: Why does this happen? Explain it by using a free body diagram and measure the minimum angle for which the object starts sliding.
Q3: From this angle, determine the coefficient of static friction.
Experiment 5:
Q1: Drop a large and a small steel ball into the graduated cylinder one by one. Measure how high they go up after they bounce from the bottom of the graduated cylinder. Include your measurements and a picture of your setup in your report.
Q2: What happens if you drop small and large steel balls together into the graduated cylinder with the small steel ball on top of the large one? Explain.
Q3: Calculate how high the small ball should go. (Hint: Use the masses you found in the Week #1 home experiment and assume perfectly elastic collisions.)
Experiment 6:
Q1: Place one of the magnetic balls on a flat surface such as a desk. Bring a second one close to the first one and release it. What happens? Explain the motion.
Q2: Now instead of releasing it slowly, launch the magnetic ball towards the other one. Take a picture and include it in your report.
Q3: You will see that the magnets will stick together and will most likely start spinning. Why does that happen?