The Relationship between the Angle of Elevation of a Ramp and the Speed of a Bal

The Relationship between the Angle of Elevation of a Ramp and the Speed of a Ball

Introduction

In this piece of coursework I'm going to investigate and measure the

speed of the ball rolling down a ramp. From the data that I'm going to

collect I'm going to be able to work out the Gravitational potential

energy when changing the height, the friction force acting on the ball

whilst it rolling down, and finally the kinetic energy exerted by the

ball.

Planning

Fair Testing

Before I would start the experiment I would have to devise a suitable

method that would provide a safe test, which is fair and accurate. In

this experiment I'm going to have to roll down a ball whilst changing

the angle of elevation of the ramp, and the factors that would have an

effect on the accuracy of the output results are;

Ø Size of the ball

Ø Heaviness of the ball

Ø Length of the ramp

Ø Height of the ramp

Ø Texture of the ball

Ø Smoothness of the ramp

Ø Angle of ramp from the ground surface

Here in this experiment the only factor that I'm going to change would

be the height of the ramp which in turn would affect the angle of the

ramp too, if the length of the ramp stays constant.

For the experiment to be a fair one I have to;

Ø Keep all the factors that affect the experiment constant except the

ones that I'm testing.

Ø All the experiments have to be done by the same person on the same

day, because if we changed the person that is doing the experiment it

may lead to different reaction times making the experiment inaccurate

Ø All I have to change is the height of the of the ramp from the

ground it's resting on. And by keeping the length of the ramp constant

that would in turn proportionally change the angle of the ramp.

If I managed to keep all the factors that I need constant, constant