Investigating the Change in Depth of a Wooden Diver as the Dive Height is Altered
Preliminary work and Research
Brainstorm:
Preliminary Prediction:
I predict that the depth to which the diver 'dives' will increase as
its starting height increases.
The manipulated variable in this experiment will be the height from
which the diver is dropped, and the dependent variables will be the
diver, as it will always be the same, and also the volume of water in
the measuring cylinder. I must keep both of the dependants the same as
otherwise it would not be a fair test.
Necessary Equipment:
· Large measuring cylinder
· Stand
· Boss
· Clamp
· Cylindrical piece of wood attached to a piece of string to be used
as the diver
· Metre rule or tape measure
If I am to be able to recreate the results from the experiment in
repeat experiments, then I must keep all of the equipment the same and
make sure that everything is repeated in exactly the same way.
The results from my preliminary investigation are below:
Dive Height (cm)
Dive Depth 1 (cm)
0
15
10
23
20
26
30
29
40
32
50
34
These results clearly show me that the higher the diver starts from,
the greater the depth he reaches. The final dive, depth 34cm hit the
bottom of the measuring cylinder, so it probably would have gone a
little bit further, but it was still ahead of the other results,
therefore it is not too big a problem. I believe that the diver would
have reached a greater depth if it had not been for certain forces
acting upon it; as it was falling, air resistance slowed it down, when
it hit the unbroken water the force against it was very strong, and
finally as it was submerged the up-thrust force of the water made it