Purpose: The purpose of this lab was to drop the balloons from a distance and observe the three variables of: Mass, Collision Time and Velocity Change.
Procedure: There are 10 steps: Step 1- Fill up balloon (each one with different amounts of water) Step 2- Find the mass of each balloon using the scale provided Step 3- One member stays down and the other goes up where they can drop the balloon Step 4- Set up the video camera Step 5- The thrower throws the balloon Step 6- The catcher tries to catch the balloon without breaking it, or breaking it Step 7- Record how long it takes to fall down Step 8- Record the Data Step 9- Find the distance Step 10- Repeat for each balloon
Materials: 4 balloons, Water, Scale, Video Camera, Timer, Protective Clothing, Outdoor Space
Observations:
The more mass the balloon had the harder it was to catch the balloon without breaking
The lighter the mass of the balloon the easier it was to catch
The lighter the mass the less time it took to fall
The heavier the mass the longer it took to fall
The better the catcher was at cradling the balloon, the less likely it was to break in the hands of the catcher.
Data Table:
Post-Lab Questions: 1)
Calculations: Change in Momentum= Mass x Change in Velocity
0.50 x -4.0 = -2.0
Impulse = Force x Time
-20 x 0.100 = -2.0
Change in Velocity = Change in Momentum / Mass
-400 / 0.50 = -800
Force = Impulse / Time
-4.0/0.010 = -400
Time = Impulse / Force
-1.6/ -80 = -0.02
2. The force required to stop a balloon is dependent upon the mass, velocity change, and collision time because each of those are connected in a way that they depend on each other to have the momentum that the balloon experiences throughout the fall. For example, if the time is increased, the force is decreased, or the velocity change is equivalent to the momentum.
A) When the time is increased by 10, the balloon has a decrease in force which allows the balloon to have a better chance of not breaking due to the force decreasing. The example set of rows would be A and B : all the data numbers are the same except for the force, from A to B it decreases because the Time increases.
B) When having the mass increasing my a fold on 5 it changes the object's momentum and soon to be time. This is because the lighter the mass the larger the force and results in a decrease in momentum resulting in the object to take more time. The longer the time taken to catch the balloon the more likely it was not going to break. However the heavier the mass the the force lessens and the objects weight allows it to reach its final target faster than the lighter object. The set of 2 rows that explain this are B and C.
C) When observing a two fold increase in the change in velocity we notice that the faster the velocity the more momentum it develops which leads to a larger force, larger impulse and finally a faster time when compared to a two fold decrease. A set of 2 rows to explain this is rows C and D.
Conclusion: In this lab, we dropped balloons from a distance and recorded the time it took to fall. Unfortunately, I popped the balloons each time I caught them but we were still able to find data. The solution we found to not popping the balloon was that we needed to cradle it when we caught it. We concluded that the longer it took the balloon the fall, the less force was applied. The faster it took to fall, a greater force was applied so it was not popped as easily.