Make an Impact! :)
Guiding Question:
What are the factors that affect the appearance of impact craters?
Hypothesis:
If the speed of the falling object (meteor) is bigger, then it will create a bigger crater.
Materials:
Safety goggles, tray, flour, (soil and corn meal-optional), notebook, spoon, small and large marbles, ruler (cm), Excel and word.
Data Info:
The following data table contains data that we obtained during this experiment; using a marble as an impactor. In the table, data for different heights of drops in three trials are presented.
The graphs below the table are constructed using the average crater diameter and average depth of the crater.
Data Analysis:
My hypothesis about the appearance and size of the crater are supported by the data that we got through this experiment. My hypothesis was that If the speed of the falling object (meteor) is bigger, then it will create a bigger crater. In this case, the velocity of the falling object is certainly connected with distance in which that object travels, so the higher the distance of dropping, the bigger the speed of hitting the flower surface will be. That means that the bigger the velocity, the bigger the impact will be, and the bigger the crater will be created.
From the data presented in both the table and the two graphs, we can see that with the increase of drop height, both the diameter and the depth of the crater will increase too.
Conclusion:
We can conclude that if the marble is dropped from a higher distance, it will produce a much bigger (both wider and deeper) crater. We have proved that by the data shown in the data table- and that has approved my hypothesis that the velocity of hitting is one of the important impacts that affect the crater appearance.
Further Inquiry:
For the further inquiry, I believe that we should think about all the factors that affect the crater formation such as velocity of the impactor, its size, its weight (that means from which material the impactor is made) etc…. All of these are factors that we could test in some further research by, for example, using marbles made of glass and sponge, or using bigger and smaller marbles made out of the same material and dropped from the same distance.
Hypothesis:
If the speed of the falling object (meteor) is bigger, then it will create a bigger crater.
Materials:
Safety goggles, tray, flour, (soil and corn meal-optional), notebook, spoon, small and large marbles, ruler (cm), Excel and word.
Data Info:
The following data table contains data that we obtained during this experiment; using a marble as an impactor. In the table, data for different heights of drops in three trials are presented.
The graphs below the table are constructed using the average crater diameter and average depth of the crater.
Data Analysis:
My hypothesis about the appearance and size of the crater are supported by the data that we got through this experiment. My hypothesis was that If the speed of the falling object (meteor) is bigger, then it will create a bigger crater. In this case, the velocity of the falling object is certainly connected with distance in which that object travels, so the higher the distance of dropping, the bigger the speed of hitting the flower surface will be. That means that the bigger the velocity, the bigger the impact will be, and the bigger the crater will be created.
From the data presented in both the table and the two graphs, we can see that with the increase of drop height, both the diameter and the depth of the crater will increase too.
Conclusion:
We can conclude that if the marble is dropped from a higher distance, it will produce a much bigger (both wider and deeper) crater. We have proved that by the data shown in the data table- and that has approved my hypothesis that the velocity of hitting is one of the important impacts that affect the crater appearance.
Further Inquiry:
For the further inquiry, I believe that we should think about all the factors that affect the crater formation such as velocity of the impactor, its size, its weight (that means from which material the impactor is made) etc…. All of these are factors that we could test in some further research by, for example, using marbles made of glass and sponge, or using bigger and smaller marbles made out of the same material and dropped from the same distance.
