Velocity Lab Investigation: Ping Pong Ball vs. Golf Ball

Hypothesis: If the two balls are dropped from corresponding heights of 1 meter, 2 meters, and 3 meters, then the golf ball will hit the ground first due to its mass and the gravity applied to it.

Results: Our results are in for this experiment, with the results being semi-surprising, but non the less predictable of the outcome. The golf ball and ping-pong ball were dropped from corresponding heights of one meter, two meters, and then finally three meters. There was also an additional test using a Go!Motion sensor that was created by Vernier sciences, taking place at one meter and two meters. W were also to take calculations on how much the average velocity was, and the force of the objects hitting the ground. The weight was in kilograms luckily.
The first test was at a mesely one meter, nearly half of the averae sized human's height. The ping pong ball was our first victim. Our first run was a miss. It is very hard to time a ball hitting the floor at a distance of one meter, since you have a 1/3 of a second to do so. Therefore several of the tests that were conducted by our group were a miss in statistics, and not applicable in our results. THe ping-pong ball had mis-count after mis-count, until after 15 test runs, we finally got three sucessful takes of the time.Unfortunately, the golf ball was still to come for the one meter test. The golf ball was more sucessful in runs, but still very fruitless to go in three consecutive turns. There about 9 runs for the golf ball, three being the ones used. The results were this: The Ping-Pong Ball's average velocity was .39 m/s seconds, but the golf ball's velocity was .31 m/s. The golf ball was in the lead for this test, but we were unsure about the other test for the other heights of two and three meters.
The two meter test was interesting becuse, a) we did still not have the chemistry to do three consecutive runs, b) the stick was hard to hold up, and c) the balls were hard to catch so that we could do a quick follow up test. Now the ping-pong ball was again up, and the tests were again hard to place accurately. So the ping pong ball ended up with a vaguely estimated .56 m/s and the golf ball with a .51 m/s. THe third test followed up on this, but the acceleration increased dramatically. The ping pong ball went at a speed of about .63 m/s, but the golf ball was again victorious at .56 m/s. The golf ball wins! Or does it. The Go! Motion test was still to come. This handy little device uses sound waves to locate to where an object is. Basically, the sound waves go out of the sensor. When ever the waves hit any object, the scanner will read. The closest object will be shown on the computer. The graph are below. THe golf ball again suceeds at winning the acceleration with it's mass advantage.

Two meter graph with Ping Pong Ball

Two Meter Graph with the Golf Ball

One Meter with the Golf Ball

One Meter with the Ping Pong Ball

Graph with all measurements: (Meter measurements are average)

                      1M                  2M                    3M               1V                  2V                 3V             Force

Golf Ball       .31                  .51                     .56             3.22m/s           3.92 m/s       5.35 m/s     447.47N

P-P Ball        .39                  .56                     .63             2.56 m/s          3.57 m/s        4.76 m/s       24.6 N

Golf Ball wins in velocity count and speed to get to the ground.

Conclusion: The results for this experiment once again matched my hypothesis, but not for the reason I said, at least, not to Catlin. She had the theory of when to objects of the same shape and size, but not mass, are dropped, they will still fall at the same rate. No, the golf ball one, the results prove this, but she has a theory to why she is always right. The dipples on the golf ball make it less wind resistant, making it fall to the gtound faster than the ping-pong ball. I still do not think that this is necessarily true though, since we have no way tp prove that in this lab currenty. But, it is a viable explination. Otherwise, the golf ball's mass has the edge on accleration and force, making it go faster than the ping-pong ball due to its hollowness and thin layer of plastic. Meanwhile the golf ball is very hard and stronger than the ping-pong ball. The tighter shape of the golf ball does cahnge it's weight a bit, making its mass also heavier than the ping-pong ball's. I think that mass is effected by the acceleration of gravity. Dropping a bowling and a ping-pong ball will show this right, when the bowling ball will hit the ground first. This is my explination to what had happened in our experiment. Either way, my hypothesis was proven correct by scientific explination, or by sheer luck with the aerodynamic enhancement of the golf ball.