Question: How does the material of the soccer ball affect the speed of which it travels?
Questions-
What are soccer balls made of?
What is speed? How do you measure speed?
What is velocity?
What is force?
Hypothesis:
If the material of the ball is TPU (Thermoplastic polyurethane) when kicked, then the soccer ball will travel the fastest. This is because the type of material reduces friction better than the other materials, polyurethane and synthetic leather. The speed of the balls are determined by the amount of force applied to the ball but during this experiment, we are going to apply the same amount of force. Force is the strength or energy applied by physical action or movement. Speed is the distance an object covers over an amount of time. The equation to calculate speed is Speed= distance/time. Speed is the major component in velocity which is the measure of speed and direction of an object.
Independent Variable: Material of the soccer ball.
Levels of independent variable
Polyurethane
Synthetic Leather
TPU
trials (kicks)
10
10
10
Dependent Variable: The speed the ball travels.
Constants:
Force applied to the ball
Stopwatch
Distance traveled
Size of the ball
Climate
Surroundings
Surface kicked on
Materials:
Synthetic leather soccer ball
TPU (Thermoplastic polyurethane) coated soccer ball
Polyurethane coated soccer ball
An open space with a measured distance
Timer
A constant force to kick the soccer ball (pendulum)
Procedure:
1. Set one of the three soccer balls in front of a pendulum.
2. Lift the pendulum up to the maximum height.
3. Let go while other person hits start on the stopwatch.
4. When the soccer ball gets kicked by the pendulum, measure the time it takes to get from point A to point B (6.096m).
5. Record the time.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 10 times for all the balls.
7. Make a table of your results and calculate the average speed of each of the balls.
8. Use the Speed= Distance/Time equation to calculate the speed using the average time
9. Explain which ball was the:
a. fastest
b. slowest
7. Explain how and why they are like that.
Conclusions
The purpose of our experiment was to test if the type of soccer ball affected the speed of which the soccer ball travels when kicked. Our independent variable was the type of soccer
