Rolling Ball

1. Rolling Ball

2. To Start Off • Materials Needed: Incline plane (binder), Tennis ball, Baseball, solid object.

3. Procedure • Place the incline plane on a flat surface. Place the solid object a small distance away from the incline plane on the flat surface. Place the tennis ball and allow it to roll down under the force of gravity. Observe.

4. Visual Approximation of Procedure

5. Explanation • Newton’s First Law states that an object at rest stays at rest unless acted on by an outside force, while an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. The Demonstration shows this law first as the ball is placed on top of the binder. The ball would stay on top of the binder if it weren’t for the outside forces of gravity and the push that the ball recieves. It is next showed as the ball hits the solid object. Were it not for the solid object and friction, the ball would keep rolling until acted on by another outside force. But because of the applied force of the solid object, the balls motion stops.

6. Explanation pt 2 • Newton’s second law states that the acceleration of the object is based on the net force acting upon it and the mass of the object. This is evident in the demonstration. The reason that the ball travels acceleration that it travels with is because of the forces acting on it and because it has a set mass. If the object were acted upon by more or less outside force, it’s acceleration would change, and if the object had more or less mass it’s acceleration would change.

7. Explanation pt 3 • Newton’s third law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is evident in the demonstration as the ball makes contact with the solid object at the end of the ramp. The action is the ball hitting the solid object, and the reaction is the solid object being pushed back a certain distance.

8. Citations • http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/articles/newtons_laws.html • http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/newtlaws