Experimental Design B/C

[SOnerd]

Do Our Glorious Lord and Saviour Robotman the Honourable guys have any tips to prepare for teh topics??

What do y0u mean by topics?

Like if it says "Make an experiment about _____"

[ThatRoboGuy]

Just because my username is That "Robo" Guy doesn't mean I haven't mastered other events.
Cough.

Usually, most topics aren't too out of the box. The strangest one I've seen was to create an experiment to explain momentum to someone, in which we just had to modify the experiment to produce results that would be sensible and easy to explain. Just know your way about common scientific topics, such as pendulums, force, gravity, and motion.

Else, just do lots and lots of practice tests.
Worked for our group

[Phys1cs]

Do Our Glorious Lord and Saviour Robotman the Honourable guys have any tips to prepare for teh topics??

What do y0u mean by topics?

Like if it says "Make an experiment about _____"

like thatrobotguy was saying, knowing your way around general areas of science is always really helpful for this event. One good thing to think about when determining what to test for is to see what materials you have that would relate to the topic. for example, a friction lab, having felt, sandpaper, and a paper towel can bring about different resistances to something sliding across its surface. Then if you found that, find something else that can be a measure of it. For the same example, the toy car that will roll across it.

[qwertyuiop1234567890]

Are there any penalties for wrong concepts in your experiment?

[Astroknight]

Are there any penalties for wrong concepts in your experiment?

I believe there's a huge point penalty for not doing your experiment on topic.

[Asteroidea]

a friction lab, having felt, sandpaper, and a paper towel can bring about different resistances to something sliding across its surface.

Just out of curiosity how would you quantify the 3 different types of surfaces? I know I had an experiment where we had to measure something going down different roughness type of sandpapers.

[Phys1cs]

a friction lab, having felt, sandpaper, and a paper towel can bring about different resistances to something sliding across its surface.

Just out of curiosity how would you quantify the 3 different types of surfaces? I know I had an experiment where we had to measure something going down different roughness type of sandpapers.

(are you in Illinois, and was this the CLC regional? This was our regional lab)

We were given a toy car, a paper towel roll, and a block. So we made a ramp with the paper towel roll and block, and then measured how far the car rolled. We related it to the coefficient of friction, where friction was rubbing against the wheels making it slow down and ultimately go less distance

[qwertyuiop1234567890]

Are there any penalties for wrong concepts in your experiment?

I believe there's a huge point penalty for not doing your experiment on topic.

I meant if the experiment is on topic, but the idea of your experiment isn't correct (scientifically). For example, if we had to conduct an experiment on Newton's Second Law, f=ma, so we tested how the mass of a toy car affects its acceleration as it rolls down a ramp and travels a certain distance (that is the same for all levels of IV). The concept is wrong, as the mass of the car also affects the force, so none of the variables in the equation are actually constant, but the experiment is still on topic (kinda...).

Are there any point deductions for that kind of error? If so, how many points?

[Azismith]

Are there any penalties for wrong concepts in your experiment?

I believe there's a huge point penalty for not doing your experiment on topic.

I meant if the experiment is on topic, but the idea of your experiment isn't correct (scientifically). For example, if we had to conduct an experiment on Newton's Second Law, f=ma, so we tested how the mass of a toy car affects its acceleration as it rolls down a ramp and travels a certain distance (that is the same for all levels of IV). The concept is wrong, as the mass of the car also affects the force, so none of the variables in the equation are actually constant, but the experiment is still on topic (kinda...).

Are there any point deductions for that kind of error? If so, how many points?

Hmm...I think it mostly depends on the way you word it. If my team were to do this experiment, here's how I'd write up the Statement and Hypothesis.

Statement of Problem:
How does increasing the mass of an object (I.V.) affect the distance it rolls, when rolled down a ramp?

Hypothesis:
We hypothesize that as the mass of the object increases, the distance it rolls will increase as well. For this particular experiment...blah blah blah...

Our rationale for this hypothesis is as follows:
As we increase the mass of the object, the downwards force exerted will increase as well; this is given in Newton's 2nd law, F = ma. When the force is increased, the acceleration of the object will increase, thus leading to greater momentum. As the momentum is increased, the distance the object will have to cover to dissipate its kinetic energy through friction will also increase. Therefore, as the mass of the object increases, the distance it rolls will also increase.

Here's the thing: you are only physically changing one thing (mass). Hence, your IV should be mass. However, you need to admit in your rationales, reasons, etc. throughout the paper what factors the mass is actually increasing, and why that affects the DV. In this case, the increased mass leads to an increased force, thus giving a greater acceleration, which gives a greater momentum. This, in turn, gives a larger 'distance rolled' which is the only thing you can really measure in a short lab like this one.

After doing an experiment like this one, you could stick in your "applications & recommendations" that in future experiments, you could try using a force meter to directly measure the force...etc.

I'm no expert on this; I'm just a B div. student, so you don't have to take my word for it--I'm not the most authoritative source you'll get. I hope this helps, though!!

[Asteroidea]

We were given a toy car, a paper towel roll, and a block. So we made a ramp with the paper towel roll and block, and then measured how far the car rolled. We related it to the coefficient of friction, where friction was rubbing against the wheels making it slow down and ultimately go less distance

No I'm not.

So you calculated the coefficient of friction as your dependent variable and the distance the car rolled as the independent variable?

How would you calculate the coefficient of friction though? You don't know the mass or any of the other information needed to calculate it.