Cooks - DiCerbo - Gregersen - Wettstein

Soup Can Lab

Problem Statement​:

Determine if there is a significant difference in the time it takes for a can of solid

substance and a can of liquid substance to roll down a ramp.

Hypothesis​:

The can containing a liquid substance will elapse significantly less time on average to

reach the bottom of the ramp than the can containing a solid substance.

Diagram​:

Figure 1. Soup Cans Diagram

The figure above depicts a can of soup on the ramp. Also shown are the point where the

can contacts the ramp, the radius of the can from the contact point, and the vertical axis through

the center of the can.

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Data Analysis and Interpretation​:

Figure 1. Box Plots of Data

The figure above displays the data spread for the liquid chicken broth can in blue and the

data spread for the solid cream of mushroom soup in orange. Every number of the five number

summary for the liquid soup data was at least 0.22 seconds less than their counterparts in the

solid soup data set, showing that the liquid soup can rolled significantly faster than the solid soup

can. The liquid soup data was centered at median time 2.21, had a fairly small spread, and was

slightly skewed right. The solid soup was centered at median 2.65, had a larger spread, and was

slightly skewed left. The direction of the skewness also shows that a large portion of the data for

the liquid system were in shorter times, and a large portion of the data for the solid system had

longer times. This is also shown by the fact that there is no overlap between the boxes, and the

shortest 25 percent of the times for the solid can overlap with about the longest 50 percent of the

liquid can times.

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Two-Sample ​t​ Test Hypotheses:

N ull Hypothesis, H 0 : µ 1 = µ 2
Alternative Hypothesis, H a : µ 1 ≠ µ 2

Let µ 1 represent the true average time it takes a can of chicken broth to roll a given distance
down a ramp of a given incline.
Let µ 2 represent the true average time it takes a can of chicken broth to roll a given distance
down a ramp of a given incline.

Conditions:

1. Randomization: The order of trials was randomly assigned between the sets of data so the

data can be assumed to be from a SRS.

2. Normality: The box plots reveal no significant outliers or extreme skewness so both data

sets can be reasonably found to be normally distributed. Also since both data sets have a

sample size of 30, by the Central Limit Theorem their sampling distributions ought to be

normally distributed as well.

3. N ≥ 10n: It can be reasonably assumed that cans of liquid and solid soup have been rolled

down ramps more than 300 times each, so the standard deviations are safe to use.

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Figure 2. Two-Sample ​t​ Test Results

The figure above displays the results of a two-sample ​t​ test designed to reveal if there is a

statistically significant difference between the average times it took for each can to roll down the

ramp. The alternative hypothesis which stated the averages would not be equal was used because

the provided problem statement was specifically worded as finding a “difference.”

Conclusion:

The purpose of this experiment was to determine if there was a significant difference in

the time it took for a can of solid substance and a can of liquid substance to roll down a ramp.

The hypothesis stating that the can containing a liquid substance will elapse significantly less

time on average to reach the bottom of the ramp than the can of a solid substance was accepted.

In the box plots, the second half of the liquid substance overlapped with the first quartile

of the solid substance, but most of the solid substance boxplot was above the third quartile of the

liquid substance boxplot, showing a much greater time for the solid substance. A two-sample ​t

test was conducted to provide more evidence to conclude whether there is a statistically

significant difference between the times of each can. Since the P-value of 2.218 • 10​-11 ​is less

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than the alpha level of 0.05, there is convincing evidence that there is a statistical difference

between the times of the two cans. The results of this hypothesis test combined with the box

plots provided evidence to show the chicken broth elapsed significantly less time on average,

therefore the hypothesis stating such was accepted.

The can of chicken broth rolled faster than the can of cream of mushroom soup because

of the concept of Moment of Inertia, which describes an object's resistance to change in

rotational motion based on the distribution of mass around the axis of rotation. When placed on

the ramp, gravity exerts a downward force on the can, and since the point where the can contacts

the ramp is at a slight angle to the vertical, a torque is produced that causes the can to roll down

the ramp. The torque is equal on each can since they have the same mass, radius, and are placed

on a ramp with the same incline. In the chicken broth can, the liquid does not fully rotate about

the axis of rotation and instead stays towards the bottom of the can, which means the liquid can

has a lower moment of inertia. Since angular acceleration is equal to torque divided by moment

of inertia, a lower moment of inertia under equal torque produces a greater angular acceleration,

hence why the liquid can rolled faster.