Physics IA (Practice)

By Wesley Hudson

How drop height affects the width of a crater:

Introduction:
Aim: To measure the relationship between drop height and velocity in the creation of craters.
Background: The concept of this experiment stems from asteroids impacting planets or planetoids,
such as our own moon. It is predicted that a change in the independent variable (the height dropped)
will directly affect the dependant variable (the size of the crater created) due to an increase in
velocity. As we intend to measure how an increase in drop height, effects the velocity (the time taken
until impact) of a falling sphere. and what is the crater size created upon impact. This will be
accomplished via the usage of a sand pit (acting as the impact surface). Due to its loose nature, an
impact from even 10cm above the pit will create a crater which can be measured. Unfortunately, we
do not have access to a heavy ball or greater heights, so more extreme data cannot be obtained. The
process of making the experiment goes as follows. We than place a retort stand against the base of the
sand pit and add two clamps, one which holds a ruler and the other to hold the ball. By lifting the
clamp against the ruler, we can drop the ball at the desired height. After dropping it we will measure
the diameter of the crater created and determine if by increasing the height of the drop that the
velocity of the impact will create a larger crater. This will be measured by an electronic ruler to get
the most accurate result. However due to natural human error all results must be taken with a
difference of +/- 0.05cm.

Experimentation:
Variables:
Independent variable (IV):
Dependent variable (DV):
Controlled variables (CV):
- Drop height (m) this is changed
via lifting the metal clamp
higher or lower against the ruler.
- Crater diameter / width (mm)
created via impact by the IV, this
will be determined via the width
of the crater created this will be
determined by eyesight and
measured by a micrometre. How it was controlled:
- Sand conditions - The sand box
- Diameter (ball) = 19.5 mm was shaken
- Mass (ball) = 2.81 g after a
- Gravity 9.81m/s2 previous
impact to even
out the sand.
- The same ball
was used
through out
the
experiment.
Apparatus:
- 1 x sand-filled box 42.4cm by 31 cm
- 1 x retort stand
- 2 x metal clamp
- 1 metre ruler
- 1 x ball bearing (2.81 grams)
- 1 x micrometre

Method:
1. Create a date table of 6 in width by 7 in height in either a Prac-book or Word doc, this should
include the following
a) The Height the ball is dropped in cm (+ or – 0.05cm)
b) 3 sets of trials with the measurement taken in t/s
c) A column with tave/s and MR/s
(It should look like)

h/cm t/s tave/s MR/s

(+/- 0.05cm)
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3
10 cm
20 cm
30 cm
40 cm
50 cm

2. Open your sand pit, place the retort stand along the width side of sand pit.
3. Add two clamps one facing inwards towards the sand pit make sure it is placed lower towards
the sand. Place the other clamp facing left, make sure it is higher on the retort stand than the
other one.
4. Add a ruler to the clamp facing left and have the rulers making facing towards the sand.
5. Add the ball into the lower clamp facing towards the sand.
6. Measure the base of the ball against the ruler by lifting the bottom clamp upwards, to 10
centimetres.
7. Realise the ball from the clamp.
8. Measure the diameter of the impact crater with an electronic ruler. Make sure the ruler does
not touch the sand
9. Record dimeter of the impact crater and the height on the table.
10. Repeat through steps 6 to 9 increasing the height by 10 cm, up until 50 cm. from there repeat
the Trial two more times, making sure to record your results.
Results:

Table 1: Raw data

This is the original data gathered throughout the experiment. As following the methods instructions,
the drop height was altered by 10cm by the base of the clamp holding the ball. The observations
gathered across the three trials are, all three trials 10cm drops were around the same width upon
impact, however in trial 3 it decreased dramatically. This could be due to human error as not wanting
to crush the crater it was done by eye therefore subject to 1 to 3mm or error. Another interesting
comment taken from the raw data would be trial 2’s third and fourth drop test, at 30 and 40 cm it
would be expected to create an impact of around 40 to 50 mm in width, however as seen in the table it
measures at 51.23 and 56.03mm respectively breaking the trend. Secondly trial 2’s 50cm drop also
breaks the trend by being the only one out of the 3 trials to be lower than the drop at 40cm previously.
But the over all trend taken from the raw data is that the crater size will increase by around 2 to 4mm
when dropped at a larger height. This data is also represented in the following graph
 how drop height affects the width of the crater
70.00
crater width (w) / mm

60.00
50.00
40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00
0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.50 0.55
drop height (h) / m

trial 1 Linear (trial 1) trial 2

Linear (trial 2) trial 3 Linear (trial 3)

Just from the raw data a line of best fit is created, all follow a similar gradient. However again those
outliers in trial 2 are represented by the two orange dots sitting above the line.

Table 2: processed data

From the processed data we gain an average across the trials. For example as indicated by column one
we can establish a common trend. From the 20-40cm drop height the crater created is from 40.00mm
to 50.00mm. but over all a casual relation between the height of an object and it’s impact can be
established by the trend going up, as height increases. This is further proven via the following graph.

how drop height affects the width of the crater (average)

60.00

50.00 f(x) = 42.6 x + 32.89

crater width (w) / mm

40.00

30.00

20.00

10.00

0.00
0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.50 0.55
drop height (h) / m
Even with larger error bars, the movement indicated by gradient further shows that the drop height at
a constant gravity of 9.81 will make the width of a crater larger.
Table 3: Max/Min Gradient

how drops height affects the width of the crater (max / min gradient)
70

60
crater width (w) / mm

50

40

30

20

10

0
0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.50 0.55
drop height (h) / m

Linear ()
Linear () Linear ()

Finally, the trend can be seen again, within table 3 when describing the max and minimum gradient of
the craters created. Except for the 10cm and 50cm drop height. This than further proves that the
greater the drop height the larger the size of crater created. However still some outlier remain as
mentioned before.

Conclusion:
From the evidence obtained and represented by the tables and the graphs, there is an incredibly strong
link for the creation of craters and the height it is dropped upon impact. This is especially seen within
the average width of the craters increasing by around 3-4mm after the height is increased. This again
is backed up by real world examples of asteroid impacts upon earth, such as Vredefort crater in South
Africa which is the worlds largest and impacted two billion years ago. Though other factors must be
taken into consideration when discussing the result due to the occurrence of certain outliers. Though
some will be chucked up to basic human error.

Evaluation:
Due to human error some discrepancies must be taken in regards to the results. For example all
measurements of the width of the crater was taken by eye, therefore 1-3mm must be taken into
consideration when view the results. Secondly the clamp almost be taken under consideration as when
measuring against the height although close is not completely accurate. Thirdly the drop height was
measure from the base of ball, however the call depending on tightness of the clamp holding it. It
would be higher or lower before dropping. These examples are key in understanding some of the
outliers presented in the data.
The experiment provided data valid enough to suggest that the relationship determined is the correct
one. The method used therefore is valid and despite errors involved within the experiment the data can
be considered mostly reliable.