Michael Tichy, Lydia Park, Ruby-Rae Mccants, and Will Batkin

Mr. Lil Keller

Honors Physics Beta
15 December 2021

Popper Lab Report

Introduction
How many Newtons does it take to launch a popper? Throughout the lab, using mathematics
and conceptual thinking was one of the course domains that we met because we identified the
right physics equations as they are applicable to the situation and found variables. The main
equations we used are V2 = V02 + 2a (y-y0) and Σ𝐹 = ma. We also used analyzing and
interpreting data as for a domain by creating and interpreting representations of data with a data
table which is further below in the lab report.

Variables
Our independent variable was the height of the popper’s jump, while the dependent variables
were the velocity, the acceleration, and the “force pop”. The mass and height of the popper itself
were the constants.

Research Question
What is the force (in Newtons) required to lift the popper to its maximum height?

Materials
- 1 Jumping Gens popper (with laughing emoji face)
- Two meter sticks
- Electric tape (Three, 2-3 inch pieces)
- Scissors
- A slow-mo recording device (iPhone)

Procedure
1. We found a clear spot on the wall and taped the 2 meter sticks straight on the wall right
on top of each other.

2. Then we had Michael pop the popper right next to the

bottom of the meter sticks by pushing it down and squeezing
the bottom sides of the spring part. We filmed the popper
popping until we got 5 good slow mo videos. A slo mo video
of one trial
3. Then we replayed the video and found where the
popper reached the highest point and zoomed into the meter
stick to see how high it went.
 4. Then we took the measurements and put it into the spreadsheet.

Data and Analysis

(Above is the height the popper reached each trial) (Above is the force exerted on the popper per trial)

Popper Height Velocity Acceleration Force Pop

Trial Height (m) (m) Mass (kg) (m/s) (m/s/s) (N)
1.42998333
1 1.6 0.048 0.00425 5.6 326.6666667 3
5.66956788 1.46469166
2 1.64 0.048 0.00425 5 334.8333333 7
5.85662018 1.56013958
3 1.75 0.048 0.00425 6 357.2916667 3
5.83986301
4 1.74 0.048 0.00425 2 355.25 1.5514625
5.76385287 1.51241562
5 1.695 0.048 0.00425 8 346.0625 5
1.50373854
Average 1.685 0.048 0.00425 5.74682521 344.0208333 2

1.685 - height 1.75 velocity - 5.74682521 -5.856620186 acceleration- 344.0208333 -357.2916667

(Above is our complete data from each trial we put the equations from below into the spreadsheet)
 (Above: The equations we used to calculate velocity, acceleration, and force of the pop)
From the charts, table, and whiteboard above, we can see that the force pop, acceleration, and
velocity are all correlated with the height.
Popper Lab Force Doc

One error in our lab is that we couldn't pop the popper consistently. Most of the time we popped
the popper , the popper would fall short or not really go up very high. I think our goal really was
to calculate the average force for all the very high pops,instead of all the pops and to count the
average of every high pop. How we minimized that was by not really counting the pops that fell
short but only the pops that made the popper go really high. I would say I do trust our data in
calculating the average force used to make the high pops, and I think it's correct, but I don't
trust the data in the average force of EVERY pop we did.

In conclusion our average force for the pops that popped the highest was 1.503738542, velocity
was 5.74682521, the height was 1.685, and the average acceleration was 344.0208333. The
maximum force (in Newtons) required to lift the popper to the maximum height we got was
1.560139583, with the highest height we got as 1.75, the max velocity was 5.856620186 and
the max acceleration was 357.2916667.