Make an Impact Lab

Making an Impact Lab

6/10/2011

Kyle C.

Guiding Question: What are the factors that affect the appearance of impact crater? How do scientists use craters to tell the relative age of them?

Hypothesis: I believe that the factors that affect the appearance of impact craters are velocity (speed of the hit), angles, and sizes/shapes. If the craters overlap, scientists can tell which one had raised (and that is how they can find the age).

Materials: Safety goggles, tray, flour, (soil and corn meal-optional), notebook, spoon, small and large marbles, ruler (cm), Excel and word.

Data Table:

The table up there represents our data of the trials, height where we dropped the marble from, diameter of crater when measured, and the depth after the hit from above. As I looked at the table, I thought that as the height of drop increased, the diameter and depth of crater increased as well (for example when something fell from high above it would leave more impact).

Data Analysis:

As I mentioned before there was pattern. Thinking logically, if A had jumped from the 20m and B had jumped from 2m in to the pool, A would make more disaster in water and make a lot of impact. On the other hand, I had a concern, due to the fact that sometimes there were slight differences in the measurements of diameter and depth of crater, I thought it had depended on the force of the release; so meaning, I had to distribute the force equally when I had to release the marble from a certain distance.

Conclusion:

Our group and I learned that if the marble was released from a higher distance, the hit would cause more impact leaving wide and deep results; in my hypothesis “I believe that the factors that affect the appearance of impact craters are velocity (speed of the hit), angles, and sizes/shapes,” had shown that it was true though I didn’t really discover the angle results. In conclusion higher the release, more impact, and deeper & wide the result will be.

Further Inquiry:

a)

I would like to write some parts or errors in the lab with some improvements for the future. The major error was that no one in our group was willing to sacrifice them self and get the materials; it was not that we didn’t know how to do it, our group mates weren’t efficient enough (we started to get working when Mrs. M came). Improvements are to be really careful when taking the marble out after the release, since we had a hard time measuring when we had messed up the taking marble out session.

b)

Craters are caused by asteroids that pass the atmosphere; the size of the craters might depend on the velocity of the hit. At one point, we were testing if there would be a new discovery, if we had released and put a lot of force on the release to see what would be the impact. Eventually, we found more impact, comparing both at the same height with different force; one had wider and deeper shape. For the further inquiry, I know that velocity and the force was the major concern and the solution to this lab.