Math 4713
Part Four—Middle Grades Majors
How high will a ball bounce?
Introduction:
Question: If you drop a ball from 50 feel, how high will it bounce on the first bounce?
What are some things that might affect how high a ball bounces?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Suppose you drop a tennis ball from 50 feet. How high do you think it will bounce on the
first bounce? Record your guess here.___________________________________
Data Collection:
You will be working with a partner to gather your data. One person will need to be the
“dropper.” This person will measure the height of the ball from the floor and will also
drop the ball. The other person will be the “eye-baller.” This person will need to
visually determine the height of the ball after the first bounce.
Dropper: Measure 12 inches from the floor to the bottom of the ball. Drop the
ball from this height.
Eye-baller: Estimate the height of the ball after the first bounce. Record this in
the data chart.
Repeat this process two more times with the ball 12 inches from the floor and
record the bounce heights.
Continue to drop the ball 3 times for each of the remaining heights in the data
chart and record the corresponding bounce heights.
Data Entry:
Open the Fathom software on a PC with your partner.
Click and drag the New Case Table icon onto the blank worksheet.
oClick on <new> and type: drop_height
oHit enter.
oClick on <new> and type: bounce_height
oHit enter.
oDouble click on Collection 1 insides the box to rename the collection, then
type: Bouncing Ball.
oClick on the box under drop_height and enter the drop heights, hitting
enter after each entry.
oClick on the box under bounce_height and enter the corresponding bounce
heights, hitting enter after each entry.
Graphical Representations of the Data:
You are going to create a scatter plot of your data.
