The relationship between the terminal velocity and the mass per

projected area of the sphere

Introduction:
In this experiment, the terminal velocity of the sphere will be compared to the mass per
projected area of the sphere. This came to my attention from my past experience. At the
theme park, there was a game corner where I had to drop the ball exactly at the middle
of the water tank to earn a prize. This came to my attention of how the projected area of
the sphere will affect the terminal velocity inside the liquid.

Research Question: What is the relationship between the terminal velocity of the
sphere and the mass per projected area of the sphere?

Variables:
Independent variable: mass per projected area of the sphere
Dependent variable: The terminal velocity of the sphere
Controlled variable:
● Type of oil
● The height of dropping the ball
● The same type of tools used to experiment (Cylinder, Teng)
● Same type of camera used to record
● Type of the sphere (iron)

The independent variable contains total of 5 variables:

- 33.08 kgm-2
- 26.87 kgm-2
- 22.03 kgm-2
- 16.66 kgm-2
- 10.35 kgm-2

The dependent variable was measured by using the app “Tracker”. Tracker is a
computer program which measures the velocity during the period of the time. It is a
manual device which the recorder can click on the points as the frame goes on and the
ball falls down.

The terminal velocity is steady speed achieved by an object freely falling through a gas
or liquid. The force of air resistance is approximately proportional to the speed of the
falling object, so that air resistance increases for an object that is accelerating, having
been dropped from rest until terminal velocity is reached.(Britannica)
When an object falls into the air, there are two forces acting on it: weight (i.e., gravity)
and drag from the air. Gravity, of course, always points down. On the other hand, the
drag force is always against the speed of an object. For a falling object, the drag force
points upward, but for a ball thrown into the air, the drag force points downward until it
reaches the top of the trajectory, and when the ball descends, it points upward. Also,
drag force depends on the speed of the object, not on a constant size like gravity. Drag
force is equal to the negative of b times v where B equals to the proportional constant
and v equals to the velocity. Here, b is an air resistance coefficient that varies
depending on the size and shape of the object as well as the characteristics of the fluid
in which the object moves. As an object speeds up, its force eventually increases to the
same level as gravity. Negative sign refers to the opposite direction of the motion of the
ball. As the ball is moving downward due to the gravity force, it is a positive direction,
whereas the dragforce is an upward force which means it is a negative direction of the
motion. As we sum up all the forces that are acting on the object, it comes out as

𝐹 = 𝑚𝑔 − 𝑏𝑣
According to the Newton’s Second Law shown above, which is Fnet = ma, mg - bv
equals to ma.

𝑚𝑔 − 𝑏𝑣 = 𝑚𝑎
As acceleration is derivative of velocity we can recall that

𝑚𝑔 − 𝑏𝑣 =

The terminal velocity can be used to compare how different balls fall and when the
gravity equals to the drag force of the ball. One factor that can affect a ball’s terminal
velocity is its projected area. As the projected area increases, the ball will have smaller
terminal velocity. The reason for this is that as terminal velocity is proportional to the
square root of mass per projected area, bigger projected area leads to smaller force.
This means that larger drag force is required to equal the bigger mass of the object. To
get a larger drag force, it requires more velocity.

Aim: To investigate the relationship between the terminal velocity of the ball and the
mass per projected area of the ball

Hypothesis: If the sphere’s mass per projected area increases, the terminal velocity of
the sphere will increase.

Materials:
● Spheres with different size and mass
● Ruler
● Cylinder
● Metal tongs
● Corn oil
● Tracker (physics app)
● Recording tool (camera)
● Scale

Procedure:
1. The mobile camera was set up perpendicular to the cylinder to record the time
and the motion of the ball as the ball free falls.
2. As there was limited amount of corn oil that our group can use, in the cylinder,
600mL of cornoil was poured.
3. The sphere was placed right above the corn oil’s surface without touching its
surface.
4. As the camera start to record, the sphere was dropped about 17.5 cm of cylinder
filled with corn oil.
5. The video recorded consists of time that the sphere free fell, and the motion until
the sphere reaches the bottom of the surface of the cylinder.
6. To reduce the uncertainties, the sphere was clear of oil everytime the trial began
by using the soap and the towel.
7. This experiment was repeated from no.3 for different mass per projected areas
33.08 kgm-2, 26.87k gm-2, 22.03 kgm-2, 16.66 kgm-2, 10.35 kgm-2 with every 3
trials.

During the experiment, to minimize the uncertainties, the metal sphere was used as the
wood sphere may affect the result as it can absorb the oil which can also affect the
mass of it. To accurately measure the projected area of the metal sphere, Caliper was
used to measure the radius of the sphere. Also, As the person holds the sphere, he
used the metal tongs to not directly touch the sphere which might affect the result of the
sphere due to additional force given. To record the motion accurately, person was
standing exactly perpendicular to the cylinder and made parallel line. Moreover,
choosing the area where the table was not shaking, it reduced the uncertainties of
different angles or motion happening.

Figure 1: Figure 2:

Figure 3:

Figure 3 shows the computer app

‘Tracker’. Importing the video
recorded and using calibration and
using point mass, I can manually
press the point by each frame.
The red dots show the sphere’s
location as the time goes on. As
the red dots are recorded, right
graph shows the graph of velocity
vs time graph. There is area
where the velocity becomes
almost constant, which shows that
it is a terminal velocity.
Preliminary research
Finding out the constant when getting relationship between the mass per projected area
and the terminal velocity.
Density of the corn oil ρ: ρ = 𝑚/𝑣 (kgm-3)
Mass of 600 mL of corn oil = 0.552kg
Volume of corn oil = 600mL = 6.0 x 10 -4 m3
0.552/(6.0 x 10-4) = 920 kgm-3

g = acceleration due to gravity = 9.81ms-2

Table 1. Projected area of the sphere at varying mass of the sphere

Mass of the sphere (g) ± 0.01 radius of the sphere (cm) ± 0.01

2.08 0.80

8.31 1.26

20.00 1.70

29.83 1.88

67.05 2.54

Example of calculation of uncertainty of the mass per projected area(All the

uncertainties came out with ± 3)
Table 2. Terminal velocity of the sphere at varying mass per projected area

Mass per projected Terminal velocity (ms-1) ± 0.1

area ± 3
(kgm-2)
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average

10.35 0.711 0.670 0.743 0.708

16.66 0.823 0.845 0.837 0.835

22.03 0.881 0.891 0.876 0.883

26.87 0.997 0.993 1.009 1.001

33.08 1.075 1.065 1.071 1.070

Graph.

As shown in the graph, as the mass per projected area increases, the terminal velocity
of the sphere increases. It is accurate as the formula for terminal velocity increases as
the mass per projected area increases. Looking at the data points, the R- value is
around 0.98 which is almost close to perfection. As the graph has a characteristic of
direct proportionality, there is a positive relationship between the mass per projected
area of the sphere and the terminal velocity of the sphere. To verify if the value of the
graphs are related to the equation of terminal velocity, putting in the value of two
different mass per projected area of the spheres and terminal velocity will give the value
of the drag coefficient.
The purpose of this lab was to find the relationship between the mass per projected
area of a sphere and the terminal velocity of it. During the experiment, by using the
computer program ‘Tracker’, we had to calculate terminal velocity by manually clicking
each time

There was a limitation when attempting the experiment. Limitation of using the camera
lens to record the motion is that there is a perspective issue or call it as a parallax issue.
As the camera len’s height is about 500 mL mark, it may have different distances seen
in the videos due to the phenomenon called ‘Barrel Lens Distortion’, where it is
associated with the camera with wide-angle lenses. This causes the video to spherize
or look as if it’s bent, meaning that the edges of the recorded video is curved.