Lab2_KINEMATICS-1 (1).

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KINEMATICS: THE BOUNCING BALL

Lab Report
Names:
Section:
Date:

Purpose
To understand the graphical relationships between displacement, velocity, and acceleration, slope and
derivative, area under a curve and integral.
To learn data acquisition techniques.
To understand connection between theoretical predictions and experimental data.

Readings
Here you can read the arguments about bouncing ball.
And you can learn the details from these videos:
Bouncing Ball - Elastic
Bouncing Ball - Inelastic

Some References to Mathematica Commands

Drawing Tools

Open the drawing tool by typing Ctrl+D, choose the Line tool or the Freehand Line tool to draw lines,
choose Text tool to make labels.

Procedure
In this lab you will first use the data acquisition program LoggerPro to measure and analyze the one-dimen-
sional motion of a bouncing ball. Then you will compare the data with solutions of the kinematic equations.

Setting Up the Data Collection Program LoggerPro

- Load the computer program LoggerPro by double clicking on its icon.

- Click on the clock icon, and set the data collection rate to 50 Hz.
Lab2_KINEMATICS-1 (1).nb 2

- Set up LoggerPro such that up is the positive direction and the floor (not the sensor) is the position = 0.

Click on the LoggerPro icon .

Then click on the motion detector icon,

and check “reverse direction”.

Now Calibrate “zero” so that you measure height from the floor level, i.e. y=0 must repre-
sent the floor.
You can run the sensor without anything in front of it so it echoes from the floor.

Some References to Mathematica Commands

Drawing Tools

Open the Drawing Tools by pressing Ctrl+D, choose the Line tool or the Freehand Line tool to draw
Lab2_KINEMATICS-1 (1).nb 3

lines,
choose Text tool to make labels.

Dialog:
Part I. Data & Observations

Step 1. The data and labeling (U, T, D)

Start by taking data for a bouncing golf ball using the motion detector. Drop the ball right under the motion
detector.
Do not let the ball get any closer than 4 inches to the motion detector or it will not function properly. REMEM-
BER: You are studying one dimensional motion so the ball must be bouncing vertically under the motion
detector.
You will need to get at least two good bounces in your data. When you are satisfied with your data, be sure to
save it (to prevent it from being lost if you restart taking data).

Now change the LoggerPro settings to display the velocity and acceleration curves in addition to the displace-
ment. Follow these steps inside LoggerPro:
- Select Graph from Insert pull-down menu.
- Click on the y-axis label and choose velocity (acceleration).
- Select Auto Arrange from Page pull-down menu.

Compare your predictions with these curves. If you made an error, be sure to understand why.

Copy and paste the displacement, velocity, and acceleration vs. time plot frames below.

Consider the region for two bounces and on the “Time” axis label time just after the first bounce with letter
U (for moving up), the top of the trajectory with letter T (for top), the time just before the next bounce with
letter D (for moving down). [ Open the drawing tools by typing Ctrl+D, choose the Text tool ]
- Choose the Line tool and draw vertical lines at U, T, and D on the all three plots.
Lab2_KINEMATICS-1 (1).nb 4

Step 2. Focus on the interval T to D, during which the ball drops from the top of its
trajectory until just before it hits the floor, and answer the following questions
(remember that the up direction is positive):

Question 1:
For the velocity graph, what shows that the ball’s motion was away from the
detector?

Question 2:
- For the velocity graph, what shows that the ball was speeding up?
- How would a graph of motion with a constant velocity differ?

Question 3:
- Is the acceleration positive or negative when the ball is speeding up?
- What is the sign of the velocity while the ball is speeding up?
- What can you conclude about the relationship between the directions of the velocity
and acceleration vectors when the ball is speeding up?

Step 3. Now focus on the interval from U to T, just after the bounce until the ball
reaches the top of its trajectory, and answer the following questions:

Question 4:
For the velocity graph, what shows that the ball’s motion was toward the detector?

Question 5:
- For the velocity graph, what shows that the ball was slowing down?
- Is the acceleration positive or negative when the ball is slowing down?
- What is the sign of the velocity while the ball is slowing down?
- What can you conclude about the relationship between the directions of the velocity
and acceleration vectors when the ball is slowing down?
Lab2_KINEMATICS-1 (1).nb 5

Step 4. Draw in the acceleration vectors for the following two cases:

Slowing Down
The Ball

Speeding Up
The Ball

Step 5. Answer the Questions

Question 6:
What is the velocity of the ball at its highest point, T?

Question 7:
Lab2_KINEMATICS-1 (1).nb 6

Is the acceleration at this point T positive, negative, or zero?

Question 8:
Explain the observed sign of the acceleration at T.
(Hint: is the ball slowing down or speeding up just before it reaches the top? Just
after? What are the directions of the velocity vector at these times?)

Part II. Data Analysis Using LoggerPro Analysis Tools

Step 1. Measuring the tangents

Select Tangent from the Analyze pull-down menu in LoggerPro.

Step 1A. Measure the tangent to the displacement vs. time graph at the points U, T,
and D.
Do not use points very close to the bounce; the slope there is not calculated
correctly due to the averaging.

Tangent at U:
Tangent at T:
Tangent at D:

Question 1:
In what units are these slopes expressed?

Question 2:
What does the slope correspond to physically?

Step 1B. Measure the slope of the velocity vs. time graph at the points U, T, and D.

Tangent at U:
Tangent at T:
Lab2_KINEMATICS-1 (1).nb 7

Tangent at D:

Question 3:
In what units are these slopes expressed?

Question 4:
- What does the slope correspond to physically?
- Compare the measured slopes with the textbook value for the acceleration of
gravity.
- Compare your results to the data on the acceleration vs. time graph. Do they agree?

Question 5:
How would your velocity and acceleration graphs differ if this experiment were
performed on the moon?

Step 2. Measuring the areas

Select the “Integrate” function of LoggerPro .

Step 2A. Calculate the area under the velocity vs. time graph from point U to T.
Do not use points near the bounce, since the averaging will give a misleading value.

xU =
xT =
Area under the curve =

Question 6:
- What are the units of this “area”? What does this area correspond to physically?
- Compare your results to the displacement data, do they agree?
- What would you expect this “area” to be equal to for the entire bounce? Explain and
check your prediction.

Step 2B. Use the integrate function to calculate the “area” under the acceleration
Lab2_KINEMATICS-1 (1).nb 8

vs. time graph from U to T.

Again, stay away from the points near the bounce.

vU =
vT =
Area under the curve =

Question 7:
- What are the units of this “area”? What does this area correspond to physically?
- Compare your results to the velocity data, do they agree?

Part III. Kinematics Calculations

In this part you should perform a numerical integration to calculate displacement vs. time for the golf ball and
compare calculation to experimental data. You should also find the coefficient of restitution and make a plot
of energy dissipation vs. time.

Step 1. Export from LoggerPro the displacement, velocity, and acceleration data in
a file in spreadsheet format .csv.
Read the data in Mathematica and plot using the example file.

Import your data from .csv file. You can list all your data using the command:
data // TableForm
which display a list variable named data in a table form.
You can plot all your data as shown below,

data = Import["file_path.csv"];
dis = Rest[Part[data, All, {1, 2}]];
vel = Rest[Part[data, All, {1, 3}]];
acc = Rest[Part[data, All, {1, 4}]];
GraphicsColumnListPlot[dis, AxesLabel  {"t (s)", "Position (m)"}],
ListPlot[vel, AxesLabel  {"t (s)", "Velocity (m/s)"}],
ListPlotacc, AxesLabel  "t (s)", "Accel. (m/s2 )"

Step 2. Follow the example below:

- Perform numerical integration and plot calculated displacement against your
data.
- First explain each variable and every line of the code below. Explain how we use
each variable.
- Adjust the initial time, the height, and the coefficient of restitution to achieve the
Lab2_KINEMATICS-1 (1).nb 9

best fit.
- Plot potential, kinetic, and total energy as a function of time.

(*The constant parameters.*)

a = -9.81;
bdiam = 0.04267; (*diameter of the ball*)
bmass = 0.04593; (*mass of the ball*)

(*Initial conditions and coefficient of restitution. Adjust these according to your data.*)
t0 = .45; (*initial time*)
height = .845; (*the height from which the ball is dropped, this is the height at t0*)
cor = .9065;
(*right after each bounce the ball loses some of its velocity:y'[t]-0.9065 y'[t]*)

(*NDSolve solves the equation y''[t]

a numerically using the initial conditions and the coefficient of restitution given above.*)
ball = NDSolve[{y ''[t]  a, y[t0]  height,
y '[t0]  0, WhenEvent[y[t]  0, y '[t]  -cor y '[t]]}, y, {t, t0, 5}];

kin[v_] := .5 bmass v ^ 2; (*kinetic energy*)

pot[y_] := 9.81 bmass y; (*potential energy*)
energy[y_, v_] := kin[v] + pot[y]; (*Total energy*)

Show[Plot[0.85 bdiam + y[t] /. ball, {t, t0, 5}, PlotRange  {{0, 4.5}, {0, 1.1 height}},
AxesLabel  {"t (s)", "Position (m)"}], ListPlot[dis, PlotStyle  Purple]]
Plot[Evaluate[{kin[y '[t]], pot[y[t]], energy[y[t], y '[t]]} /. ball], {t, t0, 5},
Filling  {3  0}, PlotRange  {{0, 4.5}, All}, AxesLabel  {"t (s)", "Energy (J)"}]
Position (m)

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0 t (s)
0 1 2 3 4
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Energy (J)
0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.0 t (s)
1 2 3 4

Step 3.
Explain all the graphs above. There are total of five graphs.

Question 1:
- What is the green curve in the bottom graph and why does it have a staircase shape?
- What is the ratio between two consecutive steps in this green graph? How does this
ratio depends on the parameters above?

Rutgers 275 Classical Physics Lab

“Kinematics of Bouncing Ball”
Contributed by Maryam Taherinejad and Girsh Blumberg ©2014