Activity Overview
In this activity, students' will record the motion of a bouncing ball using a motion detector. They will then model a bounce using both the general and vertex forms of the parabola.
Before the Activity
Connect the motion detector to the DIG/SONIC port of the CBL 2™ or the DIG/SONIC 1 port of the Vernier LabPro®
Connect the CBL 2 or LabPro to the calculator using the Unit-to-Unit cable
See the attached PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity
Print pages 103 - 110 from the attached PDF file for your class
During the Activity
Distribute the pages to your class.
Follow the Activity procedures:
Drop the ball so that it bounces straight up and down beneath the motion detector and collect distance versus time data
Examine the distance versus time parabolic graph and record the coordinates of the vertex in the Data Sheet
Perform a quadratic regression on the data and determine the parameters of the regression curve
After the Activity
Students' will complete the Student Data Collection and Analysis Sheet and answer questions listed in it.
Review student results
As a class, discuss questions that appeared to be more challenging
Re-teach concepts as necessary