Marble Madness

For my guided inquiry experiment I look at the effect a larger object will have as it collides with a smaller object.  To perform this experiment I used a juice carton (cut open), meter stick, large marble, small marble, tape, plastic roofing joint, and four text book.  

Procedures:

1- Constructed a raised ramp using the plastic roofing joint and the four textbooks.

2 - Place the smaller marble in the juice box and I placed it at the bottom of the ramp.

3- Tape the meter stick so that it is even with the end of the juice box

4- Release the larger marble from the top of the ramp.

5- Use the meter stick to measure how far the smaller marble traveled.

* 6- Repeat experiment at different heights. (Extension activities)

*7- Switch the placement of the marbles. Place the larger marble (Extension activities)

Results: 

My experiment showed that the larger marble would move the smaller marble. Regardless of the height of the books, the larger marble was able to move the smaller marble.  I was not surprised by the results because I had already covered these concepts with my students and we had done several labs on Newton’s Laws.

For the most part this experiment went very well, the only problem I encountered was trying to come up with something to keep the marble from going all over the floor.  When I first tried this experiment in my classroom he marble went across the room and I imagined 8 groups of students chasing their marbles and colliding with each other (not a good look).  Thus, I decided to use the old juice cartons that the students get with breakfast.  I went dumpster diving, cut the top off the box, and used it as the marble holder.  Using this allowed contain the marbles movement.  In constructing this holder I was worried about its affect on the experiment, but in the end everything work out well.

To get a modified result for this experiment I would allow the students to vary the height of the ramp, switch the placement of the marbles, and use other materials.  Allowing them discover how different material will react during this experiment is a great way to help them understand the underlying concepts. 

Since I did set this experiment up in my classroom (thinking of next year), I would rearrange my room so that I had a large open space in the middle of the room.   I would ask the students the guiding question and I would provide them with some basic materials to guide their lab.  To make this experiment more engaging and fun I might allow them to decorate their milk cartons and I would allow them decorate their smaller ball (maybe a Ping-Pong ball).  A neat way to engage students in this activity would be to have students do a gallery walk that depicts different pictures of objects colliding.  This activity could be used to activate students interest and as a way to gauge their previous knowledge.  Another way that this activity could be made relevant to students might be to tie it into sports (football) and have them look at the how force and motion effect football players.  Students could also extend this by looking at ways to reduce the opposing force, or they could look up how the forces that act on football players affect their lives after they retire from the game.   

From this experiment , I would hope that students would recognize how mass affects an object s acceleration, and I would hope that that would see that for every force there is an equal but, opposite reaction.  I believe that this experiment provides students with a great hands-on way to see both of those laws.  This experiment also will help students experience Newton’s first law.  This is the law of inertia which states that objects will want to resist change unless an unbalanced force acts upon it.