I got a high 7 for my Physics SL Internal Assessment. The topic was “To explore the relationship between the height of the ball shoot-off and the range of the ball traveled after the first bounce”

 

[Sample excerpts]

IB Physics SL Internal Assessment

Exploring the relation between the height of the ball shoot-off and the range of the ball travelled after the first bounce

 

1. Introduction:

As a child, my favorite hobby was watching documentaries about naval battles. One of my favorite documentaries was called the Dambusters, which was an original documentary that recorded the naval war between the United Kingdom navy and the German army. The UK navy’s tactic was called the “Bouncing Bombs”. They aimed to destroy the German dams in Ruhr valley by making the bomb bounce over a dam that was built to protect the valley.
As a naval war documentary fan, it was a total shock to see bombs bouncing off the surface of the water. While watching such an intriguing documentary, one observation I have made was that bombs dropped from higher heights did manage to reach the target, through bouncing on the water surface, while bombs dropped from lower heights did not have enough energy to strike the village.
Hence, to provide an answer to the mystery of how the height of the ball, when dropped at different heights is related to the range of the ball traveled after its first bounce, I have decided to delve into the Physics behind such relation. To explore the relationship between the range of an object that can travel after its first bounce when shot at different initial heights.
Though I was inspired by the two variables’ relation to a real bomb bouncing off the water surface, due to limitations in the apparatus available and safety reasons, a sling-shot and a small steel ball, shot at different heights, was tested on a marble floor.

 

2. Research Question

In this investigation, I will explore the relation between the initial height of a ball shoot-off, the independent variable, and the range of the ball traveled after its first ricochet off the surface of the floor, the dependent variable. The initial horizontal velocity of the ball and the mass of the ball were controlled…

 

  • Total number of pages: 12 pages
  • Topic: Exploring the relation between the height of the ball shoot-off and the range of the ball travelled after the first bounce
  • Subject: Physics
  • The file is in PDF format.