- Is there a difference between the vertical accelerations in stages A and C?
- What do the gradients in the velocity time graph for stages A, B and C represent?
- Identify the turning point of the ball in all 3 graphs. Notice that the acceleration remains at about 10 m s-2.
- How would the graphs look like if the coordinate system / sign convention is changed such that the displacement is defined as zero at the floor and upward is taken to be positive? The effect of this change can be shown by dragging the axes on the video (the two perpendicular purple lines) to the bottom and rotating the horizontal axis 180o; by dragging the short purple line near the intersection.
Tracker for Understanding Bouncing Ball Problem
31 Mar 2015 - Seng Kwang Tan 03 Motion and Forces
I've used the open-source Tracker software , a video analysis and modeling tool built for use in Physics education, for both my IP3 and JC1 classes this year. Thanks to Mr Wee Loo...
I've used the open-source Tracker software, a video analysis and modeling tool built for use in Physics education, for both my IP3 and JC1 classes this year. Thanks to Mr Wee Loo Kang and his team for enthusiastically introducing this software to the physics teachers of Singapore.
For the IP3 cohort, students were tasked to analyse the movement of any sports-related projectile and to relate the variations in displacement, velocity and acceleration to one another in both dimensions. This was a direct transfer task for the topic of two-dimensional kinematics that they were taught in class. Attempts to explain these variations using the idea of forces were encouraged as well, even though that topic has not be formally introduced yet.
For my JC1 class, I explained the specific example of the bouncing ball using the software, which was useful to show the variation in vertical displacement, velocity and acceleration synchronously with the positions of the ball. I used the resources in the Singapore Tracker Digital Library, search for the following directories: 02_newtonianmechanics_2kinematics > trz > Balldropbounce4x.trk.
[caption id="attachment_1938" align="aligncenter" width="1017"]
Use of Tracker to explain the bouncing ball graphs[/caption]
It was easier for students to compare the three stages of the movement, namely
Stage A: the way up,
Stage B: the bounce (during which the ball is in contact with the ground)
Stage C: and the way down.
A series of guiding questions such as the following will be useful:
Graphs with different coordinate system defined.[/caption]
The following video (sorry, no audio) shows the steps to take to do all the above. Just pause it at any point and rewind if you didn't catch what I did.
Variation of tension with time as the mass is pulled upwards.[/caption]
The initial increase in tension acting on the mass is similar to that of the normal contact force on the man standing on the bathroom scale on the elevator. This is because both systems are accelerating upward.
The graph looks rather haphazard as the pulling is done manually and over a small height. By the time one pulls the mass up, he will have to decelerate already, which explains the dip in tension that follows right after the peak. Hence, we are unable to observe a stage where the tension is equal to weight, as we did for the scale in the elevator.
Nevertheless, students should be able to appreciate that a rise followed by a drop is observed for a mass being pulled upward.
NETWORK
For the sake of checking what the students have learnt collaboratively, each group is tasked to explain their observation and results on a A2-sized poster, with half the group staying at their own posters to answer questions while the other half going around to study the results from other groups. Their roles can be reversed after some time.
KNOW
In the final stage of our activity, the teacher will address the class and point out the common misconceptions that arose during the class discussions. For instance, many students are unaware that the upward force acting on the person standing on a weighing scale is the normal contact force and not the gravitational pull. This requires the teacher to introduce the terms "apparent weight" and "true weight" and making a distinction between the two.