Investigating the Factors that Affect the Acceleration of a Ball Bearing Down a Ramp

Investigating the Factors that Affect the Acceleration of a Ball Bearing Down a Ramp I intend to investigate what factors affect the acceleration of a ball

bearing down a ramp. I will measure how long the ball bearing takes to

roll down a ramp, and my other variable will be to measure the final

velocity of the ball bearing rolling down the ramp. Using this

information I will then be able to work out the acceleration of the

ball bearing down the ramp. I will be able to work out the velocity of

the ball bearing, and therefore be able to work out the acceleration

using a different formula above.

I will conduct two experiments and for both there will be only one

variable with everything else fixed. In the first experiment, my

variable will be the mass of the ball bearing which rolls down the

ramp. In the second experiment, I will keep the mass of the ball

bearing the same but change the angle of the ramp that the ball

bearing rolls down.

CHANGING THE MASS OF THE BALL

In this experiment the only factor I will change will be the mass of

the ball bearing which rolls down the ramp.

Apparatus

To do the experiment, I will need to use the following equipment:

a plastic ramp,

a stand,

a clamp,

a nail,

a metre rule,

a selection of ball bearings with varied masses,