Grade 11 Physics Final Project. Help (Kinematics)

[redtop2]

Grade 11 Physics Final Project. Help! (Kinematics)

first of all, I am new to the forum. and i was wondering if i should post this on homework forum or general physics. then i decided to post it here.

so i have been working on a final project for my grade 11 physics.

the teacher wants us to make something that would be relevant to the course, involving simple experiment and calcutions with fewest variables.

so far, we have learned, kinematics, electricity, energy and i have chosen kinematics as my topic for the project. and i was wondering if it is valid experiment or not.

here is my rough plan for my project:
variables: 1) 2 different height in slope 2) 2 different weight of the golf ball

1.me and my partner has been working on making slopes with different height.
2. and we are going to roll(or simple push) a golf balls with different weight.
3. let the golf balls collide with some object (block of wood, toy car, etc.)
4. calculate the displacement of the object struck by golf ball.

so here are my questions.
im wondering what numbers we can calculate given variables and experiment. we haven't done any of the experiment given that we have just started the project. but i know we have to do some calculations. the main formulas concerned here are: F=ma, W=FxD, Eg=mgh. are there anything that I am missing? does this experiment make sense? what are the numbers do we have to find to calculate some work done on the object and energy transferred from golf balls to the object?

in conclusion, i thank you for reading this thread and for any suggestions.

please don't be afraid and tell me that this project sucks or this is not practical or something.

thanks again!

 

[jedishrfu]

To make it more interesting you could consider including the Brachistochrone curve:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachistochrone_curve

The curve is special in that particles traveling the curve will get to the endpoint faster than one traveling the straight line to it.