How Does The Stopping Distance Affect By The Surface Area Of An Object?
Road Safety Lab Report
Research Question: How is the stopping distance affect by the surface area of an object?
Variables:
Independent variable:
The Different Surface Area (0cm2, 1760cm2, 2480cm2, 3440cm2, 3920cm2)
Dependent variable:
Stopping Distance
Controlled variables:
Mass of Object
Environmental Conditions (Hallway Atmosphere)
The surface of the road (Marble)
The type of wheels (plastic)
Height of the Ramp
Background Information:
The aerodynamics of an external object on a vehicle affects many of factors including the speed, mass, performance, and stopping distance of the vehicle. The aerodynamics in the force pushing against an object is called drag a force that acts on a solid object while it moves through …show more content…
The two variables are indirectly related, when the surface area gradually increases the stopping distance decreases. The data that we collected from the experiment is in fact reliable, since we created 3 trials for each variable, which helped us on proving and showing that each time you add more surface area to the vehicle the stopping distance would go down, and that showed precisely in all trials. For example in trial 1 when we added no additional surface area to the car, the average stopping distance was 4.75m, but then when we added 1760cm of surface area the average stopping distance went down to 4.35m. In short, this happened due to the increase of surface area manipulated for each diminishing distance that it reaches by the air resistance or drag that affected the additional area which then it decelerates also caused by the friction of the opposition forces against the relative motion of the car. Thus proving my hypothesis to be correct that as the amount of the surface area increases the total of the stopping distance decreases. The reliability of the data because of the fact that there is a trend, which follows the hypothesis I personally feel that for the most part, the data is reliable, as the experiment was conducted in a purposefully reliable …show more content…
Also, our teacher helped us acquire material (corrugated plastic) for the experiment so that it would make the lab more reliable and valid based on the stability of the material, which further increases the level of validity, due to the fact that if we (the students) were to gather the required equipment, we could have gotten mixed up between which tools we actually needed and which ones we didn’t. But since a more experienced person is gathering the material, the validity level of the lab steps up greatly. We were able to measure the distance according to the measuring tape, which was placed right at the end of the ramp and record the data by using the metre stick to align with the end of the vehicle to the distance marker on the measuring tape therefore having valid record of our data.
We were able to control all variables but some anomalies of the surface of the road would allow some discrepancies with the data. As the surface of which we were conducting our experiment was made out of marble tiles the friction between the car and the spaces between the tiles would altered the speed of the vehicles at which it was travelling and would have modify
Research Question: How is the stopping distance affect by the surface area of an object?
Variables:
Independent variable:
The Different Surface Area (0cm2, 1760cm2, 2480cm2, 3440cm2, 3920cm2)
Dependent variable:
Stopping Distance
Controlled variables:
Mass of Object
Environmental Conditions (Hallway Atmosphere)
The surface of the road (Marble)
The type of wheels (plastic)
Height of the Ramp
Background Information:
The aerodynamics of an external object on a vehicle affects many of factors including the speed, mass, performance, and stopping distance of the vehicle. The aerodynamics in the force pushing against an object is called drag a force that acts on a solid object while it moves through …show more content…
The two variables are indirectly related, when the surface area gradually increases the stopping distance decreases. The data that we collected from the experiment is in fact reliable, since we created 3 trials for each variable, which helped us on proving and showing that each time you add more surface area to the vehicle the stopping distance would go down, and that showed precisely in all trials. For example in trial 1 when we added no additional surface area to the car, the average stopping distance was 4.75m, but then when we added 1760cm of surface area the average stopping distance went down to 4.35m. In short, this happened due to the increase of surface area manipulated for each diminishing distance that it reaches by the air resistance or drag that affected the additional area which then it decelerates also caused by the friction of the opposition forces against the relative motion of the car. Thus proving my hypothesis to be correct that as the amount of the surface area increases the total of the stopping distance decreases. The reliability of the data because of the fact that there is a trend, which follows the hypothesis I personally feel that for the most part, the data is reliable, as the experiment was conducted in a purposefully reliable …show more content…
Also, our teacher helped us acquire material (corrugated plastic) for the experiment so that it would make the lab more reliable and valid based on the stability of the material, which further increases the level of validity, due to the fact that if we (the students) were to gather the required equipment, we could have gotten mixed up between which tools we actually needed and which ones we didn’t. But since a more experienced person is gathering the material, the validity level of the lab steps up greatly. We were able to measure the distance according to the measuring tape, which was placed right at the end of the ramp and record the data by using the metre stick to align with the end of the vehicle to the distance marker on the measuring tape therefore having valid record of our data.
We were able to control all variables but some anomalies of the surface of the road would allow some discrepancies with the data. As the surface of which we were conducting our experiment was made out of marble tiles the friction between the car and the spaces between the tiles would altered the speed of the vehicles at which it was travelling and would have modify