Scenario+8+pd+7

Christian's Cart Experiment

Christian wonders if a heavier cart will roll faster down-hill than a lighter one. He formulates a hypothesis and then decides to conduct an experiment. First, he finds a smooth ramp and a cart. He makes sure that the wheels of his cart roll freely. He set the ramp against a chair so one side of the ramp was 0.5 meters off the ground. Next, he measures the distance the cart will travel down the ramp. He leaves about 10 cm at the top of the ramp and draws a line to mark the release position of the car. He then measures the distance the cart will travel down the ramp and his stopwatch to time how long it will take to reach the bottom of the ramp. // He starts the experiment by // measuring the time it takes the cart to roll down the hill without any weight on it. For the next five trials he adds a 1 kg mass to the cart each trial. The times of the trials are as follows:
 * = weight (kg) ||= time (seconds ) ||
 * 1 || 27 ||
 * 2 || 32 ||
 * 3 || 30 ||
 * 4 || 29 ||
 * 5 || 30 ||

When comparing the data points, he decides to allow for a 5 second "fudge factor" since he may not have released the cart at precisely the exact same spot each time.

Complete each of the following:
 * 1) Identify Christian's hypothesis: A heavier cart will roll faster down-hill than a lighter cart.
 * 2) Identify the independent variable: the weight of the cart
 * 3) Identify the dependent variable: how much time it takes the cart to get to the bottom of the ramp
 * 4) Identify the other variables Christian needs to consider/control during this experiment: how easily moved are the wheels of the cart, how far the ramp is off the ground, the type of ramp, the distance the cart will travel,
 * 5) Identify the control group in this experiment: the cart with no weight
 * 6) Identify the experimental group(s): the carts with weights 1 through 5 kg.
 * 7) What conclusions might Christian draw from this data? Christian's conclusion should be that light and heavy carts travel at about the same speed going down a ramp. The cart with 1 kg takes 27 seconds to go down the ramp, and the cart with 5 kg takes 30 seconds to go down the ramp.
 * 8) What recommendations might you suggest for further study or for improvement? A recommendation that we suggest for further study or for improvement is to have how much time the control group took to reach the bottom. Also, make sure he lets go of the cart in the same spot by marking where each wheel needs to be to eliminate "fudge factor."