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Science

TITLE:    I'm Inclined to See  (Exploration)

AUTHOR:   Mark Madsen, Tempe High School,
          Tempe, AZ

GRADE LEVEL:   9-12

PURPOSE:
The purpose of this activity is to look at the motion of a
sphere on an inclined plane and to discover basic
relationships involving distance, time, speed(velocity), and
acceleration.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS:
Flat board, several spheres, meter stick, stop watch

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
Roll a sphere, starting from rest, down an inclined plane.
Observe the motion from the top, middle, or another starting
point.  Look for any patterns.

Decide on the variables that are important to describe the
motion of the sphere.  Organize a data table using the
variables you have chosen.

Make a graph of distance versus time, using distance as the
independent variable.

Make a graph of average velocity versus time, using time as
the independent variable.

Finally, make a graph of average velocity versus distance,
using distance as the independent variable.

Summing Up:
1.  Qualitatively describe the motion of the rolling
    sphere.
2.  Is your graph of distance versus time a straight
    line?  Why, or why not?
3.  Suggest a way to modify the variables of the graphs
    which are not straight lines, such as squaring one of
    the variables, then make new graphs for the ones that
    are straight lines.
4.  Compare the slopes of all of the straight line
    graphs.

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