GUIDING QUESTION:
What are the factors that affect the appearance of impact craters? How do scientists use craters to tell the relative age of them?
HYPOTHESIS:
In my opinion, the younger the crater is, the rougher it will be, because it might erode over time. Factors that might affect the appearance of impact craters is the speed the meteor is coming at, the heat of it, the mass of the meteor, and the size of the meteor.
MATERIALS: safety goggles, tray, flour, notebook, spoon, small and large marbles, meter stick, ruler, excel and word.
PROCEDURE:
1. Put on goggles and apron. Fill the pan with 2.5 cm of flour.
2. Drop a small marble into the flour. What did you observe? Drop another marble again. What happens when they overlap?
The marble creates a small impact. You can hear it and it sends waves throughout the whole tub. The ejecta goes a little farther than the marble all the way around.
3. Drop the larger marble into the flour. What did you observe? Drop another marble again. What happens when they overlap?
When you drop the larger marble, it creates a much larger impact and the ejecta flies everywhere.
4. Think about the guiding question. What does affect the appearance of an impact crater?
5. Decide on which materials you will use and collect them all to take to your station. You will make a model to test the guiding question.
6. You will need to collect some qualitative (using your senses to make observations) and quantitative-numerical data (Height of drop, mass of the object, diameter of crater, depth of the crater, length of ejecta - if possible to measure, etc...)
7. Make a data table (below)
8. Run your lab according to the method provided.
9. You may wish to take pictures of each impact to use later in a blog post, or you may sketch the results in your notebook.
10. Collect the data needed and enter it into the table.
THE CRATERING PROCESS
1. Use the balance to measure the mass of each impactor. Record the mass on the Data Chart for this impactor.
2. Drop impactor #1 from a height of 30 cm onto the prepared surface.
3. Measure the diameter and depth of the resulting crater.
4. Note the presence of ejecta (rays). EXTRA CREDIT: Count the rays, measure, and determine the average length of all of the rays.
5. Drop it two more times and measure again and then calculate the average.
6. Repeat steps 2 through 5 for impactor #1, increasing the drop heights to 60 cm, 90 cm, and 2 meters. Complete the Data Table for this impactor. Note that the higher the drop height, the faster the impactor hits the surface.
7. Now repeat steps 1 through 6 for at least one more impactor. Use a separate Data Chart for each impactor.
8. Graph your results. Graph #1 is Average crater diameter vs. impactor height or velocity. Extra Credit: Graph #2 is Average ejecta (ray) length OR vs. impactor height or velocity.
DATA ANALYSIS:
1. Is your hypothesis about what affects the appearance and size of craters supported by test data? Explain why or why not.
What are the factors that affect the appearance of impact craters? How do scientists use craters to tell the relative age of them?
HYPOTHESIS:
In my opinion, the younger the crater is, the rougher it will be, because it might erode over time. Factors that might affect the appearance of impact craters is the speed the meteor is coming at, the heat of it, the mass of the meteor, and the size of the meteor.
MATERIALS: safety goggles, tray, flour, notebook, spoon, small and large marbles, meter stick, ruler, excel and word.
PROCEDURE:
1. Put on goggles and apron. Fill the pan with 2.5 cm of flour.
2. Drop a small marble into the flour. What did you observe? Drop another marble again. What happens when they overlap?
The marble creates a small impact. You can hear it and it sends waves throughout the whole tub. The ejecta goes a little farther than the marble all the way around.
3. Drop the larger marble into the flour. What did you observe? Drop another marble again. What happens when they overlap?
When you drop the larger marble, it creates a much larger impact and the ejecta flies everywhere.
4. Think about the guiding question. What does affect the appearance of an impact crater?
5. Decide on which materials you will use and collect them all to take to your station. You will make a model to test the guiding question.
6. You will need to collect some qualitative (using your senses to make observations) and quantitative-numerical data (Height of drop, mass of the object, diameter of crater, depth of the crater, length of ejecta - if possible to measure, etc...)
7. Make a data table (below)
8. Run your lab according to the method provided.
9. You may wish to take pictures of each impact to use later in a blog post, or you may sketch the results in your notebook.
10. Collect the data needed and enter it into the table.
THE CRATERING PROCESS
1. Use the balance to measure the mass of each impactor. Record the mass on the Data Chart for this impactor.
2. Drop impactor #1 from a height of 30 cm onto the prepared surface.
3. Measure the diameter and depth of the resulting crater.
4. Note the presence of ejecta (rays). EXTRA CREDIT: Count the rays, measure, and determine the average length of all of the rays.
5. Drop it two more times and measure again and then calculate the average.
6. Repeat steps 2 through 5 for impactor #1, increasing the drop heights to 60 cm, 90 cm, and 2 meters. Complete the Data Table for this impactor. Note that the higher the drop height, the faster the impactor hits the surface.
7. Now repeat steps 1 through 6 for at least one more impactor. Use a separate Data Chart for each impactor.
8. Graph your results. Graph #1 is Average crater diameter vs. impactor height or velocity. Extra Credit: Graph #2 is Average ejecta (ray) length OR vs. impactor height or velocity.
| Trial | height of drop | diameter | length of ejecta | depth of crater | observations |
| 1 | 30 | 1.9 cm | 0.1 cm | 0.7 cm | |
| 2 | 30 | 2 cm | 0.3 | 0.4 | |
| 3 | 30 | 1.7 cm | 0.3 cm | 0.7 cm | |
| average |
| Trial | height of drop | diameter | length of ejecta | depth of crater | observations |
| 1 | 60 | 3 cm | 0.7 cm | 4cm | |
| 2 | 60 | 2cm | 0.6 cm | 1.8cm | |
| 3 | 60 | ||||
| average |
| trial | height of drop | diameter | length of ejecta | depth of crater | observations |
| 1 | 90 | 2.5 | 1 cm | 2.7 cm | |
| 2 | 90 | 2 cm | 0.5 cm | 2 cm | |
| 3 | 90 | 2.3 cm | 0.7 cm | 2.3 cm | |
| average |
| trial | height of drop | diameter | length of ejecta | ||
| 1 | 200 cm | 2.1 | 1.2 | ||
| 2 | 200 cm | 2.4 | 0.9 | ||
| 3 | 200 cm | 2.8 | 1 | ||
| average | 200 | 2.43 | 1.03 |
DATA ANALYSIS:
1. Is your hypothesis about what affects the appearance and size of craters supported by test data? Explain why or why not.
Using the data we have collected, I can conclude that out hypothesis is supported and has been proven true. We hypothesized that the size and speed of a meteor would effect the crater it made, and from the tests we drew from this lab this can be proven true. There are any evident patters in out tables, and I feel like it was a series of very valid tests.
2. What does the data reveal about the relationship between crater size and velocity of impactor? The data showed that the higher and more speed the meteor falls from and builds up, the bigger the crater will be. This was supported several times in our tests and I defiantly think it has been proven valid.
2. What does the data reveal about the relationship between crater size and velocity of impactor? The data showed that the higher and more speed the meteor falls from and builds up, the bigger the crater will be. This was supported several times in our tests and I defiantly think it has been proven valid.
3. What does the data reveal about the relationship between ejecta (ray) length and velocity of impactor? This information shows that the greater the velocity of the impactor, the larger the surface of teh crater would be and so therefore the larger the ejecta.
4. If the impactor were dropped from 6 meters, would the crater be larger or smaller? How much larger or smaller? Explain your answer. The crater dropped from 6 meters would be significantly larger. Because of the principals we have discovered, we know that it would be much larger then that dropped from 30 cm or even 90 cm.
CONCLUSION:
What are the factors that affect the appearance of impact craters? After this project, I can conclude that the size, shape, height, and speed of a meteor will be what effects the shape of the crater. We have done several tests and are sure of our hypothesis. This was a very valid test, and I feel like our data really supports this.
FURTHER INQUIRY:
What errors do you think may have occurred? How could you improve the method? Think about what affects the appearance of a crater. Why are some craters larger than others? Does it have to do with velocity or size of the meteor, or mass? How could you test this? Is it the surface which it impacts? Why are some craters different shapes? Try out any further inquiry to help you to make a final statement. Be sure to explain what you tested and how it turned out.
What are the factors that affect the appearance of impact craters? After this project, I can conclude that the size, shape, height, and speed of a meteor will be what effects the shape of the crater. We have done several tests and are sure of our hypothesis. This was a very valid test, and I feel like our data really supports this.
FURTHER INQUIRY:
What errors do you think may have occurred? How could you improve the method? Think about what affects the appearance of a crater. Why are some craters larger than others? Does it have to do with velocity or size of the meteor, or mass? How could you test this? Is it the surface which it impacts? Why are some craters different shapes? Try out any further inquiry to help you to make a final statement. Be sure to explain what you tested and how it turned out.
An eror I think that may have occuredis that when we were removing the marble, we used tweezers, which streched out the length of the crater. This is probably what caused differences in our data. Eventually we figured out how to use the tweezers and not move the hole as much. Our data overall was probably pretty accurate, and I feel thought, although it was chaotic, it was a really gun lab and I really enjoyed it.
