Do we Live in a Vacuum?

Brian Kramer
Nic Misasi
Nicolas Ortiz
 The Experiment
• 30 Short rotored paper helicopters
• Dropped once
• Height of 1.7m
• Predicted drop time of .5887 seconds
– T0=
Collected Data
0.96 0.83 0.97

0.68 0.81 0.83

0.74 1.19 0.92

0.73 0.69 0.94

0.69 1.15 0.89

0.98 0.64 0.92

0.97 0.77 0.81

0.87 0.77 1.18

0.95 0.67 0.82

0.97 1.08 0.94

 Descriptive Statistics
Statistic Value
Mean . 878666666666667
Standard Deviation . 15014322664
Variance . 022549885
Minimum .64
Maximum 1.19
First Quartile .77
Third Quartile .97
Median .88
The similarity of our values of mean and median show that there was
not much skew in our data.
 Stem Plot

Stem (tenths of a second)

6
7
8
9
10
11 Leaf
4
3
1
2
8
5 79
4
1
2
8 8(hundredths
7
2
4 95
7
3
4 96
3 77
9778 of a second)

Fairly distributed
Slightly skewed towards the lower times
 Box Plot

Calculating Outliers: 1.5(IQR)

1.5(.97-.77) = .3
.88+.3 = 1.28
.88-.3 = .58
None of our data sits outside of the range from .58 to 1.28
 Histogram

Frequency

Time (secs)
Most of our data fits nicely into a typical bell shaped curve
Centered over .878
65% of the data is between .729 and 1.029
97% between .579 and 1.179
99% between .429 and 1.329
 Performing the T-Test
• Sample is numerical
• H0: µ=.5887 (we live in a vacuum)
• Ha: µ>.5887 (we do not)
• CI=.95
• T = (x̄-µ)/(s/√n)
• Assumptions
– N=30
– Random Sample
 Performing the T-Test
• T-Test
– Used data
– µ0=.5887
– > µ0
• Results
– t=10.58
– p=9.09x10-12
 Conclusion
• Since our p-value was so small
(9.09x10-12 ) and less than .05, we
rejected the null hypothesis that we
live in a vacuum.
• We are 95% certain that the mean
drop time for a short rotored paper
helicopter dropped from 1.7 m is
between .823 and .935 seconds, or
at least .23 seconds above the time
in a vacuum.