Dropping the Ball

A 22 FACTORIAL EXPERIMENT

Akhil Bollamony Thomas Chiarugi

Alex Kist Emily VanDusen
Drop the Ball
Materials: 2 Wool Dyer Balls
Tape Measure
Masking Tape
Tablet
Hallway Wall and Floor
Alex
Avidemux 2.6
The Question

What effects the bounce height of

balls more, their density or the height
from which they are dropped?

Independent Factors: Drop Height

Ball Density

Dependent Factor: Bounce Height in

Inches from the Floor
The Set Up

 Two masking tape

markers on the wall

 Tape measure taped

to wall for comparison

 Tablet zoomed in to
bounce height range
for better accuracy on
review
The Procedure
Our Considerations
 A single operator performed all drops to ensure
that release method was the same every time

 A single group member watched where ball was

released from to ensure that the bottom of the ball
was always level with the top of the marker

 Both balls made of 100% wool to avoid

interference from material variation

 All runs conducted in the same place at the same

time
 Our Considerations
Bounce Deviation → Extra Runs

Accept Exclude
This was our attempt to minimize noise from any
shape deviation in the balls that might cause
lateral movement rather than vertical
Independent Factors

Factor A: Factor B:
Height (ft) Density (g/cm3)
Low High Low High
3 ft 6 ft 12.6 13.2
The Raw Data
Density (B) 22 Design with 3
12.6 g/cm3 13.2 g/cm3
10.6 11.8
Replications Each
3 ft 11.5 10.9
Height (A)

Replicate
11.3 11.6 Treatment
I II III Total
Combination
21.1 19.9 (1) 10.6 11.5 11.3 33.4
6 ft 20.7 18.5 a 21.1 20.7 19.5 61.3
b 11.8 10.9 11.6 34.3
19.5 20.7 ab 19.9 18.5 20.7 59.1

A B AB Total
(1) - - + 33.4
a + - - 61.3
b - + - 34.3
ab + + + 59.1
ANOVA
Source of Variance SS Value DoF MS Value F F(0.01, 1, 8) = 25.41
Height (A) 231.44 1 231.44 389.11 ✓
Density (B) 0.1408 1 0.1408 0.2367 ----

Interraction (AB) 0.8008 1 0.8008 1.3463 ----

Error 4.7584 8 0.5948

Total 237.14 11

Factor A, the height, seems to be the only significant factor

Density and the interaction effect between Density and

Height remained insignificant

This also holds with α = 0.1, 0.05 & 0.025

Checking with MiniTab

Results from MiniTab

support manual ANOVA

Clearly shows the

division of values based
on height alone
Model Adequacy
Sources of Noise
No, We Didn’t Randomize Order…

 Randomizing order may have lead to less

than accurate drop height

 We counted on the muscles of the

operator to recall the feeling of the drop
height
Related Factors

 Other Ball Materials

 Difficult to find two balls of a second consistent
material with differing densities

 Differing Floor Surface

 Most of the Engineering Building has the same floor
 Testing in a different location would have changed
atmospheric conditions

 Different Operators
 Assumed that in with a simple dropping motion
there would not be a measurable difference
Was Our Experiment
Successful?
Yes!
 Clearly defined the factor that determines bounce height

 Error in the ANOVA was very small when compared with

the height factor

 Normal Probability Plot of Residuals showed model was

adequate

 While other factors could have affected the results, they

were minimalized as much as possible