Craters and Meteorites project variation

[mmaliha]

I would like to test how the surface material affects the volume of a crater. I want to use different granular substances as the surface material. For example kinetic sand, salt, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, pancake mix, skittles. Would it make sense for the name of my IV to be "particle size" and make my experiment "the effect of particle size of a granular material on the volume of a crater"? Also, how would I measure the volume of the crater? The object I dropped would be a constant by the way. If it is not possible to measure the volume of the crater, I could just measure the diameter. Basically, my question is what should my IV and DV be. Would this experiment even produce any significant results?

[clur_v]

Hello, I think that the name of your independent variable would be mostly accurate. I wonder if the density (the weight of a material per unit volume) would also affect the size of the crater. One way you could approximately measure density is finding the weight of your materials per ml (as the volume of a ml is a centimeter cubed).

I have also thought of two ways you may try to measure the volume of the crater:

First is both measuring the diameter and the depth of the crater as a substitute for volume.

Second, you could carefully cover the crater with plastic wrap after dropping the crater and then pour premeasured amounts of water into the crater. This method would be more difficult and slower - it would definitely require some testing.

I hope that is helpful, Claire