Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello-
I am doing my science fair project on how temperature impacts the rebound/bounce of golf balls. I was approved to do my study using 24 golf balls. I froze 8, boiled 8 and left the last 8 at room temperature. Then I dropped them all from 10 feet and measured the rebound. My original hypothesis was "I believe that the temperature of a golf ball will impact the rebound."

My older brother told me that isn't a hypothesis. He then suggested "If a golf ball's temperature is increased, then the golf ball will have more rebound. If a golf ball's temperature is decreased, I believe that the golf ball will have less rebound."

Isn't that two hypotheses? Should I use a connector in the middle, like "additionally"?

Thank you for helping me.
Chase

I believe that your brother's point is that you need to have more than "the temperature of a golf ball will impact the rebound." You are stating that you believe that temperature will impact the rebound, but you should also say WHAT that effect would be. Your original hypothesis isn't wrong, but it's just a little vague.

Your brother's suggestion is one idea but put in the form of two sentences. He is stating that there is a direct relationship between the two variables. ("The relationship between two variables is a direct relationship if when one increases so does the other or as one decreases so does the other. The relationship between two variables is an inverse relationship if when one increases the other decreases or as one decreases the other increases.") Therefore, his hypothesis is perfectly acceptable.

This is a page on how to write a hypothesis: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... esis.shtml

I hope that helps!

Kayli Masuda