Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My 9th daughter has been asked to do a science project based on the following hypothesis "If wet soils transmit vibrations more readily than dry soils, then directed force acting on a box of wet sand should transmit more energy than the same force acting on a box of dry sand.

The suggested materials are Large wooden box, rubber mallet and hinge/swing attachment to box, simple accelerometer (rubber ball, string, protractor), lots of sand, shovel/trowel.

That is all of the guidance we have and looking at this list of supplies we don't know how to start this project. Please advise on any approach we should take or resources you know of that will help us put this experiment together please.

Kevin Rogers

Hi Kevin,
Is your daughter trying to do a variation on this project?
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ml#summary

If so, it looks like the same kind of concept could work. In terms of developing a procedure, I would suggest focusing on the data that she'd want to collect first and make sure that it addresses the hypothesis. From there, it's the mechanics portion to make sure that the experiment is performed consistently / repeatable / etc...

Please take a look at this section of the site.
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... dure.shtml

I think it might be of some help.
Good Luck and please let us know if there's anything else that we can help with.
Willey