Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My son chose the “bouncing balls” experiment for science fair and is now commited to it. The problem is since it’s not a full outlines experiment we’re having a difficult time finding an actual experiment to do and exactly what our variables should be. Any thoughts? Or a direction in a better outlined experiment that could fit into this topic?

Can you provide the link to the exact project you're looking at on our site? I'm guessing it's one of these, which don't have a complete procedure:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... f-surfaces

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... its-bounce

If so, we have a handful of other bouncing-ball related projects that have a more complete procedure:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... all-energy

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ing-energy

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... uncy-balls

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... g-dynamics

In most of these experiments, the dependent variable you measure is the height of the ball after the first bounce (which you can measure by setting up a meterstick and filming the ball while dropping it). There are lots of different options for the independent variable such as the type of ball, the temperature, the air pressure in the ball, etc. Hope that helps!