Your work on ball down ramp has been received. Scroll down through the document to see any comments I might have inserted, and my final comment at the end.
Your general comment
Will a steeper ramp give greater or lesser time?
Steepest ramp will take least time required (ball moves faster).
As slopes increases will time intervals increase, decrease or show no pattern?
I would expect slopes from least to greatest to have decreasing time intervals.
Your report of 5 trials each way for 1 domino
1.910
1.781
1.953
1.895
1.934
I don't understand the reverse system - if I place the domino under the left end of the ramp instead of the right end of the ramp, the slope would be upward and a ball can't roll upward against gravity. What am I doing wrong?
You would have to start the ball at the other end.
Your report of 5 trials each way for 2 dominoes
During the process of practicing and then performing the trials above, I was thinking that the balls seemed to go very fast the first few practice runs and then during the trials apprx. 1.9 seconds felt longer than it was when just watching the ball roll.
1.223
1.914
1.230
1.134
1.223
(again I have no times for reverse for reasons described above)
Your report of 5 trials each way for 3 dominoes
1.023
1.000
0.941
1.012
(same as above for reverse)
Do your results support or fail to support your hypothesis about increasing or decreasing times?
Results support hypotheses.
How do you think ave velocity is related to slope?
Average velocity increases as slope increases (ball travels at faster average rate with a steeper slope).
Speculate on why ave velocity changes with slope.
The pull of gravity has more affect when ball is traveling from a higher height than lower height, therefore, the ball picks up more speed on a higher slope than a lower slope.
How could you test your speculations?
To verify these speculations, could find two hills, one with a greater slope than the other, both with deserted roads that travel straight down the hills. Go to the top of the hill in a car, put the car in neutral and watch the speedometer as the car travels down each hill. Note the differences in velocity as the car goes down, and find the average velcoity for each.
Your data look good; the lack of data for the reversed ramp might be the result of a very literal reading of the instructions. I'll have to recheck the instructions.
After the due date we will be discussing this experiment further via an online forum.