ABSTRACT

In order to start this project I first researched everything about the average golf ball. I did this primarily through the Internet. I searched through www.metacrawler.com, where I was able to find thousands of sources. Through metacrawler, I was able to connect to other search engines such as www.altavista.com and www.yahoo.com. From the Internet, I was able to download tons of pictures on the cores of the golf balls.

Then, to actually get the materials, I went to a plastics store and bought a three foot long, three inch in inner diameter acrylic tube. You should make sure that the tube is acrylic, not just plastic because I later learned that the plastic becomes deformed as the air is sucked out of the tube. I also bought a plastic rod and a rubber grommet that fit tightly around the rod. Along with that, I bought four disks made out of the same material as the tubing. Out of one of the disks I cut a small piece of the disk off. I attached this piece to the end of the rod and put it inside the tube. This is the platform for which the ball rests before it is dropped.

After all the materials had been bought, I assembled everything very carefully. Then I started the experimenting. I first recorded the data for how high the bounce of the golf ball was without the air sucked out. I repeated that four times. Then I tested the height of the bounce of the golf ball with the air sucked out. With the air sucked out, I tested it four times. I recorded the results for both types of tests.