Drop Test Experiment
Question: if we gradually apply force to different phone cases over a period of time, which case will be able to withstand the most amount of force?
Method: using a variety of weights ranging from 100g to 1000g from physics teacher Mr. Dubois, an iron rod on a ring stand, and recycled iPhones, we will determine how much force a Bee Green Case can withstand compared to a standard silicone phone case. We will be applying Newton's second law of motion, “Fnet = ma”, and multiplying the applied weight by 9.8m/s^2 to calculate how much force is being applied on the phone cases. The independent variable in this experiment will be the amount of weight applied, and the dependent variable will be whether or not the phone screen or the phone case will break. The control will be the standard phone case, as we are testing how the addition of a honeycomb design will affect the strength of a phone case. The phone used is an iPhone 4 and the phone cases are made of Dragon Skin Translucent Platinum Silicone. Hypothesis: If we make a hexagon structured phone case, then it will hold up better than a normal phone case when we drop an iron bar on it because the hexagons make a stronger structure. Materials: - 1 phone (we used an iPhone 4) - 2 prototype phone cases: Bee Green Case, control without hexagons - 1 ring stand - 1 500 gram weight - 1 700 gram metal rod - 1 meter stick |
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Data
Effect of 500g Weight Dropped on an iPhone 4 |
Effect of 700g Iron Rod Dropped on iPhone 4 |
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Data Analysis
After performing the experiments, the team concluded that more damage was inflicted to the regular phone case rather than the Bee Green Case. We had actually planned on comparing damage on the phone itself with the two different phone cases, but found that the phone cases had actually received more of the damage and so we used this data instead. By comparing the data from when the weight was 8 inches above the phone case, we can see that the Bee Green Case had not yet broken but the control case did. Additionally, the control case was damaged sooner than the Bee Green Case in the experiment with the metal bar, with the control breaking at 5 inches and the Bee Green Case breaking at 10 inches. Our hypothesis was thus proven correct in that the hexagonal structure held up better under the force and weight of the 500 gram weight and 700 gram bar.
Although the phone case we used and created was built for an iPhone 7, we could only test on an iPhone 4 because it was the only phone we had available and because it has a glass back which is prone to breaking easier than the metal back of other iPhones. However, this could have also affected the results of our experiments so ideally a second experiment would see us using an iPhone 7 to produce better results.
Although the phone case we used and created was built for an iPhone 7, we could only test on an iPhone 4 because it was the only phone we had available and because it has a glass back which is prone to breaking easier than the metal back of other iPhones. However, this could have also affected the results of our experiments so ideally a second experiment would see us using an iPhone 7 to produce better results.
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