The guided inquiry question I chose to focus on was "What is the effect of large objects colliding with smaller objects?" The first thing I did after I chose the focus of my guided inquiry was search for supplies around my house. I found toy cars which were the obvious choice, however, they were the same size, regardless, I grabbed them. Then I started to think about other things I could use. I also took a basketball and a softball. Some observations I made from those materials were not only that the basketball was bigger in size than the softball, but the softball was more dense than the basketball.
I was able to infer the densities of the basketball and softball by using water displacement to find the volume. I took a large plastic bucket and filled it half way with water from the hose. I took a black marker and marked the water level. Then I proceeded to put each object in and marked the level the water was at with a different color marker. I recorded my information on a basic data table. Then I was able to find the mass of the two objects by using a balance. I chose to find the density of each object because the size of the object is just one physical property of that particular object.
After the densities were recorded I proceeded to work on my inquiry question. I started with the cars and had them collide with each other. I took the cars on the floor and held one in each hand. I stretched my arms as far apart as I could and gave them a push together. I tried to keep the speed consistent with each car. I tried this 3 times. When the cars hit, they would make contact and then move in opposite directions. They would both move in opposite directions the same distance apart from the initial contact.
Next, I took the basketball and the softball and had them in each hand on the ground. I stretched my arms as far apart as I could and pushed them together, just as I had did with the cars. I observed when the basketball and softball collided, the basketball when in the opposite direction further than the softball. I inferred this happened because it demonstrated Newton's second law. Newton's second law of motion states, " The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and inversely proportional to the mass of the object" (Enger, Fredrick & Tillery, 2008 p.41). With information I gathered earlier, I know the softball has more mass than the basketball. That is why the objects acted in the way they did.
Engaging in the guided inquiry helped me further understand what effect larger objects have on smaller objects when colliding. It is generally difficult for me to understand a concept mentally with just words. Not only did seeing the results happen right in front of me help, the act of physically doing it made it easier for me to remember what happened. It became an individual experience for me and now I could relate that experience to the resources.
Even with the success I had with guided inquiry, there were some challenges. It was a bit difficult for me to push the trucks and balls towards each other with the same force. Another difficulty I had was using the word "larger" in the inquiry question. What did that really mean? Was the object to be bigger in volume? Was the object to be larger in mass or density? These were some things I had to consider while conducting this experiment.
