Happy-Sad Spheres

Questions:

How does temperature affect the bounciness of the happy and sad rubber spheres?

Materials:

• Happy and sad rubber spheres
• Hot plate
• Ice Water
• Dry ice
• Isopropanol
• Liquid nitrogen
• Meter stick

Instructions:

1. Prepare five different liquid baths to heat or cool the rubber spheres:
   1. Liquid nitrogen (- 180 °C)
   2. Dry ice in isopropanol ( - 77 °C)
   3. Ice water ( 0 °C)
   4. Room temperature water (25 °C)
   5. Hot water (50 °C)
2. Soak both the happy and sad spheres in the ice water bath for about 1 minute. Remove the spheres from the bath. Then, drop each sphere onto a hard surface from a height of 1 meter. Using a meter stick, measure the bounce height of the sphere.
3. Repeat step 2 for each liquid bath.
4. Prepare of graph of the bounce height vs. temperature. How did the temperature affect the bounce height? Was the trend the same for both spheres?