Planning
A student investigated the terminal velocity, vtv_tvt, of falling paper cones of different sizes.
- Cones were made by cutting sectors of varying angles out of identical paper circles of radius 10 cm10\text{ cm}10 cm and joining the remaining edges.
- Each cone was dropped from a height of 2.5 m2.5\text{ m}2.5 m in a large sports hall.
- The time taken to reach the ground was measured using a manual stopwatch. Three drops were recorded for each cone.
- The average velocity was calculated by dividing the drop height of 2.5 m2.5\text{ m}2.5 m by the mean time of the three drops.
The drops were performed over three different days. On different days, the sports hall's external doors and windows were open to varying degrees.
The student's results are shown in Table 1:
| Cone | Sector Cut Out (degrees) | Paper Type | Mass (g) | Drop 1 Time (s) | Drop 2 Time | Drop 3 Time (s) | Calculated Velocity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 30 | Standard | 1.25 | 1.82 | 1.9 | 1.85 | 1.35 |
| B | 60 | Standard | 1.15 | 1.95 | 2.1 | 1.98 | 1.24 |
| C | 90 | Thick | 1.60 | 1.42 | 1.45 | 1.4 | 1.76 |
| D | 120 | Standard | 0.95 | 2.20 | 2.3 | 2.25 | 1.11 |
| E | 150 | Standard | 0.82 | 2.45 | 2.5 | 2.40 | 1.02 |
| F | 180 | Standard | 0.70 | 2.80 | 2.9 | 2.85 | 0.88 |
Suggest and explain improvements that the student could make to their experimental method and presentation of data.
In your answer you should explain the benefits of your suggested improvements.